UK Edition
'We are not scared of taking on the men' - women darts players relish opportunity to qualify for PDC World Championship
Barry Hearn, the man credited with hauling darts into the mainstream over the past decade, has an important point to make about his decision to guarantee two spots to women at this year's PDC World Darts Championship. It is something he has mentioned a few times during the conversation, but such is his keenness to avoid misinterpretation that he wants to reiterate it before departing.
"Please don't put it across that we're doing anyone a favour because we're not," he states. "We're not in the business of favours, we're in the business of creating opportunities. They [women] have got to earn it. No patronisation here.
"Don't expect a favour because you're a woman, because you're not going to get it. What you're going to get is a level playing field and then ability will be the only criteria. Good luck.”
In many ways Hearn, the PDC chairman, is from the old school. He knows as well as anyone how much darts has thrived in recent years on its boorish, male-dominant culture with beer flowing and singalong tunes reverberating around arenas converted into makeshift drinking venues. But he acknowledges, "we're living in changing times".
That was the reason the PDC axed walk-on girls at the start of this year and it is why more than 200 of the world's best female darts players will battle in Düsseldorf and Milton Keynes over the next two weekends in an historic bid to win one of two places for women at darts' showpiece event at Alexandra Palace in December.
Unlike most elite sports, darts does not strictly segregate by sex (although the BDO, the sport's other main leadership organisation, runs an annual Women's World Darts Championship) and this will not be the first time a female has competed in the sport’s most prestigious competition.
In previous decades, Gayl King and Anastasia Dobromyslova were both granted wildcard entries, but this is the first time a formal qualification process has been put in place.
"You don't want to think that you're getting PC-friendly or anything like that, but you question whether you're giving the right opportunities and making the right decisions," says Hearn.
"The PDC has been such a success story in the last 10 years. We're changing lives through sport and it's only fair that we should change everybody's lives.
“We haven't done it to look good. There should be no restrictions in a sport based on ability. It doesn't matter what your sex, colour, size or anything is - you're all in the bundle together. We'll get to find out how good they are and some of these girls can really play."
Life as a female darts player is no easy labour. Unlike their PDC counterparts who travel the world for glamorous televised tournaments, the leading women operate largely on a BDO circuit that does not offer them enough money to make a living.
Many of them rely on partners for financial support or attempt a similar juggling act to Deta Hedman, who is considered one of the finest female darts players in history, yet works a series of draining 14-hour night shifts for Royal Mail every week to allow her to indulge her darts passion in her spare time. Indeed, only the winner at many female competitions will financially break even once costs are factored in.
“It is very difficult for the ladies to earn a decent living and I have to pay my bills. But I love doing the sport as I do,” says Hedman, 58.
“We just don't earn enough to dedicate to practice like a Phil Taylor or a Michael van Gerwen.”
The financial implications of the Alexandra Palace opportunity are manifold. While the winner of last year's BDO Women's World Darts Championship received £12,000, victory in a single first-round match at next month’s PDC showpiece brings a £15,000 cheque. Should a woman go on to achieve the improbable and lift the winner's trophy they would be £500,000 richer, not to mention the sponsorship and marketing opportunities that come with being a rare woman in a predominantly man’s game.
But there is far more at stake than just money – for all of the leading players, this is an opportunity to represent the entire female game, a chance to add their bit to the growing women in sport movement.
“I hope us at the top now, what we're standing for and what we’ve fought for pays off in the future,” says reigning BDO women’s world champion Lisa Ashton, 48, who will compete alongside her daughters Danielle and Lindsey in the PDC qualifier.
“It's a great opportunity for the ladies. It’s a chance to show how much the ladies’ game has improved and it would be a dream come true to compete at Ally Pally. We're not scared of having a go against the men.”
As the only current female player with experience of competing at Alexandra Palace, Dobromyslova, 34, says entering such an imposing arena is not as daunting as it might seem.
“It was such a great experience,” she says, of her 2009 PDC World Darts Championship outing. “The crowd was something else and because I was the only girl competing I received such great support.
“I couldn't believe I was even there. Obviously it's male-dominated but I'd gone so far I thought there was nothing to lose.”
Now that the opportunity has been granted, the natural question is how far the two women can go. A handful of female players have taken prominent male scalps since Hedman became the first woman to beat a man on TV in 2005. But doing so on the biggest stage of all would be a seismic moment that Hearn would relish.
“A woman coming to Ally Pally and winning even one game would be a fantastic statement about where the sport is,” he says.
“The men that play the women in the World Championship this year are under the cosh. I don't want to wish them bad, but if I put my commercial hat on it would be an amazing result to see a woman beat a man on the Ally Pally stage.
“It would say to all these women out there that if you dedicate yourself there is a route to the top. But it's not going to be easy. I can give you opportunity but I can't give you ability.”