NATHAN ASPINALL blasted that social media is “vile and disgusting” after receiving online abuse.
The World No.4, a mentor to Luke Littler and in the same management stable, revealed that his family have been getting threats after defeats.
Aspinall, 32, lost his opening Premier League clash in Cardiff last week and faces Michael van Gerwen in Berlin on Thursday.
But after reaching the last eight of the Masters, he hit out: “They say darts players are the most accessible on social media.
"Some of the abuse I’m getting at the moment, it’s absolutely disgusting.
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"People forget we are human beings. I’m going through a rough patch. I am the first to admit I am struggling at the moment.
“I am in the hardest possible tournament in the world of our sport.
"But I’m still turning up every week and trying my best up there. So you know what give the guy a break.
“Let me play my game and stop giving me s**t and let me go and concentrate.
“It’s up to us to put avenues in place to stop the abuse coming through to me personally.
“Peter Wright and I are getting it in the Premier League and obviously last Thursday night didn’t go the way I wanted it to go.
“But what people forget is that it’s really hard, darts isn’t easy.
“It’s hard not to think about that on stage when you are losing or you are not playing well.
“That might be a negative about me letting it get in my head. All I can say is that I’m trying my best.
“I’ve got the best team possible around me. My family are fantastic.
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“I’m off it now, it’s vile and a disgusting place. It's embarrassing that human society is disgusting.”
Littler, like his mentor, is having to navigate the world of social media trolls following his rise to stardom last year.
Aspinall said of the 17-year-old in an interview with Planet Sport: “I think he can handle the darts.
"I think it’s the other stuff that may have an effect on him.
“At the end of the day, he’s just a kid playing darts, he doesn’t care about the money, he just loves playing darts.
“I think playing darts every single day won’t affect him.
"I think the travelling and the media could have a bit of an impact on him.
“But I’m confident. He’s got the same manager as me. We’ve got a fantastic management team around us.
“As long as he doesn’t get ahead of himself and think he’s the ‘big man’ which I don’t think he will because he’s not that type of guy. I think he’ll be fine.
