Nathan Aspinall urges PDPA to improve mental health support within the sport

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Nathan Aspinall calls for more mental health support in darts

Local sports personality Nathan Aspinall has urged the Professional Darts Players Association (PDPA) to provide better mental health support moving forward.

It’s not the first time ‘The Asp’ has called for more awareness and provision when it comes to player welfare and mental wellbeing, specifically, which remains a prevailing societal problem in general.

The Greater Manchester native has opened up about his own struggles many times in the past and has made a public plea for the PDPA to intervene and offer more help.

Speaking at the 2026 PDC World Darts Championships after his opening round victory, the 34-year-old instead chose to focus on more important issues than his strong start.

As you can see, Aspinall began by stating that “the PDPA now need to step in and help these guys because there’s a lot of guys suffering.”

Having long been an champion for male mental health, in particular – supporting the local Healthy Minds practices in his hometown of Stockport, for instance – he’s been one of the outspoken player on the subject for some time.

Noting that there are at least “two or three people” he refused to name, his message was simple: “There’s a lot of fantastic dart players in our sport, but it’ll be a shame to see so many of them go because of mental health”

The 2019 UK Open and 2023 World Matchplay winner has battled with multiple obstacles, including an ocular condition known as bilateral traumatic Brown’s syndrome, as well bursitis, which causes inflammation around key joints.

But it’s not necessarly injuries and the physical side of things that have been his biggest concern.

One of the biggest and most recurring challenges for him has been ‘dartitis’, which many players within the discipline wrestle with the more their careers progress.

Aspinall has confessed to suffering almost chronic panic attacks due to the mental blocks (also commonly known as ‘the yips’) brought about by the intense pressure of playing on stage/live on TV.

With that in mind, it’s great to see him not only back on form and pulling impressive performance such as his ‘big fish’ finish on Friday night, but continuing to draw more attention to the underlying mental health crisis, especially among men. Well played, Nath.

You can watch his post-match interview in full down below.

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Featured Images — Sandro Halank (via Wikimedia Commons)/Live Darts (screenshot via YouTube)

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