The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Soots gets shirty aboot his roots
Alan Soutar is determined to put Arbroath on the darts map as he prepares to make his PDC World Championship debut.
Soutar will feature in a Sky Sports live broadcast as he takes on Brazilian Diogo Portela on Sunday in his first-ever appearance at London’s Alexandra Palace.
He plans to walk on to the stage in patriotic style after packing tartan trousers and a bespoke Scotland shirt that maps out the exact location of his Arbroath hometown.
Souter, known as Soots, is fiercely proud of his roots.
Having been capped 50 times during his WDF career, winning the 2013 World Cup, the Dundee firefighter is a patrotic Scot and also hugely attached to Arbroath.
He won’t sport a Peter Wright-style spiky haircut in London but Soots is determined to put his own mark on the Ally Pally.
“I’ve started a thing with tartan trousers,” Soutar told Courier Sport.
“They are going on when I’m on TV. On the Protour it’s black trousers and normal stuff. I won’t even bother spiking my hair up for Protours.
“But I’m really Scottish and proud of my Arbroath roots. I played for Scotland 50 times. I really enjoyed playing with Ross Montgomery and we are both passionate Scots.
“There’s no better way to maintain a Scottish identity than my outfit. I’ll be wearing tartan breeks, a shirt with a Scotland flag that has a nod to Arbroath where the star is.
“It’s great Mission Darts have done that for me and amazing that Jonny Booth from AKA Property Services donated the tartan trousers.”
Soutar can’t wait to experience the raucous crowd at Alexandra Palace as he prepares for his big stage debut.
And Soots plans to lap up every second of his World Championship debut as he takes on Portela.
“Walking out at Ally Pally is going to be electric,” added Soots.
“You need to take it all and do a bit with the crowd before turning the other way and focusing on the job.
“I’ve quickly learned you can’t be the class jester or the guy who is milking the crowd. At my level you have to focus fully on the darts challenge.
“When I become a better player then I can start engaging with the crowd or being a bit different with them.
“At the Players Championships someone shouted at me when I was going for a double. It didn’t put me off but I was aware of it.
“In the big cauldron of the Ally Pally you won’t hear individual shouts or noises. It will just be a racket.
“Yaya Toure will be getting sung every two minutes. I’m good at blocking things out and focusing on my job.
“I’ll go down there to enjoy it and make an impact.”