News

Players will start seeing the term “Open” on WDF ranked tournament flyers because of the recent WDF decision regarding female-only event participation and changes to the WDF Transgender Policy. The WDF has confirmed that anyone is eligible to play in WDF “Open” events. Eligibility for female-only events are limited to those athletes that are recorded female-at-birth, including transgender males that are not undergoing hormone treatment or that have not commenced hormone treatment.

It is very important to note that the WDF rules state that an athlete CANNOT play across both categories in a single season unless they become no longer eligible to participate in female-only events. Therefore, an athlete that is eligibility to play in female-only WDF events will have to choose between:

• Open Adult OR Women’s events
• Open Youth U23 OR Girls U23 events*
• Open Youth U18 OR Girls U18 events*

*The only exception to this would be when a WDF youth event is combined into a co-ed event because of very low participation. Then points would appear on the applicable open youth or female youth ranking list and playing in that “Co-ed” event does affect a female-born athlete’s participation for the rest of the season.

Points earned in WDF Open events will appear on the Open Adult, Open Youth U23 or Open Youth U18 ranking lists. Points earned in WDF Female-only events will appear on the Women’s Adult, Girls Youth U23 or Girls Youth U18 ranking lists.

The NDFC has yet to fully discuss this topic or set future direction in Canada. Female-born athletes considering entering a WDF “Open” event should be aware that their decision could have implications for future NDFC event eligibility that the NDFC has not yet discussed or identified.