Tag: Spartans

Be part of sporting history!

Volunteers needed to aid local world record attempt 

football

The Sick Kids Friends Foundation (SKFF) and Craig Gowans Memorial Fund are recruiting hundreds of volunteers to get the ball rolling at an upcoming World Record attempt for the longest 11-a-side football match of all time.

Friends, family and teammates of the late Falkirk defender Craig Gowans are hosting the Guinness World Record attempt in memory of the young football star, and require the help of a vast range of volunteers to help make the event a success.

The Memorial Fund was set up by Craig’s family and friends following his tragic death to ensure that his memory is used as a driving force for good.

This four day mega-match will take place at Ainslie Park, Home of Spartans FC, from 4 – 8 July, with all proceeds going to the SKFF.

The participating players aim to complete at least 103 hours of football in order to beat the current World Record which was recently set in Southampton. In order to complete this mammoth football challenge the charity are calling for people of all skills to support the fundraising efforts.

Volunteers needed include referees, stewards, physiotherapists, general helpers, as well as people to assist with the event setup and tidy up.

The Craig Gowans Guinness World Record Football Match is expected to raise more than £37,000 for the Foundation. The money will be used to open a state-of-the-art Snoezelen Room in Craig’s name at the new Sick Kids Hospital in Little France. This calming space will use cutting edge multi-sensory equipment to provide a vital, stimulating area for young patients with sensory impairments.

Jonny Wallace, one of Craig’s closest school friends and an advocate of the Craig Gowans Memorial Fund said: “We have organised many fundraisers in the past in memory of Craig but this epic match will be one of our biggest challenges to date and we need help from lots of volunteers for the event to run smoothly.

“Volunteers make all the difference to the success of our events and we would really appreciate any level of help for our upcoming World Record attempt whether it is for one day or all four.”

Rachel McKenzie, Head of Voluntary Fundraising at the Sick Kids Friends Foundation, said: “We’re extremely grateful that the Craig Gowans Memorial Fund has chosen to raise funds for the Foundation. Their upcoming world record football match looks set to be a very demanding challenge and we urge anyone that can help them during the event to show their support and sign up for a volunteer’s role online.”

To register as a volunteer at the Craig Gowans Memorial Fund World Record Breaking Football Match

visit www.tcggwrm.org/volunteer

or email Jonny Wallace at TCGGWRM37@gmail.com.

Getting in shape for marathon charity match

Craig Gowans team plans world record attempt at Spartans

craig gowans

The football season may now be over, but friends, family and teammates of the late Falkirk midfielder Craig Gowans have embarked on a gruelling training regime in preparation for their challenge: to break the Guinness World Record for the longest 11-a-side football match!

The mega-match, which will take place from 4 – 8 July at Ainslie Park, home of Spartans FC, will raise money for the Sick Kids Friends Foundation on behalf of the Craig Gowans Memorial Fund, a fund set up by Craig’s family and friends following his tragic death to ensure that his memory is used as a driving force for good.

Craig, a former pupil of Daniel Stewarts and Melville College, died during training when a 20ft long pole used for transportable nets came into contact with power lines.  Craig, who was 17, had signed his professional contract with the club just two weeks before the accident.

Since the charity was formed in April 2007, it has raised over £80,000, supporting charities such as the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS), the Sick Kids Friends Foundation and the Chesney Trust.  The fund has also contributed towards building state-of-the-art educational facilities for children and young adults in places such as Malawi.

With each player running the equivalent of at least two marathons every twenty-four hours, the Guinness World Record attempt will be the most demanding challenge to date. The final few months of the training regime, and the attempt in July will be a real test of discipline and commitment for all players involved.

The two 18-man squads hope to raise over £37,000 (Craig’s professional number being 37 at Falkirk). The money raised will be used to fund enhancements to the new Sick Kids hospital at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh at Little France, specifically a state-of-the-art Snoezelen room in Craig’s name, a calming room with multi-sensory equipment to provide a relaxing and stimulating space for children with sensory impairments.

The Craig Gowans World Record already has the support of high profile football associations and charities such as the Scottish Football Association, Football Aid, The Sick Kids Friends Foundation and the Hibernian Football Community.

A number of celebrities will also take part in the event, including ex-Scotland boss and current FC Genk Manager, Alex McLeish.

The Craig Gowans Guinness World Record Committee is a group of Craig’s school friends, Jonny Wallace, Dario Alonzi, Chris O’Shea and Eoghan Molloy who are working hard to ensure that the event is as successful as it can be and raise as much awareness as possible.  The group launched the event at their flagship dinner on 28 March at Stewarts Melville school. The committee have so far raised over £22,000 and are hoping to smash their target.

The teams are looking for more volunteers to get involved in the event, at all levels. Anyone who would like to get involved in the World Record attempt can get in touch through:

the website www.tcggwrm.org 

Twitter www.twitter.com/TCGGWRM37

and on Facebook www.facebook.com/TCGGWRM

Donations can be made via JustGiving  www.justgiving.com/teams/worldrecord

For more info contact Jonny Wallace at TCGGWRM37@gmail.com

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Crewe Terrace fire: Spartans come to the aid of ‘one of our own’

Spartans Academy sets up appeal fund

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GRIM O’GRADY FUND

You might know that Grim (or Garry to give him his Sunday name) came home (Thursday 14 May) to find his family house in North Edinburgh had been destroyed in a fire. Grim and his family have lost all their possessions including his wonderful dog Buster and their cats.

To help Grim and his family quickly get back on their feet we have set up a collection for them via the Spartans Academy just giving website.

Everyone right across Spartans knows Grim and the fantastic contribution he makes, especially to the Spartans Connections programme. He has given up so much to help a large number of people within the North Edinburgh community and we’re hoping the Spartans, Lowland League and Scottish Football communities can help him in his time of need.

The football club will start the collection with a contribution of £500. If you would like to make a contribution but cannot do it online, please hand it into the Academy office and let them know it is for the Grim O’Grady Fund. If you want to contribute by cheque please make it payable to our charity, The Spartans Community Football Academy.

Our thoughts are with Grim and his family.

Make an online donation at www.justgiving.com/fund-for-grim

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So far (Friday 9am) the appeal has raised over £17000 – keep giving!

Dancing in the streets of Sparta tonight?

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Scottish Cup weekend again, and for many neutrals the tastiest tie of the round is the Spartans v Berwick Rangers game at Ainslie Park. Spartans go into the game as underdogs, but playing in front of a packed full house it would be absolutely no surprise to see the North Edinburgh community club progress to the quarter-finals for the first time in their history.

While it would be a notable victory, on the giant-killing scale Spartans beating Berwick Rangers would barely register a slight tremor. Their visitors, however, know all about cup upsets: Berwick featured in the greatest giant-killing story of them all.

On a cold January afternoon in 1967, 13,365 packed into Berwick’s Shielfield Park to watch a mighty Rangers team, packed with internationals, hammer the ‘wee Rangers’. That was the expectation, but nobody told the Berwick men!

Rangers pummelled away at their hosts from kick-off and forced ten corners in the opening half hour. A goal seemed inevitable, but when it came it shook Scottish football to it’s foundations – in the 32nd minute Sammy Reid hammered the ball past Rangers keeper Norrie Martin to put the minnows ahead!

berwick winner Rangers battered away at Big Jock Wallace in the Berwick goal – yes, that big Jock Wallace – but they couldn’t break the defiant borderers down.  The story goes that, with the game well into injury time and the Ibrox club facing cup exit, Rangers skipper and club legend John Greig had a word with referee Eddie Thomson and asked for another couple of minutes – but was told: “I’ve already given you four!”  Berwick Rangers held on to create the greatest shock in Scottish Cup history.

The result was announced on TV and radio in the sombre tones usually reserved for royal funerals and rail disasters. I was a wee laddie at the time, but I remember it like yesterday. What I can’t recall is whether the announcers wore black ties – but I suppose back in those days it was all black and white anyway!

We won’t get shocks of that magnitude this weekend – not if Hibs were humbled by Arbroath, Stranraer stun Dundee United or wee Spartans shock Berwick.

But will there be dancing in the streets of Sparta tonight? I really do think there will be – take your partners!

Scottish Cup Fifth Round ties:

Today:

Dundee v Celtic 12:30pm

Falkirk v Brechin 3pm

Hibernian v Arbroath 3pm

Partick Thistle v Inverness CT 3pm

Queen of South v St Johnstone 3pm

Spartans FC v Berwick 3pm

Tomorrow:

Stranraer v Dundee United 12.30pm

Rangers v Raith Rovers 3pm

#StrongerNorth update: Young people and our community

#Stronger North: working with our young people

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Work with primary aged children

As part of a new role created by Total Craigroyston Team, it was agreed that a youth worker would work in four of the local primary schools to deliver a programme called ‘Respect in the Community.’

The aim was to help primary aged children understand the importance of safety in the community, publicise all the activities that are available after school and help them make good choices about what they do with their time after school.

The youngsters make a map of their community in the first session, showing where many of the positive activities take place.  They look at what makes a safe community for everyone and think about they can keep themselves safe as well as looking out for others.

At a later stage they have the opportunity to identify where they feel safe themselves or not. We’ve found that many of our primary children are very well aware of and have experienced some of the issues that make them feel unsafe.

A big part of the programme is helping children develop the skills to make good decisions especially where they might feel tempted by friends to take part in behaviour that causes distress to others.  In small groups they think about developing a community campaign about combating anti-social behaviour and then present their ideas to their classmates.

The programme has gone down very well with P5, P6 and P7’s in Pirniehall and St David’s, has just started in Craigroyston Primary and will be starting very soon in Forthview.

Reward Scheme

We’ve developed a loyalty card so that youngsters who are positive participants in youth clubs and sports clubs can gather points and receive a reward. It will run until Easter to see if it will be successful.  So far Ainslie Park Leisure Centre and Craigroyston Community High School has offered free swims for individuals and families and each of the youth organisations involved has agreed to run a special reward night for those involved.

Teenagers

As well as all the youth clubs and sports opportunities that are available in the community , we have developed some out of hours sessions for teenagers – offering them the opportunity to get involved in activities later at night in an effort to combat the idea that there is nothing to do. If these sessions go well then more can be offered. These activities are taking place in Spartans and Pilton Youth and Children’s Project.

STRONGER towford

Face North (above) is a special project, working with some of the young people who are involved in anti-social behaviour and so far we have been able to involve these young people in working at Towford, the bothy owned by My Adventure. To help get the Bothy ready for use by local groups and organisations they have helped with  basic maintenance, cleared ground, laid paths, chopped down and replanted trees and completed some minor repairs. They have also painted the kitchen area in Pilton Youth and Children’s Project and will soon be doing some environmental work on the cycle path.

The Mentors in Violence Prevention Programme is being implemented in local High Schools as well as in the local community. This gives older young people the training and skills to work with younger ones and help them think through how they would handle a wide range of tricky incidents  giving young people and the community the confidence to speak up against and challenge issues such as bullying or other types of  anti-Social behaviour.

Sessions for parents will be run towards the end of February – look out for dates or contact Community Learning and Development worker Sarah Neal if you are interested in attending. Her number is 552 5700.

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Scottish Cup: super Spartans are ecstatic!

Can high-flying Hearts complete capital cup treble?

DEFYTHEODDS

With Hibs and Spartans safely through to the last sixteen of the Scottish Cup, all eyes with be on Tynecastle this afternoon – can high-flying Hearts make it a capital cup treble?

Both Hibs and Spartans came from behind in their fourth round ties yesterday.

The biggest upset of the day belonged to local Lowland League side Spartans, who came from behind to defeat Greenock Morton at Ainslie Park. A stoppage time strike by Beasley created history for the local team – giant-killers Spartans will now take their place in the last sixteen for the first time in their history.

Andrew Barrowman gave Morton a first half lead, but Spartans battled back and levelled through Willie Bremner in the second half. The tie seemed to be heading for a replay but Jack Beesley’s late late show secured a superb Spartans victory.

“The players in the second half were magnificent,” Samuel told BBC Scotland. “When we scored we were certainly going to go for the win – we weren’t playing for the replay, that’s for sure!”

Hibs successfully negotiated a tricky away tie at Alloa. Hibs fans may have feared the worst when Meggatt fired Alloa ahead in fifteen minutes – some Hibs teams of recent vintage would have wilted after going behind – but Alan Stubbs current side is seemingly made of sterner stuff and first half goals by Liam Craig and David Gray saw them safely through to Monday’s draw.

Now Hearts have the chance to make it a capital cup treble. All’s well with the world at Tynecastle these days: Mr Romanov is a distant memory, business is brisk and the team sits proudly at the top of the table, with the likes of Rangers and Hibs trailing in their wake.

Celtic are Scotland’s top team, but they’ve seldom fired on all cylinders this season and another European defeat in midweek exposed their frailties and showed they are far from the finished article.

Yes, Celtic should be too strong for Hearts this afternoon but all the pressure is on the Parkhead side – Hearts go into the game having comprehensively beaten their main title rivals Rangers last weekend and confidence is sky high. The Gorgie boys have nothing to lose by having a real go today. If Celtic do not perform, they will lose.

Both teams have injury worries ahead of this afternoon’s clash.

Hearts have Prince Bauben back in the squad but defender Kevin McHattie has been ruled out with medial ligament damage. Captain Danny Wilson and striker Osman Sow are also doubtful.

Celtic also have three injury concerns. Influential midfielder Charlie Mulgrew is struggling with a rib injury picked up during Thursday’s Europa League defeat by Salzburg and Jason Denayer is also unlikely to feature. Defender Mikael Lustig is sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Four SPFL Scottish Premiership sides exited the tournament at the first attempt yesterday – Aberdeen, Motherwell,  Hamilton Academicals and Ross County have gone already. Will Celtic join them? 

Local football sides in weekend action

This weekend sees four local football sides in action.

Muirhouse based Civil Service Strollers are playing host to borders side Selkirk FC in the King Cup, Selkirk find themselves near the bottom of the First Division and Civil Service are occupying fourth spot in the Premier League. Civil will be hoping to bounce back from their dire weekend last week where they were beaten 7-3 by Midlothian club Whitehill Welfare.

Leith manager Derek Riddell with the Alex Jack Cup. (Picture: Thomas Brown)
Leith manager Derek Riddell with the Alex Jack Cup. (Picture: Thomas Brown)

Spartans travel to Peffermill to play Edinburgh University in the King Cup also, Spartans were also beaten last week by Stirling University and they will be hoping to return to winning ways tomorrow.

Match of the day has to be the Craigroyston v Leith Athletic fixture, Leith and Craigroyston are contenders for promotion from the first division and played each other at the tail end of last year in the Alex Jack Cup Final which leith ran out one nil winners.

All the games kick off at 2.30pm and you can find more information at the East of Scotland FA website

Hearts lift cup at Ainslie Park

Brave Spartans were left heartbroken as they lost out on the Ronnie Swan Cup 8-7 on penalties to Heart of Midlothian on Friday night (writes ALAN CLARK).

The East of Scotland league side had been leading throughout the game and were 4-2 to the good with just a couple of minutes remaining, however Hearts scored a quick-fire double to take the friendly match to a shoot-out.

Jack Beesley gave Spartans the lead with a deft chip before Mark Whatley doubled the home side’s lead after 20 minutes with a scissor-kick from the edge of the area.

Scottish Premier League side Hearts responded just before half-time through Gordon Smith, however Spartans restored their two-goal advantage through Andy Martin early in the second half.  Returning Jambo Ryan Stevenson made things interesting at 3-2, as Sean Wringe then looked to have made the cup safe for Spartans.

There was more drama to come however as substitute Mehdi Taouil unleashed a 30-yard rocket into the top corner with minutes to go, which was followed by a last-minute leveller from fellow sub Sam Nicholson. After both sides scored their five penalties, the shoot-out entered sudden-death where Nicolson scored the cup-winning penalty.

Due to the international break, Hearts boss John McGlynn agreed to take part in the memorial match for Ronnie Swan and the Scottish Cup holders brought a strong squad along to Ainslie Park, including first-team regulars Andrew Driver, Jamie MacDonald and Ryan Stevenson.

The game started evenly with both sides attempting to find their feet but the hosts made the breakthrough after ten minutes. Jordan Finnie spotted Jack Beesley’s run and fed him the ball, with the Spartans midfielder using his first touch to chip Jambos keeper Jamie MacDonald beautifully – much to the delight of the home crowd.

The Tynecastle outfit looked for a quick reply as they won a free-kick on the edge of the area. Ukrainian defender Denis Prychyenko let fly but his effort went wide of the post by three yards.

The non-league side put themselves even further in front just ten minutes after the opener, Neil McCuish’s scissor-kick every bit as impressive as Beesley’s chip. The ball bounced on the left side of ‘the D’ and McCuish took a gamble by launching his whole body at the ball, which looped over MacDonald and into the inside of the side-netting. Spartans were in dreamland.

Dale Carrick attempted a copy-cat of McCuish’s wonder strike but the Hearts forward watched as his effort went narrowly wide of the post. McGlynn’s side were looking more interested in the game after 35 minutes and almost got a goal back, Ryan Stevenson’s cross almost being turned in by Spartans no. 2 Danny O’Donnell.

Jason Holt was next up to go close for Hearts as he made some space for himself in the box before sending his low drive into Ross Gilpin, who did well to use his legs save to his right.  Just as Dougie Samuel thought Spartans would have a 2-0 half-time lead, striker Gordon Smith pulled a goal back for Hearts, poking the ball home from six yards after a ping-pong event in the box.

Samuel didn’t have long to wait to see his side’s two-goal league restored however, the 54th minute seeing Spartans make it 3-1. Chris Anderson weighed his through ball perfectly for Andy Martin, who hit his shot across Macdonald’s goal and into the far corner.

After 70 minutes, Spartans were believing it could be their night after all, as they smacked the bar with a ferocious drive from the edge of the area. MacDonald did well to palm it onto the bar, as it looked like it was heading for the top corner.

With less than ten minutes to go, ex-Ipswich Town forward Stevenson got his name on the score sheet with a powerful shot from inside the area, however Spartans delighted their punters further by making it 4-2 a matter of seconds later. It was Anderson who was the supplier again as a great move culminated in the midfielder going past MacDonald, leaving him helpless as Sean Wringe beat a defender to squeeze home the fourth into an empty net.

You could be forgiven for thinking that was that, but Hearts had other things in mind. Substitute and former Kilmarnock winger Mehdi Taouil took matters into his own feet as it were, as he picked the ball up 30 yards from goal and thumped home high into the keeper’s left-hand corner. With less than two minutes to play, this goal made Spartans sweat but rejuvenated Hearts and resulted in Sam Nicolson bundling home in the last kick of the game to make it an astonishing 4-4.

The game was to be decided by penalties and after both sides scored their five penalties, the shoot-out entered sudden-death where Nicholson scored the cup-winning penalty. Hearts were presented with the Ronnie Swan trophy in front of the main stand at the end of an enthralling friendly bout in front of 1,200 fans.

SPARTANS: Ross Gilpin, Danny O’Donnell, Gary Cenerrazzo, Kevin Sivewright, Neil McCuish, Robbie Manson ©, Jack Beesley, Mark Whatley, Jordan Finnie, Chris Anderson, Donal Henretty. Subs: Sean Wringe, Keith McLeod, John Grant, Andy Martin, Willie Bremner, Peter Mair, Chris Flockhart.

HEARTS: Jamie MacDonald, Dylan McGowan ©, Kevin McHattie, Denis Prychyenko, Brad McKay, Ryan Stevenson, Jamie Walker, Jason Holt, Gordon Smith, Dale Carrick, Andrew Driver. Subs: Mehdi Taouil, Jack Hamilton, Callum Paterson, Callum Tappin, Scott Robinson, Billy King, Adam King, Sam Nicholson.