Darts star takes aim at media attacks on trans athletes: ‘If (we) win – or fart – it’s big news’
Noa-Lynn van Leuven has spoken out about the abuse she faces as a trans person in sport (Ben Roberts Photo/Getty Images)
Trans dart star Noa-Lynn van Leuven has spoken about the shocking abuse and bullying she regularly faces in the world of sport, which she says still “haunt (her) to this day”.
She also made it clear that a lot of the blame for that abuse lies at the feet of the mainstream media’s biased articles about trans athletes, which have blown the issue of trans inclusion in sport vastly out of proportion.
The Dutch darts player was the focus of intense anti-trans headlines and online abuse after winning a Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) event in March, a win which resulted in two colleagues – Anca Zijlstra and Aileen de Graaf – deciding to quit the Netherlands’ squad because of their disagreement with rules around transgender inclusion.
Then, in May, controversy swirled again after British opponent Deta Hedman refused to play her, forfeiting a quarter-final match at the Denmark Open.
Speaking exclusively to the i, Van Leuven said after her teammates quit she was inundated with messages from media organisations, so much so that she had to turn off her phone.
“In my DMs, on Instagram, it was getting so harsh, from bullying to death threats. I remember going home, I was at Schiphol [Amsterdam airport],” she said. “I looked around for one-and-a-half minutes before entering a bathroom because I was getting texts like: ‘If I ever see you walking into the ladies’ room after my daughter, I will kill you’.
“They still haunt me to this day. It has impacted me massively.”
This is not the first time Van Leuven has spoken out about the abuse she has received.
Speaking exclusively to PinkNews in May, she revealed that she didn’t even want to leave her home.
“In the end, when I went on [talk show] Sophie & Jeroen, I gained a big group of allies and a whole community standing behind me. There [are] people against me but, luckily, I also have allies and people [who] stick up for me.”
While she’s not afraid to play in World Darts Federation (WDF) tournaments, she is “not comfortable”, she went on to tell the i.
“Every time I play a tournament in the WDF, something happens against me. Either bullying, or, in Wales, someone threw a tennis ball at me and it hit me full in the face.
“Whenever I talk about those things to the WDF, they say I must go to the organisation of the competition. I have to go to Wales, England, Scotland and I already know they’re [not] going to do sh*t about it.
“I’m not going to any UK WDF events because I don’t know if they’ll take my entry. I don’t want to pay a sh*t-load of money to go there and get abuse thrown at me; not be allowed to play.
“The PDC have officials going to every tournament, they have the same security going to every tournament, that’s really helpful to me.”
Van Leuven reaffirmed her belief that darts is not a sport where sex or gender matter.
“I don’t see any difference in male vs female in darts. Women’s darts are growing so much and it’s only a matter of a few years until you have several ladies in the top of the PDC with a tour card,” she said.
This repeats what she told PinkNews. “It doesn’t matter if you’re two metres tall or 160 [metres]. A few years ago, we had [16 times men’s world champion] Phil Taylor and he won against anyone but was a really small man.
“Someone who’s [tall] isn’t winning everything, so where does the advantage come from?”
Van Leuven believes the media plays a huge role in how transphobic attitudes and anti-trans bullying are encouraged and allowed to prosper.
“It’s not like trans people are winning everything but the media are making it look like it. Of course, it’s a big topic right now, everywhere a trans person does something, it’s world news. (If) they win something or they fart somewhere, it’s big news.
“I’ve seen stories about me where I started transitioning in 2022, where they think they know everything about my life and I haven’t spoken to any of them. The media has a big role in how trans people are being treated, how they’re being bullied.”
