This week, after a former world champion faced criticism for discussing his personal mental health, Nathan Aspinall called out online harassment from darts fans.
This comes following Aspinall’s incredible performance in Manchester on Thursday, where he defeated world number one Luke Humphries 6-4 after falling behind 3-0 and earning his first nighttime victory of the 2025 Premier League season in his hometown.
Aspinall said to Sky Sports following the victory that he almost gave up dartitis completely. He stated: “I have a few problems, and sometimes they don’t look well on TV or whatever, but I’ve managed to deal with them. It has an impact on me, but I’m winning, and I’m winning tournaments, and it’s one of those things where you either own it and incorporate it into the game, which is what I’ve chosen to do, or you give up and go home.”
Aspinall now sits just ahead of Michael van Gerwen in fourth place in the Premier League as a result of the outcome. The Asp is expected to be in the playoffs on May 29th because he has been playing well in recent weeks.
The two-time PDC major champion, however, took some time this week to defend one of his teammates against online criticism. The Asp called fan behaviour “disgusting” and stated that he was unsure of the reason for the vitriol.
Darts table for the 2025 Premier League (as of 12/04/25)
Place
The player
Played matches
Gains
Losses
Difference in legs
Points
1.
Luke Littler
23
17
6.
38
28
2.
Luke Humphries
22
14
8.
14
23
3.
Price, Gerwyn
17
8.
8.
7.
15.
4.
Aspinall, Nathan
18
9.
9.
-3
15.
5.
Gerwen, Michael
18
8.
9.
-9
15.
6.
Rob Cross
16
6.
10.
-11
Twelve
7.
Dobey, Chris
14
4.
10.
-17
7.
8.
Bunting, Stephen
Twelve
3.
9.
-24
5.
After criticism, Nathan Aspinall defends a fellow player.
After a difficult week, the Asp has leaped to his defence.
Aspinall defended Luke Humphries in an interview with SportsBoom. The former world champion claimed that his rigorous schedule made him feel “emotionless” and that fans had criticised him online for being candid about how it had been impacting his mental health. The Premier League, the European Tour, the Players Championship, and the World Series of Darts have all been on Humphries’ 2025 schedule thus far.
After receiving criticism from some online darts fans, he said on X: “Taking into account the remarks, people’s misunderstanding of what I meant… It will be my final public admission of my true feelings. As long as no one objects to us all giving the same responses in interviews, like robots, and not expressing our genuine emotions, whatever I say and do just never seems to be good enough for anyone. Everyone will either be pleased or, more often than not, still find a way to complain about us.
Nathan Aspinall on His Friends’ Distaste for His Darts Player Aspinall’s friends who enjoy darts dislike Humphries.
In an interview with SportsBoom, Aspinall defended Humphries before acknowledging that all of his darts-loving friends just don’t like the world number one.
“He is a true asset to the game. It’s repulsive. I don’t know. You know what, Luke is disliked by everyone in my darts-loving group. To be honest, I am unable to respond to that question. Many of my friends find him intolerable. I have no idea what it is. He is unknown to the public. The true persons are unknown to others. I simply don’t get it, but because he’s a wonderful man, maybe it will change eventually.
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