Nathan Aspinall explains why big darts names are rockstars and it's down to one man

Nathan Aspinall reckons rockstar darts smells of Guns N’Roses.

The Stockport slinger feels like one of the superstar snooker stars of the 1980s. But in the day, boys like Jimmy White and Alex Higgins were celebrities beyond their sport mixing with musicians and film stars. Now it’s the darts lads who are centre of attention as the sport blossoms.

Aspinall feels it and said: “Snooker players in the 80s were hanging around with Guns N’ Roses, they were rockstars, right? I do believe that we are the snooker players of the 80s. Everyone wants a piece of a dart player. Everyone loves darts and, yes, it’s come from Luke Littler, but Luke Littler is a 17-year-old kid. The other lads, myself, Michael Smith, Gezzy Price, they’re the ones they can get close up to. I might be out in Manchester on a Friday night and, oh my god, it’s mental. It’s unbelievable, but you’ve got to look at it in a positive light.

"Wow, darts is that popular. I’ve never thought I was a celebrity until this year. But I am. And people love meeting me, love having pictures, but yeah it’s tough.

“I’m good mates with the guys from Blossoms, I went to school with them. I think the only difference is the fact it’s all about social media nowadays isn’t it?

“What Luke [Littler] and Luke [Humphries] have done over the last 12 months, it’s been unbelievable. Every single dart player that I know in the top 16, we thank them for what they’re doing because we are going to achieve and make a lot of money and also be very successful because of what they’ve done and we’ve got on a roll with them.

“But we are also good. There’s also more than two dart players in the world.

“Littler gets a lot of social media. I do, but nowadays no-one talks to each other. They just text