ANDERSON’S SON SIGNS BIG DARTS DEAL AT JUST 12

By Phil Lanning

GARY ANDERSON’S son Tai has signed a long-term deal with top darts manufacturer L-Style.

The youngster has been making a name for himself on the oche over the past year or so in the Junior Darts Corporation.  

Now Tai, just 12-years-old, has been snapped up by the top oche form as he bids to follow his dad into the darting spotlight.   

They released the shock signing on social media, stating: “Locked in.  Tai Anderson signs a multi-year deal with L-style! 

“He’s trusted our gear by choice for years. Now we’re officially backing his career alongside his Unicorn tungsten. “The Anderson pedigree speaks for itself. Let’s get to work, Tai!”  

Two-time world champ Anderson, 55, vowed at the end of last year that he wanted to play on until he was 60 and hopefully play his son on the World Championship stage at the Ally Pally. He said: “I was having a laugh with Tai. The way wee Tai’s playing now and I do not practice with him. He does it all himself. He puts in his own practice.  

“Monday night, he plays in a pub, a tournament. Tuesday, he plays for a pub. Thursday, he plays JDC. Friday, he plays for a pub. And Saturday, Sunday, he plays tournaments and he does it all off his own back. 

“We might have an odd game of 121 for about 10 minutes and that’s it, but, I tell you what, if I can keep going to 60, he might be on that stage, I might get a shot at him. 

“There is a chance, yeah. If I make 60 and can stand upright, but there is a chance.   

“I mean, the way he’s going, I think he’s about 1,600 points clear at the JDC on the things that they do over the eight or 12 weeks. He’s going alright.”

But Anderson laughed off any suggestion he’d give his boy – who is 11-years-old – an easy win on the stage.  

He added: “Would you beat your son up there, though? Yeah, of course I would! He wouldn’t have talked to me for the rest of my life! 

“He enjoys darts, so I always have a joke with him. I say: Look, when I retire, I ain’t driving you to the darts tournaments like what I’ve done for the last 30-odd years.

“And number two, you’ll never be as good as your old man. Which is good because I hope that gives him a kick up the backside to say: ‘Oh yeah, I’m going to show you’. That’s the kind of temperament that you need.”