DARTS star James Wade has taken a swipe at the new generation of players, saying the sport is “poorer” because of “robotic” personalities.
Luke Littler has spearded a new era of darts with his exciting performances, with the teenager seen as the future of the sport.
GettyJames Wade believes youngsters in darts today are “very robotic”[/caption]
PALuke Littler is seen as the future of the sport[/caption]
The 18-year-old has been tipped to break a number of landmarks, including Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor’s record of 16 world championships.
He has been credited with bringing a legion of new fans to the sport after competing with the likes of Michael van Gerwen and Luke Humphries at such a young age.
But Wade, who has won 11 PDC major titles in his career, still feels the sport is worse off because a lack of “characters” coming through.
Speaking to the Weekly Dartscast, he said: “When I started or mid-career for me, you had Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis, Wayne Mardle.
“There was loads of them. They were individual characters. For me, it doesn’t feel like it’s like that anymore.
“They feel much of a muchness and they’re very robotic and they’re very good with their interviews. They’re very new.
“It’s changed a lot. I think the game is poorer in some ways because of that. But it’s also the way the world is. The world’s very sleek and uniformed.”
Wade has enjoyed a positive year in darts, with only Luke Littler winning more prize money than him.
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He lost two major finals to the youngster – the UK Open and the World Matchplay – but is still happy with his performances.
Wade added: “I’ve had a brilliant 12 months. I think money-wise, ranking-wise, I’ve been the second-best performing player in this year so far.
“I’m doing well. I’ve not played particularly well, but I’m doing well. I’m getting the right results. I’m grinding out results.
“One of the finals against Luke, I was rubbish. It was a long, long day for me. And the second one, costly double ten at 14-14 massive, massive, massive double. But it’s like relearning again. I’m having another go at it.”
Wade is not the only darts player to criticise the personality of modern day stars.
The legendary Gary Anderson, a two-time world championship winner, said young players were “boring” and were “too busy looking at their phones”.
He said to SportsBoom: “The good old days, that’s when darts players were darts players. Me, Lewis, Taylor, Kevin [Painter], we used to sit and have a crack and a laugh.
“Aidy Lewis was brilliant, and I wish he comes back. I do miss him.
“Nowadays nobody talks to anybody. You don’t have a good laugh; you don’t have a bit of banter.
“The youngsters are boring, absolutely boring. You talk to them, they’re too busy looking at their phone.
“These youngsters, they’re here to do a job. They’ve got to the stage now that they’ve realised, they’ve got a great chance in life to make a lot of bloody money and boost themselves.
“But they need to calm down and think this is my job and that’s it. They’re good but they aren’t that good. That’s what you’ve got to remember.”
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