How British darts star Deta Hedman ‘refuses to be a nodding dog’ and is fighting against trans players in her sport with her husband – all while keeping her full-time job as a postie

Deta Hedman has stated that she has spent ‘the better part of two years’ campaigning against transgender competitors in women’s darts amid the storm that has engulfed the darts world following her loss of the Denmark Open after being drawn against Noa-Lynn van Leuven.

The 64-year-old told German newspaper Bild that she “was not playing against a man in a women’s event” when she faced Van Leuven – a trans player who has competed on the PDC and WDF circuits since 2022 – in the quarter-final of the tournament .

Hedman supporters were quick to offer compensation to the former WDF world number 1 after she withdrew from the competition, but the Briton insisted she had been paid in full by the Denmark Open and instead appears to be content with raising awareness for her cause.

When contacted by Mail Sport, the WDF shared a statement saying the organization was ‘in the process of reviewing the procedure’ and therefore cannot comment further.

When asked after the controversy what “advantages” could be gained by competitors who are biologically male, Hedman responded on social media site ? Your response makes me highly doubt that.”

But in Facebook posts shared earlier this year, Hedman revealed that she has been a consistent campaigner for the exclusion of trans women from women’s sporting categories, explaining that her reasoning did not just come down to the ‘menstrual cycle’.

“I have researched and discussed the trans issues at a board level, these have been with professional people who have written articles on this topic, both in strength and precision sports,” Hedman shared in late March, before explaining that she had done additional research with the help of her husband Paul James – who also acts as her spokesperson.

‘With the help of others, I had Paul do research into 24 years of provincial performance, gentlemen and ladies.’ Only a fool could see that there was a significant difference between men and women between the A team and the B team in 20 years,” Hedman continued. ‘Ladies like Lisa Ashton, Trina Gulliver, Fallon Sherrock, Beau Greaves, Lorraine Winstanley, Anastasia Dobromyslova etc played during this period.

‘Recent Lakeside World Cup from the last 16 onwards the (averages) of each round of the event were 7-14 points higher for the men than the women’, look at the quality of the ladies there, but the men were well ahead every round for. ‘

In March, Dutch competitors Anca Zijlstra and Aileen de Graaf quit their national team in protest after Van Leuven claimed her first PDC Tour victory in Wigan, but Hedman was keen to underline that she has believed in the issue for some time, adding that her campaign claims it was linked to the success of Van Leuven were ‘b***s***’.

“I’ve been worried about this for almost two years,” Hedman continued. ‘At the recent World Cup I produced six reports on the trans issue, it was discussed at the General Assembly and at the Athletes’ Assembly, and many, in fact the vast majority, felt it was wrong and should not be happening.

‘The general consensus of many sports organizations is that if they ban transgender, they could face a discrimination lawsuit.

‘I wonder why the IOC had testosterone as a banned substance in WADA for decades, we had East German athletes breaking records in the 70s that still stand, then they introduced a 10mlnol limit for trans athletes, now it has been completely abolished! Why? Why was it so wrong then, but okay now?

‘Development tour, challenge tour, pro tour are open events, I think that’s a great idea and I agree with it 100 percent.

“But I’m sorry, the women’s game should be for biological women. This current path could lead to the death of women’s sports as a distinct identity.”

Hedman has repeatedly emphasized that she does not support personal attacks against Van Leuven or trans athletes. In posts on James’ own Facebook page, Van Leuven has been praised for her success in qualifying for open events.

In April, Hedman shared an article by Dr. Ross Tucker, an exercise scientist who believes the differences identified at puberty can lead to “significant performance advantages (between men and women),” titled “Biological Perspectives on Transgender Athletes in Sports ‘.

Tucker is a scientist and researcher for World Rugby, and a former advisor to the USA Triathlon and the UK Olympic Committee, which previously advocated for an ‘exclusion policy’ for trans athletes in women’s sports.

Hedman has also claimed that her position is shared by “the vast majority,” sharing in a post on Facebook in mid-April that she believes women are being “scared” by people with different viewpoints “into being quiet.”

“This issue has been going on for more than two years now, in 2019 I was elected Athletes Commissioner by the 50 countries attending the WDF World Cup,” Hedman said.

‘Nobody can ever accuse me of being a nodding dog, my email and (private messages) for the past two years have been mostly about the trans issues, and the vast majority of them think it’s wrong for trans (people) to feel in women’s sports.

‘Podcasts and online darts etc are all about the mental health of trans people (people), not one of them has bothered to include the opinions and views of women (we are not [cisgender]).

‘I will never be one to toe the party line, I think women are being scared into being quiet.

‘We, the vast majority, also have the right to be heard. Instead of no one in the media giving us a platform to get our message across, it will have to be social media.

“This does not mean that abuse of any trans person is right. It is completely unacceptable, as is some of the reporting on female players for daring to have a different opinion than the men who rule our sport.”

Hedman’s defiant attitude likely emerged during a grueling climb to the top of the sport while juggling a full-time job at Royal Mail.

The 64-year-old first started playing darts in her early twenties, before entering her first super league at the age of 25.

But despite claiming the world number 1 ranking in 1994, she was forced to step back from the sport in 1997 due to her work commitments. Hedman is believed to still be working, having held her current job for more than 25 years.

“I’m telling you, if I had the money that Phil Taylor had, I’d be really happy!” Hedman told it the sun following her World Championship opening match victory in December 2023.

‘Because I still have to work. I mean, I’ve been working nights for Royal Mail for 26 years and in the early days I did that during the day as well.

‘So yeah, I’ve always had a full-time job and the funny thing is, when I tell someone I’ve always had a full-time job, they’re like, “Really? We thought darts was your job!”

Morning star reported that Hedman’s workplace – a Royal Mail warehouse near Chelmsford – was so unforgiving that the building has been dubbed ‘the dungeon’.

Due to the huge gap between salaries at the men’s and women’s games, Hedman’s full-time job helped support her participation on the tour, despite her groundbreaking talent as she won 15 WDF Europe Cups and 12 World Cups – and also became the first woman became to defeat a male player in a televised major with a win against Aaron Turner.

Also invaluable is the support of her partner James, who – according to an interview from 2018 – helps her secure sponsorship and plans her commitments and tournament entries into her calendar.

But for both Hedman and James, taking a stand does not appear to come without a personal toll.

An account believed to belong to James shared a now-deleted tweet on Tuesday, saying: ‘Today I’m leaving Denmark, it’s fair to say it’s been eventful, I’ve never cried so much in my life, my mental health was in pieces.

‘Encouraged by the support we received from all over the world. (@Save Women’s Sports)’.