Late withdrawals equals punishment as WDF cracks down in latest rule changes

The World Darts Federation (WDF) said in a statement that the federation may start penalizing players if they withdraw during a tournament.

The WDF felt compelled to issue a statement because many important WDF tournaments will be played in the coming months, including the World Masters and the WDF World Championships.

"Ahead of an important period in the WDF calendar with regional cups, the World Masters and the World Championships, the WDF wishes to clarify its position on player withdrawals," they wrote.

"Once the first dart has been thrown in a tournament, any player that subsequently withdraws from playing a match may be considered to be bringing the game into disrepute and could face disciplinary action.

"This stance has been taken to suitably protect our Member Countries, their tournaments and tournament sponsors, as well as to preserve the integrity of the WDF ranking system."

This year, for example top player Deta Hedman has already withdrawn several times from women's tournaments because she has refused to play against transgender players. 'The Heart of Darts' holds opposition to transgender players playing on the women's circuit.

Last month, Hedman again spoke out against the admission of transgender people to women's tournaments.

"I have no issues with Trans but they should play in an open section in my opinion," Hedman writes, accompanied by a selection of photos that she believes backs up her claim. "I questioned why it is that the rule makers in IOC, WDF and DRA are predominantly men, they totally disregard the many and varied problems unique to women, menstrual, peri menopause, fibroids, Endometriosis, with symptoms varying from stomach cramps, brain fog, bleeding, headaches/migraine, hot intense flushes etc."

"All these problems are ignored, and considered that they don't affect your performance in a precision sport like darts. Add to that the ridiculous testosterone levels set for a trans to play in Women's darts! If they achieve a level of 9.9mnol/L they can play, the normal range of women is between 0.5-2.4mnol/L, I myself have tested at 1.2," she continues. "To make this even more ridiculous 5 African women born with vaginas but had varied organs including inner testicles were banned from sport as their testosterone levels were too high , they were told they had to reduce their levels not to 10mnol/L ( the level a trans can compete in sport) but to 5mnol/L , so athletes born as a woman to compete had to be half the level of a biological male who would compete in women's sports."

"All I want is to compete in darts on a fair and level playing field. As been stated by many studies around the world you can have inclusivity in women's sport or you can have fairness in Women's sports! You cannon have both," Hedman insists. "Why don't the WDF and DRA as a compromise drop the testosterone limit to the above high end of Women and set it as 3mnol/L, they would still have the skeletal advantages of going through puberty as a male but at least their levels would be at a similar level to some of the women."

Hedman also subsequently decided not to make herself available for the England team at the WDF Europe Cup. She announced at the time: "It's breaking my heart to do so. I will be posting later the reasons for this." Hedman further states that "the well being of England Darts is paramount."