Emotional Gary Anderson has tear in his eye after playing against his son as darts hero gives vital advice
Scottish star is gearing up for a huge opening World Grand Prix opener against Barney after also facing his boy on stage
Gary Anderson admits it put a tear to his eye to face son Tai on a stage.
But he says father time can still be staved off as he gets set for a World Grand Prix cracker with fellow veteran Raymond van Barneveld.
The Scot and the Dutchman are a headline act in tonight’s mouth-watering opening session of the double-start darts Major in Leicester.
At the age of 54, Anderson is up against the younger generation and even played against his teenage boy in a recent exhibition.
It was a magic moment for the two-time World Champion who said: “It did bring a little tear to my eye seeing him walk on. He takes everything in his stride. He’s mad on it just now. he always wants me to practise and sometimes I don’t do it.
“His attitude needs to change a little bit, he needs to work on a few bits. If he misses something, he gets right narky about it! I went: Look, you’re going to miss things. This is part of the game. If it was too easy, it’d be boring. That’s why we play darts. It’s a cracking game to play.
“He’s always played darts. Just after he walked, we were up to Scotland to my mum’s and my brother bought him a velcro dartboard. "He took the three darts, turned around and he had the perfect stance and the perfect throw. And that was it, a year-and-a-half. But I’ve not pushed him with darts.
“I think if I keep moaning at him not to do it, he’s going to do it, you know? Like they say, they’ll always do the opposite of what their dad tells them! But he loves it. He swaps his darts, he’s worse than Peter Wright. Tai was a massive MVG supporter back in the days, even when I was playing. He’s got other players’ darts. He’s a big favourite of Johnny Clayton’s as well. One day he might play with his dad’s darts!”
Tai’s appearance on the stage might bring home the fact it's twilight time in his career, but Anderson still has the passion.
With a combined age of 112, he and Barney will still light up the Mattioli Arena tonight. Anderson said: “Listen, I still want to play, but I need to be in three different places all at the same time. It’s driving me mad, I’ve got a lot going on away from darts, so it’s trying to just squeeze everything in, but hopefully it’ll calm down at one stage and I can just concentrate back on the darts for a bit.
“When I was practising with Ryan [Searle], the amount of over 110 averages that I’m hitting, it’s constant. It’s just not quite happening on stage yet, but I can’t expect to play well all the time.”
Anderson has a huge period ahead with the first £1 million star to be crowned at the turn of the year at World Championships. It’s a huge boost for the sport’s elite, but the Scot said: “I’d like to see it stay what it was and then the rest of the prize money go towards the first rounds and that for the other lads, like the Europeans and the Pro Tours and that.
“It ain’t getting cheap now. The other week there I went to Germany and I was looking at 1600 quid. That was before throwing a dart. That was flights, car park, hotel. And it adds up quite quickly.
“But a million pounds? Fantastic. It’s great for the game. Just think very shortly there’s going to be a player there that’s won a million pounds playing a game of darts. They always say it’s not about the money, it’s about the World Championships. So lifting that trophy means everything to these boys.
“I’ll still try, but I won’t lose any sleep over it. I’m enjoying playing darts. Win, fantastic. Get beat? I’m home early, see the kids.”