Day five of the World Darts Championship wrapped up on Monday night, with the likes of Peter Wright and Jonny Clayton in action at Alexandra Palace. For the elite level stars like these, darts is their way of life and only job, but there are other players who juggle full-time employment with their aspirations in the sporting arena.
One man that fits the bill for that is Alan Soutar, who’s coming up against Teemu Harju on Tuesday evening. He only began playing professionally four years ago and the 47-year-old Scotsman is competing in the biggest darts tournament of the year.
Soutar, who is a massive Scotland football fan, has to squeeze in matches at the Worlds inbetween firefighting shifts. He has been a prominent feature at the World Championships since his superb run to the last-16 in 2022 and 2023. He also hit a nine-darter against Luke Littler two years ago.
His story captured the attention of the sporting world with the Dundee man working regularly during the Christmas period and in between matches. « I’m just going to go home and chill out for Christmas, » he joked last year after beating Daryl Gurney.
« I’m on a day shift the 23rd, day shift the 24th, night shift Christmas night, night shift Boxing night and then travel back down here on the 27th. Nice and easy, a chilled out schedule! »
Touching on his superiors giving him time off to play in the huge tournament, he said: « I’m on a day shift the 23rd, day shift the 24th, night shift Christmas night, night shift Boxing night and then travel back down here on the 27th. Nice and easy, a chilled out schedule!
« My work have been great with me by giving me these four days off to be. It was meant to be my shift today. As long as the fire brigade are all right with what I’m doing and I pay the guys back when I need to pay them back… I owe quite a few of the guys quite a few days. »
Speaking about his professional status, Soutar also told the Weekly Dartscast: « I’m not professional, I’m just a part time player. To come out of that room as the winner, it was amazing, really amazing. »
Being a big fan of football, Soutar was buzzing to be invited to visit the national team ahead of Euro 2024 last summer and play darts with some of the top stars. « It was great to be involved with the guys and they’ve all followed me on Twitter (X) and when I play at the Ally Pally and that, » he said.
« So to speak to them that way was like ‘Wow’, because we obviously look up to them as a national team. »
Soutar has earned a stunning £300,000 career prize money and is placed at number 54 in the Werner Rankings Ladder. His opponent this week is Harju, who recently stormed to victory at the inaugural PDC Nordic & Baltic Championship in October.
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