Nathan Aspinall reminded ‘idiots’ in the crowd they were preventing good darts by whistling during matches.
Aspinall’s third round clash against Gerywn Price at the International Darts Open in Germany was marred by a handful of misbehaving patrons.
‘The Asp’ did it the hard way against Price as he came back from 5-2 down to beat the former world champion 6-5.
He completed victory with an impressive 121 checkout to deny Price, who needed double 20, one final chance to win.
However, Aspinall’s immediate post-match thoughts turned to the crowd.
Amidst his celebrations, Aspinall made a whistling gesture before moving his hand across his throat to signal it needed to stop.
The Stockport native then called out a select few ‘idiots’ in his post-match interview.
“All I want to say is the whistling affects us players,” Aspinall said.
“Chant or cheer, do what you want, but stop whistling regardless of whoever is playing, whether you like them or not.
“You pay your money to watch good darts and you’re preventing that from happening.
“It annoys us as players. The five or six people in the crowd — you know who you are — just stop being idiots.
“Then everyone will have a laugh and have a beer to just enjoy some good darts.”
PDCAspinall made a whistling gesture towards the crowd in Germany…[/caption]
PDCAnd let them know what he felt about the whole saga[/caption]
The issue of whistling during darts matches has reared its ugly head in recent months.
Night two of this year’s Premier League was marred by constant whistles and boos by pockets of fans at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow.
The worst of it came during reigning world champion Luke Littler‘s matches against Rob Cross and Luke Humphries.
So loud was the noise, referee Kirk Bevins stepped in to tell the crowd to quieten down and show the competitors some respect.
The whistling sparked widespread condemnation on social media and from the PDC themselves, as they issued a stern statement and threatened to eject those who ‘behave inappropriately’ in the future.
Perhaps more darts players will be inclined to follow Price and Michael Smith when it comes to dealing with unruly spectators.
ViaplayPrice previously gave whistling spectators a taste of their own medicine[/caption]
During a Premier League contest in 2024, Smith came up against Littler and the crowd but sent them into stunned silence when he completed a thrilling 6-5 win.
After he pinned the winning dart, ‘Bully Boy’ turned to the crowd, whistled and shouted ‘shut up’.
As for Price, he responded to a heckler in Glasgow by hitting a maximum and whistling back during his match against Humphries.
Price and Humphries shared a fist bump before the former turned around and mouthed ‘f*** off’.
