Legal help for darts players
Cohen Davis Solicitors is the PDPA's official partner for internet and reputation law. If something is threatening your name, online or off, we deal with it quickly and discreetly, so you can get back to your game.
PDPA members get a free, confidential first consultation. It is part of your membership, and you are entitled to use it.
Call 0207 183 4123 or email Players@CohenDavis.co.uk
The problems we solve for players
Professional darts players live online as much as on stage, and that brings problems most solicitors never see. We have seen all of them, many times.
Abuse and pile-ons. You miss a double, and by the time you are back at the hotel your phone is full of abuse, much of it from people who lost money on the match. Most of it is noise. Some of it crosses the line into harassment or threats, and that is where we come in.
Betting-related threats and false accusations. Gamblers who lost money on your match can turn nasty, from abuse that follows you across platforms to outright threats of violence. Some go further and accuse you in public of not trying, of throwing a leg, or of match-fixing. Those are not just insults. A false claim that you cheated goes to the heart of your career and your integrity, and the law treats it seriously.
Fake accounts and impersonation. Accounts using your name and photos to scam fans, sell products or stir up trouble. We get them taken down and, where it matters, we find out who is behind them.
Blackmail, sextortion and threats to your reputation. Someone threatens to publish private messages, intimate images, or a story, true, twisted or simply invented, unless you pay or do as they say. For a player whose income depends on sponsors and public standing, the threat is aimed straight at your livelihood. This is the one players are most reluctant to talk about, and the one where early advice makes the biggest difference. Nothing you tell us will shock us, and nothing goes further than us.
Lies and false stories. Fans, bloggers, tipsters or even media outlets publishing false claims about you, your family or your conduct. Defamation law exists for exactly this.
Leaked or exposed private information. Private photos, messages, medical or financial details, even your home address or your family's, passed around or published without your consent. Fame makes players a target for this. The law protects your privacy, and we act fast to limit the spread and to deal with whoever is behind it.
One thing runs through most of this: the people responsible almost always believe they are anonymous. They usually are not. Finding out who is really behind an account, an email or a demand for money is one of the things we do best, and it is often the moment a problem starts to turn in your favour.
When the problem is not online
Not every threat to your name starts on social media, and the off-stage matters can do more damage to a career than a hundred abusive posts. An arrest or a police investigation. A driving offence heading for a court list. A domestic or family matter. A civil dispute you would rather keep private. A contract that has turned sour. Any of these can spill into public view, and once it does it reaches your sponsors, your earnings and the way you are seen, not only the matter itself.
The part players often miss is this. Something that feels completely unrelated to your public life can become a reputation problem before you see it coming. A private disagreement, a county court claim, a caution, a row that ends up in front of a court, a matter you assumed was nobody else's business. If it has any chance of becoming public, it has a reputation dimension, and the press may be entitled to report a good deal more than people expect, disputes in and out of court included. Knowing which of these matters, and which does not, is exactly the judgement we bring, and we bring it from the very first conversation.
So the earlier you tell us, the better. Bring us anything that could one day surface and we will assess it with you, quietly, and work out how to protect your professional and personal standing before there is anything to clean up. Often there is more that can be done than people assume. If you are under investigation but have not been charged, for example, the law will usually give you a reasonable expectation of privacy, so naming you at that stage may be unlawful, and there are frequently steps we can take before a story ever appears. Timing decides most of these situations: the call you make before something is published gives us far more room than the call you make after.
And if journalists are pestering you, do not answer questions on the spot, however friendly or urgent they sound. Take their name and outlet, say you will come back to them, and call us. Dealing with the press is one of the things we take off your hands completely, so you can stop worrying about saying the wrong thing and get back to your game.
The first 24 hours: what to do
If something has just happened, these five steps protect your position before you have spoken to anyone.
- Screenshot everything. Include the username, the date and the web address if you can.
- Do not reply. Not even once. Replies feed it and can be used against you.
- Do not delete anything. Messages, images, emails. It is all evidence.
- If someone is demanding money, do not pay. Paying almost never ends it.
- Tell someone. The PDPA, or us directly. You do not have to work out what kind of legal problem it is. That is our job.
What we can do
Most players want one of three things: the content gone, the person identified, or the whole thing stopped. We do all three.
Remove content. Posts, videos, fake accounts, search results. We know how the platforms work and what makes them act.
Unmask anonymous accounts. The gambler sending threats from a burner account, the fake profile trading on your name, the blackmailer hiding behind an anonymous email: courts can order platforms, and often banks and payment services too, to reveal who is really behind them, and we have obtained these orders many times. See how we identify people behind anonymous accounts.
Stop blackmail. Urgent, discreet intervention, including injunctions where needed. See what to do if you are being blackmailed.
Sue for defamation. Where false publications have done real damage. See defamation claims for false online publications.
Deal with harassment. Civil injunctions, and working with the police where the abuse is criminal. See legal help with online trolling and harassment.
We act for professional sportspeople, celebrities and public figures, and we understand that for a professional player, reputation is livelihood.
An independent person to talk to
You do not need an emergency to call us. Sometimes what you need is a view from someone independent, of the tour, of sponsors, of management, whose only interest is protecting you, and who is bound by law to keep what you say private. That is what we are for.
It might be five minutes of common sense before you post a reply you may regret. It might be a quiet word about something building at home that could one day become public. It might be nothing at all, and being told it is nothing is worth the call in itself. Players speak to us about things that never become legal matters, and that is exactly how the relationship is meant to work: better a short conversation now than a crisis later.
Talk to us, discreetly
You do not need to know what kind of legal problem you have. If something online is worrying you, that is reason enough to call.
Free, confidential first consultation for PDPA members. It comes with your membership: free initial legal advice from one of the UK's most experienced reputation and internet law teams, and you are entitled to it.
Call 0207 183 4123 or email Players@CohenDavis.co.uk
Everything you tell us is protected by legal privilege. That means it stays between you and us, whatever you decide to do.
Frequently asked questions
Is the first consultation really free?
Yes, for PDPA members. It is confidential, there is no obligation, and you should come away knowing where you stand and what your options are.
Will anyone find out I spoke to you?
No. Everything you tell us is covered by legal privilege and stays confidential. We act discreetly, and many of our cases are resolved without anything becoming public.
I am a professional darts player. Does that make me a public figure, so anything said about me online is fair game?
No. Being well known does not put you outside the protection of the law. A public profile may mean there is genuine public interest in some of what you do, but it does not make you fair game for lies, harassment, blackmail, or having your private life exposed. False allegations are still defamation, threats are still unlawful, and your private information is still private. If anything, a public profile can make the harm greater and the case for acting sooner stronger.
Can you get a post, video or fake account taken down?
In most cases, yes. We know how the platforms work and what makes them act, and where a platform refuses, there are legal routes to force the issue.
Can you find out who is behind an anonymous account?
Usually, yes. Courts can order platforms to hand over the information that identifies the person behind an account, and we have obtained these orders many times.
What does it cost after the first consultation?
It depends on what needs doing, and we tell you clearly before anything starts. Many matters are dealt with quickly, and tend to cost less than players expect.
What if the person abusing or blackmailing me is in another country?
We have handled many cross-border cases, against people in other countries and platforms based overseas. Distance is rarely the obstacle people assume it is.
I have been arrested, or I am being investigated. Can you keep it out of the news?
Sometimes, yes. Before you are charged, the law usually gives you a reasonable expectation of privacy, and media outlets know it. Where a story is brewing, we can in many cases intervene before anything is published. Speed matters more than anything here, so call us before you speak to anyone else.
Do I need an actual legal problem to get in touch?
No. Many players use us as an independent sounding board, someone outside the tour, sponsors and management to think out loud with. The first consultation is free for PDPA members, and if it turns out there is nothing to worry about, that is a good outcome, not a wasted call.
