Members of the World Darts Federation have called on the organisation to stop allowing transgender players into future women's tournaments according to a report by Online Darts.
This week the WDF Europe Cup takes place in Slovakia. Since many national federations are present there, the annual general membership meeting was also on the programme. At this meeting, there was also a vote on the admission of transgenders to the WDF's women's tournaments. The majority of members voted against the admission of transgenders, according to Online Darts.
The admission of transgenders, with Noa-Lynn van Leuven being the most famous example, has long been a hotly debated issue in the darts world. Earlier this year, Aileen de Graaf and Anca Zijlstra quit the Dutch women's team because they no longer wanted to team with Van Leuven. Deta Hedman has also spoken out several times against transgender access to the women's circuit. The 64-year-old Englishwoman has also pulled out of tournaments on several occasions in protest.
In late August, the WDF announced their intention to penalize players who withdraw during a tournament. ''Once the first dart has been thrown in a tournament, any player who subsequently withdraws from a match may be considered to bring the sport into disrepute and face disciplinary action,'' the federation's statement read.
This led Hedman to decide not to compete in the World Masters so as not to risk running into a disciplinary sanction. ''With the recent announcement from the WDF about not playing matches, I have concluded that I cannot guarantee to comply with it because my mental health is quite strained at the moment,'' Hedman reported.
The WDF has not yet commented on the outcome of the vote. It is also not yet known when any new rules would take effect. This week Van Leuven does compete with the Dutch team in the WDF Europe Cup.
🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🚨 Online Darts understands that at the @DartsWDF AGM earlier today, a vote was passed by members with the intention of banning Trans-Women from participating as women in WDF sanctioned events. We have contacted the WDF for further comment.
