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Darts professional Nathan Aspinall has demanded action is taken against fans who whistle during major tournaments, after becoming increasingly frustrated by the disruption. The English player faces Kevin Doets on Monday evening in the last 32, following his 3-0 victory over American Leonard Gatesin the World Darts Championship.

Unlike tennis and golf, where silence during crucial moments is expected, darts players must perform in rowdy atmospheres with alcohol-fuelled spectators cheering and jeering throughout matches. Whilst the fiery atmosphere is generally considered part of the sport's atmosphere, whistling appears to particularly irritate elite players.

Whistlers frequently target competitors attempting vital doubles to secure sets or legs, clearly affecting their throwing accuracy. German player Ricardo Pietreczko,eliminated from the Worlds by Andreas Harrysson, previously explained how "p****d off" he became following whistling and booing during his earlier match against Dave Chisnall.

"I don't know," he said. "I think it's an experience with the crowd and the whistling and the booing. It's all an experience to make to myself. Yeah, after the 2-2, I'm a little bit, I don't know, p***ed off about the crowd because it's whistling to me in my throw. It's important for me to not show it to the crowd. In the tournament, it's only me. I want to win this tournament and I'll try my best to do it."

Aspinall has now echoed Pietreczko's sentiments, insisting that there should be repercussions for whistling at the Worlds.

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In a chat with The Sun, he said: "I've said in EuroTours, in my on-stage interviews, will you just stop whistling, enjoy the darts, stop being muppets."

He went on to say: "It's then gone over Instagram and TikTok, saying: 'Nathan lashes out at the crowd...' People will see that but does that encourage them? Because they know they're winding the players up.

"You sit in silence, you don't do anything, it'll continue. You speak out, you say something, it'll continue.

"How do you monitor 10,000 people from sticking their fingers in their mouth to whistle? So, what can be done? I think the people that get caught shouldn't just get kicked out, they should get banned for say five years.

"Something where they're going to feel the effects of what they've done. Then, once a few of them start doing it, hopefully they'll go: 'I'm absolutely gutted, I can't go to the darts, I got a five-year ban from whistling, trust me, don't do it.'"

He added: "I bet it might take a couple of years but maybe that could be something. A lot of darts games are determined by the crowd. The standard is that close. Missing one dart at double 16 on a 109 could lose you that game.

"And then some k***head whistles. Unless you tape everyone's mouths shut when they walk in.

"I just think that if you give people bans once they get kicked out then it might change things."