World Darts Federation | Transphobia in darts: WTF WDF?

In darts , men and women compete in the same events. Five years ago, darts player Fallon Sherrock dominated sports headlines by becoming the first woman to beat a man in the World Championship . Men have no obvious physical advantages over women when throwing darts that average 22 grams in weight. Darts is primarily a mental sport. On average, however, female professional darts players do not play at the same level as their male opponents. This is due to structural factors: significantly more men practice the sport, usually coming into contact with it at an earlier age, so they start playing earlier and receive support earlier. This is why exclusive women's tournaments are held.

Noa-Lynn van Leuven is one of the best players in her sport. But she is no longer allowed to compete in the Women's World Championship. Van Leuven is a transgender woman , biologically born a boy , and has therefore been officially banned from World Darts Federation (WDF) tournaments since July 28.

WDF contradicts itself

To put this into perspective: The WDF is only the second most important darts association for women's competitions after the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), but is the only darts association to organize its own women's world championship. The PDC organizes financially more lucrative tournaments for women, but not an exclusive world championship. Instead, the PDC reserves four starting places for women at the world championship, which is open to all genders. Female darts players qualify for this via the PDC Women's Series. The other qualification routes are open to all genders. Trans athletes are still allowed to compete in women's competitions at the PDC, but this is no longer the case at the WDF - although the association stated the opposite in April: "Until clearer studies on the visuospatial differences (in trans women) are available, the WDF will continue to allow transgender athletes to participate in women's ranking tournaments," the association wrote on its website. The studies in question do not exist to this day. Nevertheless, the association decided to make a U-turn .

Noa-Lynn van Leuven expressed her disappointment on Instagram: "The decision hits me personally, but thankfully not quite as hard at this moment." She can still play in the more important PDC tournaments, and the decision on her participation in the World Championship will be made at the end of October. "Still, it hurts," the Dutchwoman wrote. The decision is another defeat for the trans community in sport. "This breaks my heart." At the same time, she offers encouragement to other trans athletes: "We remain visible. We keep going."

Hatred and resistance

This isn't the first resistance van Leuven has encountered in her career. Just a few days before the WDF decision, the 28-year-old played in the Women's World Matchplay in Blackpool, a PDC event. Three women in the audience protested van Leuven's participation, shouting discriminatory insults at her; one of them held up a sign reading "He's a man." The group was ordered out of the venue by security, and PDC CEO Matt Porter fumed: "The filth that was hurled at Noa-Lynn is completely unacceptable." The player herself reacted calmly: "I love this game too much, why should I let anyone ruin my passion for darts?"

Van Leuven has repeatedly had to deal with hate . She received death threats online, so she admitted to feeling uncomfortable in public at times, fearing that the threats might be nearby. While male darts professionals expressed their support, there was repeated resistance against van Leuven among women: English darts player Deta Hedman refused to play in a match against van Leuven. Anca Zijlstra and Aileen de Graaf withdrew from the Dutch national team in protest against their compatriot.

Van Leuven was already able to refute some of the accusations in 2024: "Sometimes I'm accused of having an advantage because of my height. But look at Phil Taylor ." The Briton is considered the best professional darts player of all time, having won sixteen world championships and many other titles. At 1.73 meters, however, the Briton is shorter than most of his opponents. Even the current best player, Luke Littler, isn't much taller at 1.75 meters. Van Leuven further explained that there are people who come up with a study from handball that shows differences in the throw between men and women, specifically in the backswing and the lunge movement. "Well, the last time I played darts, I didn't do a backswing or a lunge. It's fucking darts. What are we talking about?"