NATHAN ASPINALL gave a controversial theory over the crowd at the Saudi Arabia Darts Masters.
The PDC are staging their inaugural event in Riyadh.
The two-day tournament features eight of the top-ranked stars in the 16-player knockout format, part of the World Series of Darts.
The landmark tournament is being held at the 1,000-capacity Global Theater, with fans unable to buy or drink alcohol.
Aspinall averaged 100.93 to breeze past PDC Asian Champion Lourence Ilagan 6-1 in his first-round match.
The Asp will play Man Lok Leung in Tuesday’s quarter-final.
But asked whether the PDC’s decision to create an alliance with Saudi Arabia – as Matchroom’s other sports boxing and snooker have already done – will lead to a “long and fruitful relationship”, the world No14 was not so sure.
Honest Aspinall replied to Darts Now: “I don’t know, there’s definitely a long way to go.
“It was certainly different.
“I’m not stupid – I feel like they weren’t all there off their own accord shall we say.
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“And it was quite a small venue but you’ve got to start to somewhere, everything needs to start somewhere.
“As long as people walk away from this week and go, ‘We really enjoyed the darts,’ it gets good coverage and the Saudi Arabian press talk highly of the darts, then there’s no reason why not.
“I know I’ve certainly enjoyed my time out here so far and there’s worse places to be, I could be sat in Glossop in the snow.
“Hopefully we come back again.”
There is £30,000 up for grabs for Tuesday’s winner.
But Aspinall was not the only one to make a point about the fans inside the Global Theater.
‘I KEPT LAUGHING’
The distinct lack of atmosphere was clear for everyone watching the action on TV.
One even joked it made “Bahrain look like a rave” in comparison.
Aspinall, meanwhile, could not help but giggle as the crowd applauded mistakes.
He added: “You look out to the crowd and they’re all watching it.
“The only issue we had, because it’s so new out here, is you throw a dart at a treble 20 and they’d clap – and yet you still have another two darts in your hand.
“We’d throw for a double six and miss on the outside and they’d clap. That’s why I kept laughing. It was quite funny.”
Incredibly, though, despite the quietest atmosphere in PDC history, Danny Noppert decided to wear ear plugs at the oche as he was shocked by Leung.
