Racism shocker for Deta
DETA HEDMAN has revealed she was called a “f ****** ugly n ***** ” in a shocking abusive email as the scourge of racism stained darts.
Former ladies world No.1 Hedman, 59, was moved to tears after receiving the appalling message following her first-round defeat by Maria O’Brien in the BDO world championship at the Lakeside.
And as the three-times finalist thanked friends and well-wishers for their support, she warned: “Racism in sport is still there – it never went away, believe you me.”
Hedman, born in Jamaica but a UK resident since she was 13, is a hugely-popular figure in darts and vowed the crank’s vile message – thought to have come from Finland – will not drive her off the oche.
She has reported it to police but, disturbingly, it was not the first time she has been subjected to sick abuse.
Mad
Hedman revealed: “I was in the Czech Republic and a person with an English accent actually went, ‘I didn’t know they trained a monkey to play darts’.
“This latest message came through after I lost my match on Sunday.
“I didn’t do a TV interview because I was really quite mad at myself for playing not so well.
“Afterwards I had a look at my phone to see if there were any messages and there was an email saying, ‘Go kill yourself you f ****** ugly n ***** , you’re a disgrace to darts’.
“I showed it to my other half, Paul, and he was absolutely mad as hell.
“The name it came from looked Finnish.
“Paul sent him an email and he has actually replied – saying exactly the same thing again. Paul said he would send it to the sender’s employer and he said, ‘He’s racist as well’.
“What got me, not in a bad way, was reading nice comments on social media. They made me cry more than what that guy said.
“He’s just one idiot.”