Received death threats

Heated debate about trans woman at the World Darts Championships

Noa-Lynn van Leuven was born a man.

(Bild: Instagram/noalynn180)

Death threats, resignations, boycotts: the past twelve months have been a turbulent time for Noa-Lynn van Leuven. At the World Darts Championships in London, the 28-year-old Dutchwoman will now be the center of attention. Van Leuven will be the first trans woman ever to compete on the world's biggest darts stage in London's Alexandra Palace.

Before she plays against her compatriot Kevin Doets on Tuesday, she received dozens of interview requests. Van Leuven makes no secret of her history and her highly charged 2024.

"Is someone perhaps watching me?"
She talks openly about the messages she has received in recent months. "Someone wrote to me: 'If you follow my girl into the ladies' room, I will kill you'. Messages like that made me ask myself at the airport the other day: Okay, is someone maybe watching me? Could this exact person be somewhere nearby? That's terrible," said Van Leuven on the Sport1 podcast "Checkout".

The reason for the threats? Van Leuven, born as a man, is active on the Women's Series after completing her transition and also bought her World Championship ticket this way. The journey to London was paved with scandals, resistance and plenty of criticism. Other players felt that Van Leuven's participation robbed them of their chance at the Ally Pally.

Deta Hedman, herself a former World Championship starter, did not play a match against Van Leuven and later explained her decision via X: "This issue causes a lot of anxiety in the sport I love. People can be whoever they want in life, but I don't think biologically born men should compete in women's sport."

More and more hate on the net
Van Leuven's start is in line with PDC guidelines after her transition was completed in 2022. But Hedman was not the only athlete to take offense to Van Leuven competing in the women's division. Anca Zijlstra and Aileen de Graaf resigned from the Dutch national team in protest.

The hatred on the net grew, and more and more anger led to serious personal insults against the Dutchwoman. "I respect her stance of not wanting to play in a team with a trans woman. But the issue became so big, the media made it even bigger," said Van Leuven about Zijlstra and de Graaf. Their World Cup opener against compatriot Doets will now also be very big.

Association boss wants to protect Van Leuven
The 28-year-old herself speaks openly about her personality, her youth and also her feelings before and during the transition. However, she holds back with attacks or verbal retorts. Matt Porter, Managing Director of the PDC, takes care of that. When Van Leuven was increasingly exposed to public hatred, he said: "The scum that has been hurled at Noa-Lynn is completely unacceptable." Porter sees it as the task of his association to ensure "that she is mentally well". The majority of her male colleagues also support Van Leuven. She received a lot of encouragement from former world champion Michael Van Gerwen in particular.

The scum that was hurled at Noa-Lynn is completely unacceptable.

Matt Porter

Compared to the Corona period, the PDC seems to have mastered crisis communication better this time. But Van Leuven is also a stroke of luck for the association - apart from all the hatred directed at her. The first trans woman at the World Championships is another story that guarantees the booming event additional attention in the otherwise sport-poor World Championship period. Similar to the debut of the then 16-year-old teenager Luke Littler last year or Fallon Sherrock's first win by a woman in December 2019.

This time, there could be several major attention-grabbers for the PDC: If Van Leuven defeats her opponent Doets, she would not only be the first victorious trans woman, but would also meet former world champion Michael Smith from England in the second round of the World Championship. A second round duel between Littler and Sherrock is also possible. The PDC has already published the schedule for the run-up to Christmas: both matches would be played at prime time in the evening.