‘I’m not playing against a man in a women’s event.’ That is what British darts champion Deta Hedman said Saturday. So, she forfeited her match against transgender competitor Noa-Lynn van Leuven at the Denmark Open.
Yay for her. She is 64 years old and has been a vocal critic against rules that allow men to compete in women’s sports. She is well-known among women’s darts fans. She previously called on the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and the World Darts Federation (WDF) to exclude men from women’s tournaments.
Instead of competing with van Leuven in the WDF tournament quarter-finals, she boycotted the game.
A round of applause for Deta Hedman.
She posted on her Facebook page about her decision two days before the match. “Women & girls deserve to be CHAMPIONS in their own sports.”
Hedman wrote: “For many months I’ve struggled with transgenders playing in the Women’s world ranked events. I have thought this is wrong since day one, I have no problem with transgenders in life.
“I’m not close to Noa-Lynn in darts but in fairness seems a lovely person, at Lakeside I met Victoria Monaghan and must admit she is a right character we had banter and a fair few laughs, but my personal view is trans shouldn’t be playing in women’s ranked events.
“Noa is a really nice person, nobody is disputing that at all, it’s just my belief and many other women players’ belief that trans shouldn’t be in women’s ranked events.
“At the recent Killarney Festival I had the upset of a very good lady player who has played at the top end of WDF events and the PDC ladies series come to me in tears saying this issue is really getting to her and is considering walking away from darts.”
Noa-Lynn is a Dutchman who started his transition in 2022. He is a regular on the women’s tour now. He became the first trans woman to win a Challenger Tour in March.
Hedman didn’t suffer any financial difficulty for forfeiting the game.
American former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines offered to refund Hedman any prize money she missed out on by forfeiting her match.
Hedman though responded: ‘@Riley_Gaines_ thank you for your kind offer, but Denmark Darts paid me out in full for the event.’
She then tagged an account called SaveWomensSports writing: ‘This subject causing much angst in the sport I love . People can be whoever they want in life but I don’t think biological born men should compete in Women’s sport.’
Dutch women aren’t accepting men in women’s sports, either.
Two of Van Leuven’s Dutch compatriots have left their national team in protest following her second competition triumph in March.
Anca Zijlstra revealed she was stepping away ‘with pain in my heart’ – before world number two Aileen de Graaf quit hours later in vowing to no longer represent the Netherlands.
Martina Navratilova has been steadfast in her opposition to men competing against women in sports. She’s on board here, too.
Outraged by the win, 18-time Grand Slam tennis champion Martina Navratilova said: ‘No male bodies in women’s sports please – not even in darts.’
Posting on social media platform X, Martina added: ‘Again – women get the short end of the stick. And it stinks.’
Tennis icon Martina Navratilova interferes in darts dispute: ”No male bodies in women’s sports” #darts #dartsnews https://t.co/26E23RFHHo
— DartsNews02 (@DartsNews02) March 25, 2024
“interferes.” Heh.
This is what it takes to make a change. Women have to refuse to go along with the normalization of trans athletes. Let them have their own competitions instead of destroying women’s sports. Everyone should be speaking up in support of women and girls in sports before it’s too late.