ASPINALL DROPS RETIREMENT BOMBSHELL
29/05/2025 By Aaron Nijjar
NATHAN ASPINALL has revealed he’ll retire from darts by the time he’s 45 ahead of the Premier League play-offs.
‘The Asp’ booked his place by finishing third in the table and recording two nightly wins.
Two-time major winner Aspinall is aiming to win the tournament for the first time and faces world number one Luke Humphries in the semi-final at the O2.
Stockport ace Aspinall will be looking to go one better than in 2020, when he was beaten by Glen Durrant in the final.
But Aspinall has now admitted that he’s ready to retire within the next 12 years.
He told SportsBoom: “45 and I’m off.
“I’ve said to my partner if that’s me, it is 45. If it’s earlier than that, and we start making golfers’ money and I’ve got 30 million in the bank—happy days, I’ll be off sooner.
“But I don’t think it’s going to happen that quick. But yes, 45 is when I’d like to bugger off.”
Darts has undergone a radical transformation in recent years.
In previous eras, there has always been a dominant force – such as 16-time world champion Phil Taylor, who scaled every height possible during his playing days.
World No. 9 Aspinall thinks things are different now, however, with the 33-year-old also branding the amount of matches on the calendar as ‘obscene’.
He added: “The difference is that the strength in depth now is completely night and day compared to what it was when Phil [Taylor] was my age.
“Compared to even 10 years ago. The calendar is absolutely obscene.
“For us to take a weekend off, I have to pull out events so I’m losing ranking money or whatever because I just need a few days off.
“And I’ve done that over the last couple of weeks because I was in a tight position in the Premier League, I really wanted to make the playoffs.
“I play this game to make money as simple as that—to win a big chunk of money? I made the decision to miss a few Euro tours in between the Premier League nights and so far, it’s paid dividends.
“I just think it’s too busy for people to have such longevity in the game.
“People like me that we’re early thirties, mid-thirties. I’ve said I do believe we are the last of a generation.
“Then afterwards it’s going to be all these kids coming through who are fearless.
“It will stop being called a pub game and it will finally be called a sport I reckon in about five or six years.”
Image by Taylor Lanning.
