Openly gay darts referee Huw Ware reveals he came close to stepping away from the sport before going on to make history

Openly gay darts referee Huw Ware has spoken about how close he came to quitting the sport before making history as the first openly gay official to take charge of a World Darts Championship final.

Ware, 32, reflected on the years of self‑doubt that preceded his landmark appearance at Alexandra Palace in early 2025, where he officiated the title match between Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen. He admitted he wrestled with whether he was truly accepted within the darts world, revealing that there were several moments in his early career when he questioned whether he could continue. “Did I consider walking away? Yes, a few times,” he told Madhouse Magazine, recalling the internal conversations he had about his place in the sport.

His journey into refereeing began far earlier than many fans realise. Born in Portsmouth in 1993 and raised in Barry, South Wales, Ware developed a passion for darts in childhood after watching Phil Taylor on television. He called his first match aged just 12, later joining Glamorgan’s county youth setup and representing Wales at the 2011 WDF Europe Youth Cup. By 17, he had become the youngest referee ever to officiate a televised darts match.

Ware officiated multiple British Darts Organisation finals before moving to the PDC in 2016. There, he steadily climbed the ranks, taking on ambassadorial duties through the Rainbow Laces campaign and becoming an increasingly prominent LGBTQ+ figure in the sport. In 2025, he finally reached the pinnacle, refereeing the dramatic second half of the World Championship final in which Littler defeated van Gerwen - and in doing so, became the first openly gay man to officiate a world darts final.

The high-profile milestone thrust Ware briefly into the media spotlight, which he said lasted around ten days. But he was clear the publicity did not erase the years of uncertainty that came before. What mattered most, he said, was the sense of pride in having stayed the course. 

Not all moments on stage have been celebratory. Ware recalled a particularly difficult evening during a European Tour last‑16 match between Gerwyn Price and Nathan Aspinall, where escalating crowd whistling disrupted the match. Stepping in over the microphone, he managed to restore a degree of order, but later reflected that “the game had been ruined already”.

Ware’s visibility has helped reshape perceptions of darts as a sport often stereotyped as “lad culture”‑dominated. As the only openly gay man in professional darts, he has embraced an inadvertent leadership role, arguing that visibility itself is a powerful force for change. His advocacy includes support for Out On The Oche, an international LGBTQ+ darts community, and ongoing work with the PDC’s inclusion campaigns.

For Ware, the goal now is to serve not only as a top referee but as proof that darts is welcoming to LGBTQ+ people. “If there is any gay boy or gay girl out there who may love darts but doesn’t want to get into it because they think it’s not going to be welcoming,” he has said, “just me being up there shows them that it is.”