England Darts resorts to public fundraising as ongoing legal discrimination case strains finances

England Darts has launched a public fundraising appeal, warning that mounting legal costs linked to an ongoing legal discrimination case are now placing a significant strain on the organisation’s finances and affecting its ability to support England’s international teams.

In a public statement issued this week, the England Darts Organisation said it has already spent around £10,000 defending the case and could face a further bill of approximately £45,000 should the matter proceed to a full trial. The volunteer-run body says the financial burden has begun to divert resources away from its core role of supporting England representation at the international level.

England Darts receives no funding from Sport England or the National Lottery, instead relying on modest surpluses generated by domestic tournaments to fund men’s, women’s, boys’ and girls’ teams competing at World, European and British Championship events. It says the scale and duration of the legal proceedings have disrupted that model, prompting the organisation to seek help from the wider darts community.

The case centres on a discrimination claim arising from a decision taken in 2024 to refuse entry to a transgender player, Samantha Lewis, at the England Open. The dispute also involves comments made about Deta Hedman, a long-standing figure within the organisation who holds a number of official roles. The governing body says it has had no choice but to contest the claim, with the matter remaining unresolved as legal costs continue to rise.

England Darts has stressed that the financial strain created by the case is unprecedented in its history, warning that resources normally reserved for international representation have already been diverted into legal costs. In its fundraising appeal, the organisation said that “the monies we have already had to invest, in defending our situation is the members' monies and has had a direct consequence in our ability to support the International Teams”.

The organisation says that the model has always been built around reinvesting limited tournament income directly back into England teams, rather than building significant financial reserves. It maintains that this approach is designed to ensure international representation is determined by sporting merit, stating that it “firmly believe[s] that representing England should be based on ability and merit, not financial means”.

According to England Darts, the legal action arose from the decision to refuse entry to the England Open under its “Zero Tolerance” policy towards abuse of officials, including abuse via social media. It said the refusal was “solely to safeguard Deta’s reputation and to uphold our commitment to a respectful and fair sporting environment”, adding that the action “had nothing to do with Lewis’s gender identity”.

The organisation also emphasised that the individual involved had not previously competed in one of its events, stating that “this was Lewis’s first attempt to participate in an England Darts event”. It says the legal challenge that followed left it with no option but to defend its position, warning that continued proceedings now place “the future of our company at significant risk of survival” unless further funds can be raised.

From the perspective of Samantha Lewis, the decision to refuse entry to the England Open amounted to unlawful discrimination. Lewis has brought a claim alleging discrimination on the grounds of gender reassignment, alongside an asserted infringement of human rights, maintaining that the exclusion was not justified by conduct considerations.

In public statements made after the incident, Lewis described the decision as discriminatory, arguing that the refusal to compete prevented participation in an England Darts event on equal terms. The claim is framed on the basis that the decision constituted less favourable treatment connected to gender reassignment, a position that is fundamentally contested by England Darts.

The legal action has now been ongoing for more than a year and remains unresolved. While England Darts says it was awarded costs at an initial hearing in March 2025, the organisation also states that those costs have not been recovered and that it has been advised recovery is unlikely regardless of the eventual outcome of the case.

Publicly available information indicates that the matter is now listed for trial in 2026, with both sides continuing to dispute the basis on which the original decision was taken. England Darts maintains that its actions were grounded in the enforcement of behavioural standards, while Lewis continues to argue that the exclusion was discriminatory in nature.

While the Samantha Lewis case remains unresolved, it has already prompted wider questions about how prolonged legal disputes are absorbed within the amateur structures that underpin the English and WDF darts system.