As something of a tungsten Godfather and one of the leading lights of African darts, 58-year-old Simon Adams has been a pioneer of a sport which, on the continent, stands on the cusp of a major boom.
Now, if I told you Adams was actually a Cockney musician, you’d look at me as though I’d lost the plot and confused the legendary arrow-smith with a different Simon – Duran Duran frontman Le Bon. I haven’t, so don’t worry. But loosely – and I mean looser than Prince Andrew’s legal defence team – it isn’t that far from being a factual statement, as you’ll soon discover.
Bang On Target recently caught up with the South African legend. For those darts fans who may not yet be familiar with Simon’s story, I began by asking him to introduce himself.
“I turn 59 in November and was born and raised in East London, South Africa, and now live in Gqeberha, the new name for Port Elizabeth, South Africa.”
You see! It’s not the East London you all thought of. There’s one of those bad boys over in South Africa too, where I like to imagine the locals all call each other “mush” and sell dodgy aftershave from a suitcase on a market stall.
As for the musician bit? Simon plays a little guitar and drums. I suspect he isn’t referring to a tiny banjo, merely that he isn’t quite the ghost of Jimi Hendrix.
“I have been married to my wife, Ellen, for the past 33 years. We have two sons. Our eldest, Tertian, is 32, works as a teacher and lives in London with his wife, Katie (that’s the English London – not the one down the road from Simon). Our youngest son, Shaquille, is 26. He has a university degree and is a keen rugby player.” he added.
Quite the talented family – and not the Adams Family you may have assumed with Lurch wandering around as the butler.
Workwise, Simon is a Sales Manager for a dairy company, which sounds suspiciously like spending your days trying to convince supermarkets they desperately need another pallet of milk and butter.
I was intrigued to discover the story behind the African arrow-smith’s nickname, The Saint. From the sound of it, it wouldn’t have surprised me if he’d performed the odd miracle or two. Perhaps he’d even witnessed Devon Petersen buying a round at the bar. Now that would qualify as a genuine divine phenomenon.
Yet sadly, no. As amusing and bewildering as that may have been, this is in fact the real reason:
“Before I won the PDC World Championship qualifier, my nickname was Awesome Adams. When I made it, Devon Petersen and his marketing team decided that “Awesome” wasn’t something they could really market. They rebranded me as The Saint because of my character, leadership qualities and the voluntary work I do to promote darts, especially amongst young people.”
That makes far more sense. Besides, nobody has ever witnessed Devon getting the drinks in. Furthermore, I didn’t even know he had a marketing team. Although on the miracle front, I’m still fairly convinced Simon could part the Red Sea if he put his mind to it. That would fit the ‘Saint’ criteria pretty nicely.
So Mr Adams, when did the darting journey begin?
“I started playing darts in 1979 when I was still only 11 years old. My dad played, and his team used to come to our house to practise. While he was making drinks one evening, I had a few throws with his teammates and beat every one of them. The following week, I was in the team.”
Born for the oche it seems. Was relocating to the English version of East London ever a consideration? Or perhaps somewhere just a little closer to Wigan and Leicester than several thousand miles away?
“No. I’ve only visited the UK twice. During those visits I played twice in the MODUS Super Series, once in the World Seniors Darts Series and once at the PDC World Championship. Of course, I was also there for Tertain’s wedding in 2023.”
Well, we weren’t aware at that point that Shaquille had married in the UK. But now we do, so yes, it really was “of course.” You can’t exactly miss your son’s wedding.
That appearance at Alexandra Palace a few years ago, where he suffered an opening-round defeat to Rapid Ricky Evans, sadly remains his only visit to the World Championship stage for now. Unfortunately, he’s currently spending some time in the proverbial treatment room.
“Not this year. I’m having a hip replacement but, God willing, I’ll be back with a bang. But playing on stage in the MODUS Super Series and at the PDC World Championship have been my two career highlights.”
Having been around long enough to remember South Africa when Nelson Mandela was still spending his pocket money at the local sweet shop, Adams has witnessed first-hand the evolution of darts across the continent. His assessment is refreshingly honest and straight to the point.
“The standard is decent, but we’re not world beaters just yet. The growth has been fuelled by our darts development programme and by the events and qualifiers that Devon Petersen has brought to South Africa and Africa as a whole.”
While South Africa has long established itself as a sporting powerhouse in rugby, cricket and athletics, darts is still developing its footing. However, the recent PDC announcement confirming that two African representatives will compete at this year’s World Championship has provided an enormous boost.
“This was the best news Africa could have received, and it’s all because of Devon’s vision. Africa has so much talent and, when given opportunities like this, we can only excel.”
With that positive news for both a proud sporting nation and an entire continent, Simon still has plenty left to accomplish before he forms a band and joins the Rolling Stones on tour.
“I want to get back competing as soon as my hip has healed and, of course, continue empowering our youth by recruiting and developing young players to help grow the sport.”
Spoken like a true patriot and a genuine pioneer. Someone with the same passion for his country as a Labrador has for unattended sausages. With the likes of Simon, alongside Africa’s only ever professional player, Devon Petersen, continuing to drive the sport forward across the continent, there’s every reason to believe more players will emerge through the local systems and eventually onto the PDC ProTour.
After all, there are well over a billion people there. Statistically speaking, at least a couple should be able to give Luke Littler a game.
