Premier League Darts admits different sport is ‘biggest passion’ | Other | Sport
Darts might be his profession, but snooker is Nathan Aspinall’s passion. The Premier League star and former World Matchplay champion is an avid watcher of the game and regularly plays, even if he uses a five-letter swear word to describe his ability.
Darts and family commitments aside, the Asp will be glued to a screen during the World Championship, where he’ll be hoping Judd Trump can take his second Crucible crown. “I absolutely love my snooker,” declares the 33-year-old. “That and golf are two of my biggest passions. I’m just absolutely s**** at snooker! I just can’t get good at it. I try and try. I do play a lot, I’m just pants at it. In fact, I’m getting worse. The more I play, the worse I get!”
As a result, Aspinall has reluctantly swerved invites to participate in darts/snooker collaboration events.
“I’ve been asked to do a collab with some of the snooker players but I don’t want to make an idiot of myself,” he admits. “I don’t like it live. I went to watch it live last year and didn’t think much of it. I prefer watching it on tele. It’s a big passion, I love it. Judd Trump is my favourite player.”
When speaking to a darts player about snooker, it would be remiss not to ask the perennial question: What’s tougher – a nine-darter of a 147 break? Aspinall can see both sides of the argument. He says: “I always used to say the 147 until Luke Humphries reworded it, [saying], ‘What’s harder as a professional to do?’
“I think as an amateur, the 147 is harder. But I agree with what Humphries said. If you’re a professional, a nine-darter is harder.”
Despite being a keen golfer too, a hole-in-one doesn’t come into the equation. “No one aims for the hole,” says Aspinall. “I’m a half-decent golfer and you aim for a 10-foot radius, you don’t aim for the hole.”
Masters snooker Shaun Murphy is the perennial pot-stirrer in the debate after claiming to have completed the unique treble of a nine-darter and a hole-in-one, as well as numerous maximum breaks.
The Magician annoyed Humphries during Paddy Power’s Perfect Challenge, a charity event involving stars from both sports, at the end of last year. Giving his opinion on the debate, the 2024 world champion said: “I think if you’re an amateur – you don’t play snooker, you don’t play golf, you don’t play darts – you give them a snooker cue, some darts and a golf club…
“I think they’d do the hole-in-one first, the nine-darter second and then the 147 last. I think that would be harder. But to a professional, I think a nine-darter is harder than a 147.”
After overhearing, Murphy couldn’t help but retort with a light-hearted jab, saying: “I didn’t know you were a comedian too.”
Humphries fired back: “What’s funny about that? Did you hear what I said, though? When you know all the angles… You’ve seen you two – Mark’s [Williams] come close [to a maximum] already.
“That’s my opinion. When you’re a professional, you make it look easy to hit a 147. Stats show it too. In frames and legs of darts, there are more 147s than nine-darters.”
After completing his latest 147 break against Zhou Jinhao at the World Open in China, Murphy was told in an interview that he was giving darts players “some ammunition” in the long-running debate.
He quipped: “Maybe we’re just better at what we do, I don’t know. That has been said by some.” But he added: “In all seriousness, I never really wanted to compare the things. It started with me and [dart commentator and ex-player] Wayne Mardle having a drink, discussing which was more difficult.
“I’m sure there are more things out there more difficult than each other. Listen, I’ve made snooker look very difficult at times. When it goes well, I’m really pleased.”
