FROM THE FRONT LINE INTO THE FIRE
Born on 10th January 1978 and raised in Arbroath, Scotland. Soots journey to the PDC has been varied but very much action filled, where literal life and death choices and experiences have made the man we all know today, who despite his manic schedule, continues to selflessly give back to society.
COMMANDOS..
Soots served for Queen and country for 10 years in 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, across the World including posts in Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Norway and Brunei.
FIRE FIGHTING..
Alongside staring as a professional darts player, For the past 20 years, Soots has served as a fire fighter in Tayside, amazingly combining both careers simultaneously to such a high level.
PASSING ON THE KNOWLEDGE..
In 2012, Soots was the founder and driving force behind The Angus Darts Academy, which continues to offer the opportunity for hundreds of kids across the region to play and enjoy the game of darts and the association has produced talents such as 2017/19 BDO World and 2022 PDC World Youth finalist Nathan Girvan.
GUIDE DOGS SCOTLAND..
Since 2017, Soots, along with his partner Amanda, have dedicated a large part of their lives to puppy raising with Guide Dogs Scotland. They have brought up and prepared over 7 dogs who have changed the lives of so many people and families to become guide dogs, buddy dogs and loyal companions.
ARBROATH F.C..
In 2021, Soots was appointed an official ambassador of Arbroath Football Club alongside Celtic’s Kelly Clark, Sky Sport’s Ewan Murray, tennis pro Jonny O’Mara, footballer Bobby Linn and Commonweath winning bowler Darren Burnett.
PRE PDC..
Learning to play darts in his Grandparent’s local Arbroath pub, Soots began his early career with much success winning countless titles at local, county and international level including 50 caps for Scotland and 23 of them as captain.
In 2013, he was part of team Scotland, hitting the winning dart to win the World Cup team event in St John’s Canada.
In 2016, he was the winner of the Scottish Masters and also qualified for The BDO World Championships in 2011 and 2016.
In 2020 with Covid-19 sweeping the globe and very few options to play competitive darts, Soots decided the time was right to go for his professional tour card and won it at the very first time of asking thus turning pro and joining The Professional Darts Corporation.
ARRIVING AT THE PDC..
Soots began his professional career in style enjoying atelevision victory over former World Champion Raymond Van Barneveld.
On the World stage, he would reach the last 16 at Alexandra Palace in his first appearance defeating players such as seeds Mensur Suijlovic and Jose De Sosa. In 2022, after another successful year, he returned to London and again got to the last 16 and this time defeating major winners Daryl Gurney and Danny Noppert on the biggest stage of them all in World darts breaking into the top 32.
In the spring of 2024, he would win his first Players Championship (11) in Hildesheim Germany, again defeating Northern Irishman Daryl Gurney in the Final.
