Nathan Aspinall recalls bad nerves that inflict nasty rash: "When I do stuff that’s out of my comfort zone, I’d get dead blotchy"

Many can picture Nathan Aspinall on the big stage in front of thousands of fans chanting the lyrics to Mr Brightside as 'The Asp' conducts. That seemed like light years away when he was a kid as he unveiled how bad his nerves were, giving him a rash at times.

Aspinall is a very boisterous and confident character when stepping onto the stage. This lends itself to his on stage persona matched with class and quality on the oche. The two-time major champion has competed in all of the biggest events and is widely recognised as one of the best darters in the world.

To stand on that big stage and perform, you need big cojones. Aspinall has that in abundance, but away from the oche he can struggle with nerves.

This stemmed from his childhood when it was really bad. “I was really nervous as a kid," he said on the Double Tops Podcast.

These nerves still appear now in certain scenarios. “Still get nervous now doing stuff like this, you know what I mean? But when I talk about darts because I do it every single day, it doesn’t bother me that much. But when I do stuff that’s out of my comfort zone, I’d get dead blotchy and stuff like that.

“When I was a kid in school, I didn’t do my English exam because I couldn’t stand up in front of the class to do my presentation. That’s how bad I was. And even now, after all these years, I still get it when I’m talking about stuff that I don’t really know what I’m talking about. But yeah, probably the rash will probably come out.”

Aspinall was in the headlines at the start of the year after missing out on appearing in the Premier League Darts for a sixth consecutive year. The 2020 runner-up reached finals night the year and backed it up with some solid performances throughout the year, including a run to the final of the Players Championship Finals and three Euro Tour triumphs, leaving him as the number one in Europe.

However, a poor showing at the PDC World Darts Championship and a sharp ranking drop meant that other names got the call over him. At the time he was not happy about it, but after pondering on it for some time, there are positives to take from it while a quiet confidence that his absence will not be for too much longer.

“I’ll be in it next year," he predicted. “I think I’ll be in it. It’s done me the world of good being off this year. I’m not going to lie. It really has it. I love it. But five years doing it is tough."

A chance to get away from the headlines and media is something Aspinall is relieved about. “The scrutiny on you when you’re in it every single week, you’re on Sky, you in the limelight, you’re getting criticised on social media. It’s just been nice to just take a back burner and see everyone else getting slated for it. It is nice. I’m planning the wedding.”