“We’d end up falling out after nine darts” - Gary Anderson sees son Tai following in his footsteps but rules out playing pairs

Gary Anderson has experienced almost everything darts has to offer during his remarkable career. The two-time world champion became one of the finest players of his generation, but these days he is also keeping a close eye on the next one.

In particular, his 12-year-old son Tai is already making an impression at the board. One thing Anderson cannot see happening anytime soon, though, is the pair joining forces in a doubles event. “No, because we’d end up falling out after nine darts have been thrown,” the Scot joked during an extensive interview with Online Darts.

Anderson was speaking at the launch of Unicorn’s new 2027 collection, where he reflected on his career and looked ahead to the future of the sport. That included the progress of his son.

Tai Anderson is already producing some eye-catching numbers for his age, although his father insists he has had very little influence on the way he plays. “He’s doing all right,” Anderson said. “To be honest, he’s not got the greatest role model for practising, and he doesn’t do it. He was away playing last night and I think I saw him throw for about two minutes before he left the house.”

Despite Anderson himself being renowned for one of the most natural throws in the game, he says he has never tried to teach his son how to throw. “He’s had the same throw and I’ve never shown him a thing,” he said. “I don’t know if he’s doing it just to cheese me off, but he’s winning and he’s doing all right. He’s only 12. I say that to him: ‘You’re just a kid.’”

Asked whether, once his professional career is over, he might one day enter a doubles tournament alongside Tai, Anderson did not need long to think about it. “No, because we’d end up falling out after nine darts have been thrown,” he laughed. “He’d be moaning at me or I’d be moaning at him. I don’t think we could play pairs. We’ll have a wee chuck now in the house and within three minutes all hell breaks loose.”

Anderson also joked that his advice does not always carry much weight at home. “I’m just Dad that knows nothing,” he said. “You try to help them, but these kids just do not listen.”

Ty is not the only young Scottish player Anderson has been watching closely. Mitchell Lawrie has emerged as one of the country’s most highly rated prospects and turns 16 in November, potentially opening the door to a move onto the professional circuit.

Anderson believes the ability is already there. “I’d like to see him play. He’s definitely good enough,” he said when asked whether Lawrie should pursue a Tour Card. “Would it be a bit too much? I don’t know. It’s entirely what his head’s like. He could come straight across and just ramp it. He could do really well.”

At the same time, Anderson sees no need for Lawrie to rush. “He’ll be 16, so he’s got at least another 30 years in front of him,” he added. “It’s a long, long road, but it’s entirely up to him what he wants to do. Whatever he feels comfortable with, that’s what he should do.”

Looking back over his own career, Anderson is struck by just how far darts has come. He has lived through the sport’s transformation from relatively modest venues to arenas packed with tens of thousands of spectators.

“The way darts has progressed over the years, from playing in the wee pubs... when the Premier League first started it was little venues, boozers,” he said. “Look at it now. Tens and tens of thousands of people watching. It’s come on leaps and bounds.”

The interview also brought up one of the more unusual stories from Anderson’s BDO days, when he developed a reputation for throwing sets of darts into the lake at Lakeside. The Scot insists it was never the angry reaction many assumed.

“I used to do it anyway,” he explained. “I actually won the Gold Cup and the winning darts went into the lake anyway. I used to do it for a bit of fun. Everyone says it was me being too bad-tempered, but it wasn’t. We used to have a bit of a laugh. End of the year, the darts were in the lake, win or lose.”

For all he achieved after those BDO days, Anderson remains reluctant to place himself alongside the greatest players in darts history.

“I don’t like talking about it,” he admitted. “If you mentioned darts, I’d be saying Taylor, Bristow and that. I wouldn’t even think about mentioning myself. But I’ve done all right, Phil. I’ve done all right.”

Anderson won back-to-back World Championships in 2015 and 2016 and collected major titles across one of the strongest eras the PDC has seen, but his own assessment remains understated.

“I’ve enjoyed it,” he said. “There’s been ups and downs, goods and bads, but that’s the way the road of life takes you. I have enjoyed it.”

Phil Taylor naturally stands out when Anderson looks back at the opponents who brought the best out of him.“I think it would have to have been Taylor, just playing Taylor,” he recalled. “I always said I was going to beat him. Everyone said, ‘You’re winding us up.’ The first time I played him, I beat him in the final. I said, ‘That was me, I proved my point,’ but he battered me for the next five years afterwards.”

Another opponent Anderson particularly enjoyed facing was Adrian Lewis, whose fast, natural style made their meetings particularly appealing to the Scot.

“I loved playing Adrian Lewis because it was a proper game of darts,” Anderson said. “Just go up there and play the game. To me, that’s the way it should be.”

Whether the two-time world champion ever makes a sustained return remains uncertain, but Anderson would be happy to see it.

“I hope so, but I don’t know,” he said. “He keeps saying, ‘I ain’t coming back.’ Whatever he chooses, I wish him all the best. Great, great talent and one of the most natural darts players there was.”

Anderson may be reluctant to put himself among the legends he grew up watching, but his own career now stretches across several eras of the sport, from BDO halls and Lakeside to packed PDC arenas. Ty and the next generation are beginning their own journeys in a very different game.