ASPINALL CALLS FOR FIVE-YEAR BAN FOR WHISTLING FANS
28/12/2025 By Aaron Nijjar
NATHAN ASPINALL has proposed that anyone caught whistling to interfere with players should face a five-year ban from darts competitions.
The Stockport star believes it’s time for a serious crackdown on the behaviour, which he feels is spiralling out of control and spoiling the game.
However, ‘The Asp’ hasn’t let the ongoing disruptions affect his form this season, picking up THREE European Tour titles and making it to the final of the Players Championship Finals.
World No15 Aspinall admits he is fed up with spectators trying to throw off the players during critical moments at the oche.
He told SunSport: “I’ve said in EuroTours, in my on-stage interviews, will you just stop whistling, enjoy the darts, stop being muppets.
“It’s then gone over Instagram and TikTok, saying: ‘Nathan lashes out at the crowd…’
“People will see that but does that encourage them? Because they know they’re winding the players up.
“You sit in silence, you don’t do anything, it’ll continue. You speak out, you say something, it’ll continue.
“How do you monitor 10,000 people from sticking their fingers in their mouth to whistle?
“So, what can be done? I think the people that get caught shouldn’t just get kicked out, they should get banned for say five years.
“Something where they’re going to feel the effects of what they’ve done.
“Then, once a few of them start doing it, hopefully they’ll go: ‘I’m absolutely gutted, I can’t go to the darts, I got a five-year ban from whistling, trust me, don’t do it.’
“I bet it might take a couple of years but maybe that could be something.
“A lot of darts games are determined by the crowd. The standard is that close. Missing one dart at double 16 on a 109 could lose you that game.
“And then some k***head whistles. Unless you tape everyone’s mouths shut when they walk in.
“I just think that if you give people bans once they get kicked out then it might change things.”
The two-time major champion has been in impressive form at the World Championship, securing victories over Lourence Ilagan and Leonard Gates to advance to the third round.
Aspinall is set to return to action on December 29, where he will face Kevin Doets for a coveted spot in the last 16 at Ally Pally.
Image by Taylor Lanning.
