"I’m showing people that the darts world and the sports world is not closed off to you if you’re LGBT+" - Huw Ware on breaking down barriers as a PDC referee

Huw Ware has become one of the leading referees in the sport of darts over the last few years. So much so that the Welshman was granted the honour of calling the winning darts in the recent 2025 PDC World Darts Championship final between Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen. In the process, Ware is looking to prove darts is a sport open to all.

“My life has changed somewhat. I’m just so grateful for it and I never take any of it for granted," reflects the 31-year-old in conversation with Wales Online. “It’s weird because I’ve never been that good at maths and I was pretty poor at maths before I got into darts as a boy. My maths improved because of darts – not the other way around. I’m not brilliant at maths now. I can just add up quickly and I know the dartboard like the back of my hand. It’s hard to explain – I just know treble 19 is 57. I know what number the colours equate to. So adding up darts scores has become second nature. It just comes out of my mouth.”

On his rise through the darting ranks, Ware has had plenty of pinch me moments too. "I started watching darts when I was 11. I still remember the game: Phil Taylor and Dennis Priestley 2005 World Matchplay second round. I was hooked. That’s the thing about darts. You don’t need to know anything about it and quite quickly you’re addicted because it’s very easy viewing and it’s fun. I certainly got addicted and I bought a dartboard and darts and that was it. It’s actually really therapeutic," he recalls. “Dennis Priestley was always one of my favourites since that first match, and another favourite was John Part. I still love him. We have chats now and again and I’m thinking: ‘I’ve just spoken to John Part about my day. That was really cool.’"

"The weird thing about it was I started officiating players that I’d been watching as a boy on TV. Because I started so young these were all the same players that I’d idolised," he adds. "And there I was telling them their score. Insane. It’s only now with this new generation coming through that I’m officiating players I wasn’t watching as a kid.”

In the aforementioned Ally Pally final between Littler and Van Gerwen, Ware made history as the first openly gay man to referee a PDC World Darts Championship. Ware has long been a vocal ambassador of LGBT+ in darts, setting up 'Out on the Oche' – a group dedicated to furthering opportunities for LGBT+ people in the sport. “I never got into darts to be an advocate for LGBT+ equality,” he says of his role. “But I’ve found myself in this position now and the best thing I can offer is visibility I think. I’m not going to say I dedicate my life 24/7 to making this world a better place for LGBT+ people – I don’t. But I hope that by being up there on that stage I’m showing people that the darts world and the sports world is not closed off to you if you’re LGBT+. It’s for you and the opportunities are there for you to go on and achieve."

“I think sometimes from the outside it’s easy to see stereotypes and believe as an LGBT+ person it’s not a sport for you," continues Ware. "I have lots of friends on the playing side and the non-playing side and they’re straight and very masculine guys who might fit a certain stereotype. But they’re my good friends. As I sit here now I feel like I’m in a great place in the sport. I’ve not always felt like that. At the beginning there were some difficulties there which were tough for me – very much so. I didn’t feel understood or accepted. I didn’t really feel wanted and as if I belonged among these people. I very much feel I do belong now."

That's not to say things are perfect though, as shown by the abuse given to trans darter Noa-Lynn van Leuven amidst her recent successes. “Don’t get me wrong – there is still a way to go. In our group Out on the Oche people from all over Europe share their experiences and a lot of the things I’m reading on there are negative which is very sad. But we’re making progress. What people are telling me is: ‘Thank God a group like this exists because it’s a reminder that you’re not alone.' Everyone wants someone they can relate to,” concludes Ware.