Dutch dart players leave national team over trans teammate
Dutch dart players Anca Zijlstra and Aileen de Graaf have left the national women’s team because they don’t want to play with trans woman Noa-Lynn van Leuven, they said in a statement on Facebook. Van Leuven told NOS that the resulting commotion had cost her a lot of energy. “I don’t really feel the need to go into it any further. This was their choice and not mine. The sad thing about this issue is that a lot of people forget that I am also a human being,” she told the broadcaster.
Zijlztra and De Graaf announced their departure from the Dutch women’s team on social media. “The moment you are ashamed to play for the Dutch team because a biological man plays for the women’s team, it is time to go,” Zijlstra said on Facebook. “I have tried to accept this, but I cannot approve or justify it.”
De Graaf responded to Zijlstra’s Facebook post: “At a certain point, you have to make choices when something goes against your feelings. You have to do what feels right for you. Hence my decision to leave the Dutch team.”
Women have their own competition circuit in darts. At some tournaments, they also play against men. Last year, Van Leuven became the first trans woman to participate in a major tournament at the PDC darts association, and last week, she achieved her first tournament victory there, NOS reports. She was the first woman to win in a PDC tournament in which men also participated. Van Leuven is also very successful in the women’s circuit. She won her first title in the PDC Women’s Series on Saturday in Wigan, England.
The Dutch women’s team will participate in the 4 Nations Tournament in Mol, Belgium, on April 13 and 14. The team consists of Van Leuven, Desiree Geel, Roos van der Velde, and Aletta Wajer.
Paul Engelbertink, director of the Dutch Darts Association, told NOS that the association will respond to Zijlstra and De Graaf’s resignations on Monday afternoon.
