Broughton High School was the venue for a reception to mark the formation of a new local football club last night. It’s been a meteoric rise – six months ago Blackhall Athletic didn’t exist, but now has teams playing in three football leagues!
Club chairman John Adams explained: “Blackhall Athletic really came about through conversations in the pub! A number of parents were talking in the Blackhall Lounge – their kids were members of a team but the boys were not always getting a game. Everyone agreed that it was important that the kids get a chance to enjoy taking part in sport, no matter their abilities. It was from those conversations that the idea for the club was born”.
John (pictured above) is retired, but remains very active within the community and he was ‘coerced’ into helping parents set up a new football team for boys from Blackhall and the surrounding neighbourhoods. In August, just months later, Blackhall Athletic had three teams playing league football.
That’s a cause for celebration and last night parents, coaches and players got together at Blackhall Athletic’s Broughton High School home to say thanks to the people who made it all possible – Carey, Peri, Blackhall Sports Committee, Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership and Craigleith Blackhall Community Council have all showed their support for the new club through sponsorship.
John added: “We’ve received tremendous support from a number of sources. To make a success of something like this you really need two things – money and dedicated people to volunteer their support. It’s been quite lot of hard work but we have both in place and we’re now able to offer young people the opportunity to come along and get involved, enjoy a game of organised football whatever your skill level. We will never be results driven – Blackhall Athletic is very much a community football club, all about sporting endeavour and playing the game in the right spirit. Everything is set up for the boys now – we have good coaches and the facilities here at Broughton are first class.”
Robert Ure (pictured below) is the Active Schools coordinator based at Broughton High School’s Sports hub. He told guests: “Blackhall Athletic is the first club to be launched from the hub here so this is a very exciting time. We are delighted to host Blackhall Athletic, and I’m delighted they have made their home here at Broughton. Our aim is to offer sporting activities for everyone – we provide a wide range of sporting opportunities with lots of different options, from dance to rugby and everything in between, so come along and give it a try!”
Blackhall Athletics has two Under Tens teams and an Under Thirteen squad side too. Given their meteoric rise, don’t rule out more teams and age groups being added to that list some time soon!
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I played for a team in the mid-seventies called Blackhall Athletic when I was about 15. We played in red and white stripes, red shorts and red socks. We played in the Edinburgh Churches Sunday League and gained promotion to the 1st Division of the ECSL c.1975.