"The level of abuse she's recieving is unacceptable" - PDC CEO Matt Porter stands up for Noa-Lynn van Leuven

Monday, 08 April 2024 at 11:00

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In recent weeks, there has been a particular buzz around Noa-Lynn van Leuven. The Dutch transwoman was successful on both the PDC Women's Series and the Challenge Tour.

Van Leuven received a lot of abuse on social media in the wake of her recent success and fellow darters Anca Zijlstra and Aileen de Graaf, even caused a stir when they decided they no longer want to be part of the Dutch women's national team if van Leuven continues to be involved.

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"It's a very sensitive issue and clearly it's not just darts that's being effected. Frankly, the level of abuse she's recieving is unacceptable," said Matt Porter, CEO of the PDC in conversation with Weekly Dartscast. "There are no grounds whatsoever for people to be voicing their opinions in such offensive ways."

Porter is closely monitoring the situation. "Whether it's right or not to mute the comments is something we're reviewing. We're taking advice from people who are operating in that space more regularly than we are," he explains. "The PDC has always been about inclusion and contrary to what some people who are newer to darts might think, we don't have men's events. So when I read headlines about how Noa-Lynn had won a women's event and a men's event in the same week, from a national newspaper, it's just an absolute disgrace."

"The standard of clickbait on darts since the World Championship, whether it's Luke Littler, Noa-Lynn van Leuven, Michael van Gerwen, Luke Humphries or whoever, is disgusting," Porter continues. "There's a lot of people out there, who call themselves journalists that need to start looking at themselves on that basis. I'm not talking about people that cover darts week in week out, they understand the sport and respect the sport and write high quality material."

"But, a lot of people have decided to capitalise on darts new-found position in society and churn out stuff that is often offensive, inaccurate and misleading. It's not good enough," Porter concludes.

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🗣️ "A lot of people have decided to capitalise on darts new-found position in society and churn out stuff that is often offensive, inaccurate and misleading. It's not good enough." @MattPorter_PDC on Noa-Lynn van Leuven's recent success and the rise in click bait headlines