Interview: Darts Players Kyle Anderson and Aden Kirk

Nottingham has long had a strong connection with arrows – and we don't mean the sort associated with Robin Hood. Back in the eighties, the legendary Bullseye was filmed here at Carlton Studios; while Capital FM Arena has been one of the various venues around the country used by Sky Sports' Premier League Darts, pulling in crowds of 8,000 each year to see big names like Phil 'The Power' Taylor and Raymond 'Barney' Van Barneveld.

One thing that has stopped Nottingham from ever being able to challenge Stoke-on-Trent for the title of darts capital of the UK is the fact that we've never had a bona fide tungsten-lobbing star of our own. However, that could be about to change. At the beginning of 2014, Australian dart player Kyle Anderson took the plunge and relocated halfway across the world in a bid to further enhance a flourishing reputation within the game – and he decided to base himself in the best city around, Nottingham. A softly-spoken 26-year-old, Kyle grew up in Perth, and is Australia's first ever Aboriginal professional darts player. He first began making a name for himself in the UK back in December 2013 at the PDC World Championship at Alexandra Palace, when he threw a nine-dart finish on live television – the dart world’s equivalent of a 147 break in snooker. This earned Kyle £15,000 in prize money, which made it financially possible for him, his partner and three-year-old son to move to the UK – which is very much darts’ land of opportunity.

But why Nottingham? Kyle's decision to choose our city was admittedly a practicality more than anything else – it was largely because his manager, Chris Clegg, is based here. Nevertheless, Kyle has very much taken to life in Hoodtown – having settled in digs in The Park. Surprisingly, as a man used to blazing sunshine in his home country, he's not been too fazed by the generally rammell weather here in the UK. "Everyone calls me crazy for coming across here, weather-wise," he says. "But I've lived in thirty plus degree heat the majority of my life. It's good to have a change. As for Nottingham, I felt settled within the first two weeks of being here. And I've had mushy peas! They didn't seem too bad... I'm still getting to know the place, though. I've not managed to get to any football matches either – most of the games fall on weekends when I'm playing in darts events. But I would love to go to one."

In sacrificing the opportunity to go and watch Forest or County, Kyle has been putting in some solid work on the UK darts circuit. He recently achieved a high-point for 2014 with a tournament victory against five-time World Champion Raymond Van Barneveld – and at mid-September, he was sitting at 90th in the PDC world rankings. He is however setting his sights much higher – and has given himself two years to make a success of his move to the UK. "Ideally I'd like it to work in this first year," he says, "but darts is a tough sport, and the rewards sometimes don't come straight away. You've really got to work at it. I might do really well and go up the rankings. Or I might get smashed in the first game."Kyle certainly has the ability to go up the rankings - something evidenced by that majestic nine-dart finish back in December 2013, against Ian White. This was made all the more special by the fact that his brother Beau – also a darts player – was there to share the moment with him. "The first two 180s, to be honest, I don't remember at all," he recalls. "The 141 is the main thing I remember. The treble 20 went in, the 57 went in, and then I knew I had to hit 24 to make sure of it. I took my time on it and it went in.

"As soon as it went in my first thoughts were to my brother in the crowd. At any sport, the thing you dream of is to do something with your sibling by your side. So to have Beau there was special. I remember dropping to my knees and the crowd going insane. I watch a lot of football and when someone scores the crowd goes mad – and that's what it felt like for me. It was amazing knowing that you've made history and done something on TV that no-one from Australia has ever done at the World Championship."

Kyle is by no means the only player who is starting to put Nottingham on the darting map. Also based in the city is Kirk Shepherd – a player originally from Kent, who rose to prominence back in 2008 when he entered the PDC World Championship as an unknown and defied the odds to finish runner-up. Kirk hasn't managed to hit those heights since, but is hoping a fresh start in Nottingham under Kyle's manager Chris Clegg will help him rediscover the magic. Unfortunately Kirk wasn't available to chat to LeftLion – however, we were able to grab a word with another of Chris Clegg's growing stable of darting talent... and a homegrown one to boot. Born and bred in Notts, 22-year-old Aden Kirk grew up in Eastwood – and announced himself to the darting world earlier in 2014 when he entered the UK Open and caused one of the biggest shocks darts has seen in ages with a televised victory against the man widely regarded as the greatest player of all time.

Naturally, beating Phil 'The Power' Taylor was a proud moment for Aden – and he went on to prove it was no fluke either, by dumping Peter Wright out in the next round. Aden's feet however remain very much on the ground – for after eventually getting eliminated from the tournament himself, he returned home to where he still lives with his mum and dad... and was back in work on the Monday morning at his job in the Giorgio's Continental factory in Eastwood.

Aden does have his sights set on jacking in the day job to turn full-time professional, as Kyle has done – and already, since his success in the UK Open, he’s cut his hours at the factory, which means he has more time to perfect his craft. He says, "I've gone down from forty hours a week to thirty – I finish at one o'clock now, which means I have more time for practising. Before I was getting home at half past four, and then by the time I'd had my dinner and had a bath it'd be half past six – and so there wasn't really much time left to practise, only a couple of hours a night. Now though I can practise for five or six hours. Every day I'm straight into that spare bedroom – the darts room. I don't get out much."

So what does Aden remember of that victory against Phil Taylor? "Not much to be honest," he says. "Before the game I just wanted to go up there and win one leg. It was my first time on telly – and leading up to the game, at that point where they tell you you're on in five minutes, I was really nervous. But then when the music started playing and the fans started cheering, I just felt really relaxed and took it all in my stride. And luckily enough for me, Taylor didn't turn up and all my doubles seemed to go in.

"A few people have stopped me in the street since. The biggest thing for me though from beating Taylor is not people recognising me, but the self-belief it gave me… I never used to believe in myself. But now I know I've got the game." Aden's success in the UK Open has seen him join Kyle in the PDC's world top 100 rankings – as of mid-September he was sitting four places below his Australian counterpart at 94th. It seems then that Nottingham is well-placed to kick on and rise to the very forefront of the world of darts. We may even see a bit of a Nottingham darts-music crossover too at some point in the future, as Chris Clegg has been talking to The Swiines – a local band, featuring Jake Bugg's cousin – about the possibility of them recording some walk-on music for his stable of players. So go on Aden, stick your neck on the line. Can Nottingham eclipse Stoke-on-Trent and become the darts capital of the UK? "I think we can, yeah!" he says. "I really do. There's me, there's Kyle, and hopefully there'll be some more players come through from Nottingham. The quality that Kyle's got, in my opinion, he'll be a top sixteen player in the next few years. He's really good, and hopefully I'll be the same. Fingers crossed!"

Thanks to Matt Rankin at Unicorn for letting us use their premises in Nottingham as a venue for our interviews.