The capital’s football fans, looking for a quick ‘fix’ during the close season, have a feast of football to look forward to from Friday to Sunday.
The Edinburgh Street Football Festival will take place in the shadow of the castle, within the Ross Bandstand in Princes Street Gardens from 14-16 June 2013.
Eight Edinburgh primary schools, five U13 girls teams, six Edinburgh businesses and five Edinburgh youth projects will compete in four different tournaments coming together on finals day to play and celebrate together in their city.
Teams can be all male, all female or mixed consisting of a maximum of eight players in total. Maximum of four players per team on the court: Two halves of six minutes each plus one minute interval in between each half.
At least one player must remain in the opposition half of play. A foul will be awarded against a team where the whole team is in its own half and the referee can award a penalty against a team which is persistently time-wasting.
The winning team receives three points. The losing team zero. If a match ends in a draw, it is decided by a sudden-death penalty shoot-out until one team has a one goal advantage after both teams have taken the same number of penalty kicks.
In matches decided by a penalty shoot-out the winning team gets two points and the losing team gets one point.
Organiser Scott Moncrieff told The Edinburgh Reporter:- “This is the first of hopefully many such events throughout the country. Fans are advised to go to the grandstand which holds 230, plus there are blue seats to the side, taking the attendance up to around four hundred.
“We received funding from the Scottish Football Partnership and the National Lottery ‘Young Start’ Programme and our objective is to get youngsters involved in sport and healthier.
“We have received sponsorship from Sykes Global for this event, and receive money from the businesses taking part, with all funds raised going to the Homeless World Cup.
“On Sunday, a Hibs / Hearts select team, featuring Keith Wright, Michael Weir and Gordon Hunter from Hibs, and Henry Smith, Scott Crabbe and Jimmy Sandison from Hearts will play against local teams and hopefully boost the crowds.
DAY 1 FRIDAY 14TH JUNE
10am – 2pm EDINBURGH YOUTH CUP
5 Edinburgh Youth Projects compete in the group stages with the top 4 progressing to the semi-finals on Sunday.
3pm – 7pm EDINBURGH CORPORATE CUP
6 Edinburgh Businesses compete in the group stages with the top 4 progressing to the semi-finals on Sunday.
DAY 2 – SATURDAY 15TH JUNE
10am – 2pm EDINBURGH PRIMARY SCHOOLS CUP
8 Edinburgh Primary Schools compete in two groups of four with the top 2 from each group progressing to the semi-finals on Sunday.
3pm – 6pm EDINBURGH U13 GIRLS CUP
5 Edinburgh Girls’ U13 teams compete in the groups stages with the top 4 progressing to the semi-finals on Sunday.
DAY 3 – SUNDAY 16TH JUNE SEMI-FINALS AND FINALS DAY
10am – 11.30am EDINBURGH YOUTH CUP SEMI-FINALS AND FINALS
12pm – 1.30pm EDINBURGH CORPORATE CUP SEMI-FINALS AND FINALS
1.30pm – 2.30pm HIBS/HEARTS LEGENDS SELECT
2.30pm – 4.00 pm EDINBURGH PRIMARY SCHOOLS CUP SEMI-FINALS AND FINALS 4.00pm to 5.30pm EDINBURGH U13 GIRLS CUP SEMI FINALS AND FINALS.
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
