Nathan Aspinall has hit out at the “disgusting” online vitriol faced by fellow darts player Luke Humphries, as the latter revealed to Sky Sports the impact of the intense darts circuit on his mental well-being.

Despite Aspinall’s friends harbouring negative views about Humphries, Aspinall stood in defence, confessing to SportsBoom: “He is an absolute credit to the sport. It’s disgusting. I have no idea. You know what, I have a lot of mates that love darts, and no one likes Luke [Humphries].

“Honestly, I can’t give you that answer. A lot of my mates can’t stand him. I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s jealousy ’cause he’s so good. He is great to me.

“There were two lads who came away with me to Berlin last week, who both hated Luke [Humphries].

“We had a few beers in a hotel bar after, and they went ‘I need to apologise to you, I didn’t like you, but you’re a great lad and that’s it’.”

On the oche, Aspinall secured a memorable victory during night ten of the 2025 Premier League in Manchester by beating Humphries 6-4, which catapulted him up to fourth place in the table. However, the larger discourse in the darting community remains centred around Humphries’ candid discussion regarding his struggles with the demanding nature of professional darts.

Aspinall added: “People don’t know him. People don’t know the real people. I just don’t understand it, and you know hopefully it will change at some point because he’s a great guy.

Humphries sparked concern when he revealed his true feelings in a candid chat. He said: “I feel a little bit emotionless. It’s not that I don’t want to be here, it just seems a chore for me at the moment.”

However his honesty was met with a barrage of abuse online, with fans slamming Humphries for his comments.

Clearly taken aback by the backlash, Humphries later took to social media to express his frustration. “Considering the comments, people not understanding what I meant… Will be the last time I ever confess my real feelings to the public. Everything I say or ever do just never seems to be good enough for anybody,” he wrote on X.

This article originally appeared on Daily Record