When Beau Greaves produced a stunning win over world No 1 Luke Littler at the PDC World Youth Championships last October it should have put her name in lights.
While many media outlets provided the 22-year-old, already a winner of 50 plus titles on the PDC Women’s Series, her rightful moment in the sun, for many others, she was merely reduced to her gender with headlines of ‘Littler beaten by a woman’ and ‘Littler suffers shock defeat in Battle of the Sexes’.
Victory over Littler was truly a defining moment for Greaves. Yes, she was the first woman to reach the World Youth Final and yes, it was a remarkable triumph given Littler’s dominance in the sport but was too much focus put on her gender and is that having a detrimental effect on Greaves’ long-term future prospects in the sport?
“It’s that double-edged sword, isn’t it?” Laura Turner, Sky Sports pundit and pro player said. “Because we want the publicity, we want the role models, we want people to be visible, but be visible for the right reasons – and that’s just the quality of play.”
Turner was reflecting on the trailblazing exploits of players prior to Greaves, who has exploded onto the darts scene with three consecutive WDF World Darts Championships as well as a two-time Women’s World Matchplay champion.
Before Greaves, Lisa Ashton was the first woman to win a tour card at Q-School (2020-21). Fallon Sherrock, the first woman to win a match at the PDC World Darts Championship (2019). And going further back to 2009, Anastasia Dobromyslova, who was the first woman to beat a male professional on TV in the Grand Slam of Darts.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Fallon Sherrock became the first woman to defeat a man at a World Championship in 2019/20 with victory over Ted Evetts.
“I remember when Lisa was winning, when Fallon [Sherrock] was winning prior to Beau coming along and doing all these amazing things, it was very much ‘wow it’s a woman playing darts against the men’.
“And then the narrative started to change. Well, no, it’s just a dart player playing against another dart player. And that’s where, especially at the top level, you want the narrative to become.
“It was just phenomenal darts when she won in that semi-final against Luke Littler for Beau Greaves and there was nothing more really that needed to be said other than the world No 1 and the world champion had just been knocked out.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
An in-depth look at the problem of online abuse in women’s sport.
Greaves once stated in late 2024 she was not keen on “playing the lads” in the PDC World Championship, saying “I don’t feel as if I can win it.”
But now with two appearances at the Alexandra Palace behind her and earning her PDC ProTour card on merit – which incidentally saw her become the first woman to hit a nine-darter on the tour back in February – doubt has been replaced with belief. She now has confidence she belongs on the stage competing with the best.
So much so that ahead of this year’s World Championships, Greaves spoke of helping other women to follow her lead. She said: “It’s getting the exposure for the ladies to be able to go and play the bigger players and bigger names on a regular basis. It’s why maybe we don’t play as well against the men when it comes to the World Championship, Grand Slam and stuff because it’s two chances you get to a year to do it and you’re thrown in there a bit.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Beau Greaves becomes first woman to hit a nine-darter on the PDC ProTour! X credit @OfficialPDC.
Competing on a level playing field
Clearly the ‘Battle of the Sexes’ phrase has enjoyed some fresh impetus with headline writers and sport promoters in recent months with Aryna Sabalenka’s tennis exhibition match against Nick Kyrgios in December.
And while tennis has a long history of pitting men against women, from the infamous Bobby Riggs vs Billie Jean King contest in 1973, which had a worldwide TV audience of 90 million people, to Jimmy Connors vs Martina Navratilova in 1992 and many more, Sabalenka’s showdown with Krygios was, according to some observers, damaging to women’s sport.
Both Sabalenka and Kyrgios dismissed those claims. The world No 1 Sabalenka said they were there to “have fun and bring great tennis” and Australian Kyrgios added that it would be “great for the growth of the sport” and “shows unity”.
But when it comes to darts, there are no gimmicks or novelty charity matches. Women are facing men on the professional tour and competing on a level-playing field – and that’s what Turner wants sports fans to relish.
“You don’t want to shy away from the fact that that person is female because you want the role models for young girls to come through. But you also don’t need that to be the only thing that people talk about.”
Propelled into the spotlight by their historic feats, Turner also gave credit to those female players who have managed to cope with the pressure of being in the spotlight, especially in a sport where dartitis – a psychological condition that prevents a player from smoothly releasing the dart – can seriously impact a player’s performance.
“For Fallon it was that vast attention she got from having very little, to having a lot. She had to learn to deal with that, to work with the media and go from a few people interviewing you prior to playing your first World Championship to then being over everything the next day with her victory.
“You do have to try and remain grounded. Beau is very much one of those players that likes to remain grounded. She keeps her family network around her all the time.
“That’s a real good leveller for her, just to make sure, she’s in the right place, because she’s spoken openly that she’s had struggles on the oche previously, she struggled with dartitis. And that’s something you don’t want too much pressure to come back into someone’s game.
Who will win this year’s Premier League Darts? Luke Humphries will be defending his title and you can watch the action every single Thursday until May on Sky Sports. Stream darts and more top sport with NOW.
Leave a Reply