Spartans celebrate ten terrific years at Ainslie Park

Doesn’t time fly? Spartans Community Football Academy celebrated 10 years at it’s North Edinburgh home at a special birthday party on Wednesday.

The community focused facility that has two full-sized football pitches, a 5 a-side pitch, club and function rooms and a youth work base is the home to a thriving social enterprise.

Over the past decade the Academy has grown from strength to strength delivering a wide range of programmes for the local community including physical activity in schools, festival days, youth clubs, outreach programmes and an alternative school.

When customers let a pitch, enroll their children in the Academy’s community coaching programmes or simply have a cup of tea in the café they are contributing to the social enterprise and to the wider community.

In their first year Spartans welcomed 75,000 people through their doors.  A decade later numbers have continued to grow and grow – the community organisation is now welcoming over 300,000 people each year. 

Over the last 10 years Spartans have:

• Developed and supported over 100 young volunteers to become Academy Ambassadors
• Supported over 500 young people to attend residential trips
• Taken over 2,000 participants on ‘Making Magic Memories’ trips
• Delivered over 10,000 School Visit Programmes
• Provided over 30,000 meals for young people
• Grown our youth work to deliver over 3,000 hours of face to face youth work hours per year

On Wednesday the Academy hosted a Birthday evening with invited guests including supporters, funders, participants and friends who will come together to celebrate a decade at Ainslie Park.

The event was also an opportunity to celebrate the reopening of the community football pitch that has undergone refurbishment over the past few months and now has a new 3G surface and LED floodlights thanks to the support the Scottish Football Partnership Trust, the SUEZ Scottish Landfill Communities Fund, the Viridor Scottish Landfill Communities Fund, and The Robertson Trust and the WREN Scottish Landfill Communities Fund.

Tonight, Spartans FC senior men’s team play Vale of , Leithen FC in the Scottish Lowland League. To mark the Birthday at Ainslie Park children can watch the match for free and adults who “donate at the gate” to the club’s Christmas Foodbank appeal will also be able to watch the match for free.

Young footballers from the Spartans FC youth sections will be mascots for the evening and play fun games at half time. Kick off is at 7.45pm.