Sandy Soutar, R.I.P.

We have received sad news from his daughter that Sandy Soutar died peacefully on 30th June, aged 81.

Rugged, and bearded Sandy Soutar was a hard man who produced plenty of action for his legion of Scottish fans . He  worked on  Joint Promotion bills mainly for Relwyskow and Green Promotions from the mid 1960s until mid 1970s.  He wasn't the first in the family to follow that route. Sandy's brother had wrestled for George DeRelwyskow in the 1940s, tussling with the likes of Tony Lawrence and Sanky Allen..  Sandy's brother, Robert, also used the name Sandy as a ring name, but their careers didn't overlap.

In this wrestling environment it seemed natural for Sandy to become interested in the sport and he enrolled at the North End Club in Dundee. It was there that he met a brilliant lightweight named George Kidd.  The technical brilliance of Kidd inspired young Sandy, as did another man he admired, heavyweight Andy Robin.

Sandy was born into a farming family, one of seven children, in Abernyte , Perthshire.   A poultry famer at the time the professionals he met encouraged Sandy to wrestle for money, which he was keen to do, albeit, like the majority of wrestlers,  on a semi-professional basis,as he continued with his poultry farming business.  Never one to remain idle when he wasn't wrestling or farming Sandy could be found following his other pastimes, shooting, fishing and swimming.

In the ring fans liked nothing more than to see him in the opposite corner  of visiting sassenachs Alan Dennison, Mark Rocco and Dave Barrie.  The best match of all, he told us was the night he met fellow Scot Lee Thomas at the Caird Hall in Dundee. There was great rivalry  between the two of them in the late 1970s and it was always Sandy's hope that he would one day hold Lee's Scottish light heavyweight belt. 

"I loved the wrestling," said Sandy, but everything has to end, and Sandy hung up his boots in the late 1970s.