He is a world champion of darts.
But that counted for nothing when Scott Waites turned up just 24 hours after clinching the world title to play for his pub team.
He’d been dropped from darts team from The Commercial at Golcar, in their match at The Horse & Groom in Milnsbridge.
It’s a sign nothing is going to change for now for amateur star Scott, who has just returned to work as a housing repairs inspector after winning £100,000 in Sunday’s British Darts Organisation final.
And there was not even much celebrating for Fixby man and Pennine Housing employee Scott, 38, who has been under the weather.
He even got jokingly dropped from his local league side.
“There wasn’t much partying because I’ve been full of cold”, said Scott, who lives with his partner Lucy Aston..
“I managed to shake it off at the championship but it’s back again.
“I turned up on Monday for the Commercial at an away game in the Golcar Darts League at the Horse and Groom in Milnsbridge.
“It wasn’t until 8.25pm that I realised my name wasn’t on the list. We’ve got seven players but only five places each match.
“We have a lot of friendly banter between us and the rest of the team found it very amusing, so I stayed and watched for an hour.”
It is the second time Scott has been crowned king in the prestigious contest, which he last won in 2013, and Sunday’s win was his fourth major darts victory.
It came after a couple of relatively low profile seasons, with a shoulder operation last year forcing him to pull out of the World Trophy.
“To win is fantastic. It’s brilliant to come first and it’s given me confidence knowing that the first time wasn’t just a fluke.
“It will be even better if I can win the title two years in a row next year.
“The whole contest was quite close. I was almost out in the first round.
“I said to myself that if I got past Glenn Durrant in the quarter finals I’d got a chance. That was the biggest game and one of the biggest I’ve played.
“And in the final a lot of the games I won three to two, I just stepped up my game a little to win.”
Scott, who also plays for local league the Foresters Arms in Crosland Moor, explained how he kept his nerves under wraps during the contest.
“I practised away from Lakeside in a local working men’s club to escape the glamour, which helped me involve myself more.
“Concentration is key.And the nerves surprisingly lessen when you’re playing on TV because the adrenaline takes over and stops you from feeling nervous.
“If you could bottle that you’d make a fortune.”
He is now ranked as number three in the British Darts Organisation, despite reservations from the bookies.
“There were actually 18 to one odds for me to win.Some of my friends bet on me though and won out.”
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And it is business as normal now for Scott, who returned to work for Pennine Housing this week. The firm’s umbrella organisation Together Housing is his sponsor, and he has made no public plans to go professional.
“I’m going to put my prize money towards my pension.
“I’ve no idea how much I’ve won overall, I don’t want to look.
“I’m back at work now and I’ll just see what happens in the next couple of months.
“I just feel like I’m a normal guy.
“Since 16 this is all I’ve done– working and playing darts, it’s my thing.
“At 17 I used to tell my dad that I’d get onto the Lakeside stage, kids always say things like that though.
“It’s nice being recognised though, which has been happening since 2007 when I won the Dutch Open.
“The tenants make a fuss of me and I give people pictures in return.
“Work is supportive of me and they let me have days off to go to contests.
“You have to go to at least 12 ranking tournaments to qualify but if you don’t get any points in one it means taking part in more.
“It’s the crowd that makes it. The more exciting the match is for them the more involved they get.”
Back at home, Scott plays for the Commercial on Mondays and the Foresters on Thursday.
“There are good players in the groups, two young ones called Danny Roberts and Ryan, are doing very well.
“It’s the local leagues that keep darts going.
“We are quite lucky around here because we’ve got a dedicated league who put a lot of games together and competitions which get a lot of people to them.
“Without them I think darts would fritter out.
“The problem with darts is that a lot of pubs have closed down but around here a lot of darts clubs are opening up now.”
Scott’s passion doesn't just take him up and down the UK.
“I go abroad once a month and darts is better there to be honest.
“In Holland there’s the Dutch Open which is absolutely massive.”
“There, they have a completely different outlook to British schools on playing darts too, which they let them do because it’s a good way to learn maths.
“A few years ago I tried to get darts used in schools to teach kids, because it’s all about counting.
“But schools wouldn’t let darts be used, even the soft tipped ones, because of health and safety.
“I think we should bring darts into maths here because kids love playing it and I think there’s no better way to learn subtraction and adding.”
Scott plans on resting himself ahead of his next big game this weekend.
“I’m playing for Yorkshire against Cornwall away so that will be a long one.”
Congrats from the Mayor
Kirklees Mayor Clr Paul Kane has added his congratulations to Huddersfield darts world champion Scott Waites.
Waites won the BDO title for the second time on Sunday night, defeating Canadian Jeff Smith 7-1 in the final.
And Clr Kane said: “To win a world title is an amazing achievement. To win it twice shows a real dedication.
“The skill and determination Scott has shown throughout the tournament has been amazing. He looked beaten a number of times in the earlier rounds but always fought back.
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“We are blessed with sporting success stories at the moment – only last month I held a reception for some of our best sporting talent including Yorkshire cricket captain Andrew Gale.
“I will be inviting Scott to Huddersfield Town Hall in the near future so I can add my personal thanks, but once again we have a role model for young people across Kirklees to look up to.
“With hard work, skill and determination, you can reach the top of whatever sport you chose to do.”
