Firstly congratulations go to Hibs stars Ben Williams, Lewis Stevenson and Owain Tudor Jones who all married during the last week. Further congratulations go to Gordon Strachan for masterminding Scotland’s win against Croatia who are ranked number four in the world.
Off the field, all eyes will be on Tynecastle as once again Hearts face legal action over an unpaid tax bill.
Rugby by John Preece
Mixed bag of fortunes this week for Scottish rugby at home and, mostly, abroad. Ranging from the baddish to the really bad, it’s probably a week best left in the memory banks.
Baddish was the news that Vern Cotter, the future Scottish head coach, was to become the future Scottish head coach… This was the news that his current employers, Clermont Auvergne, were less than pleased with, what they saw, as Cotter’s negotiations with Scotland. It had been claimed that he had offered his resignation, which Cotter denied, so a board room meeting was called for. The outcome of this meeting appeared to satisfy the Clermont bosses and as a result, Scotland will not be getting their new coach until next June.
Badder news was the Women’s Seven’s performance in Brive last weekend. Playing to retain their Grand Prix status, the women played Ukraine, Italy, Ireland and France on Day 1, going down 27-0, 38-5, 24-0 and 38-5 respectively. Only two tries were scored, both in the dying seconds, against Italy (Megan Gaffney) and France (Sarah Smith).
Day 2 was just a re-run of Day 1, performance-wise. Defeats against Spain, Portugal and the Ukraine – 40-0, 26-5 (Tess Forsberg) and 19-0 – means that the Scots finished a distant twelfth and last and must improve out of sight to have any chance of finishing in the top ten in Marbella. (Photo – Megan Gaffney in action against Ireland in the 2013 Six Nations)
Baddest of all news was that from South Africa where men were beaten in Durban for the first time by Samoa in the quadrilateral Summer tournament. 14-3 down after twelve minutes, both Samoan tries scored with the assistance of glaring defensive errors, the Scots were battered into submission by the huge Samoan wingers (and centres, props, etc, you name it…) and finished the first half 14-9 down and with a couple of players on the injury list.
Just after the restart, Laidlaw scored to pull three points back, before Lamont scored a try on the 50 minute mark. Laidlaw missed the kick and with Samoa drawing level at 17-17 another Tuilagi try and a couple of successful kicks saw the Samoans home 27-17.
Next match up for the Scots is against South Africa, who beat Italy 44-10, next weekend with a busy week for the medical staff in between.
International Football
Congratulations go to Edinburgh’s Gordon Strachan on Scotland’s historic win against Croatia in Zagreb. The Croats are currently ranked fourth in the world and were huge favourites to win the World Cup qualifier, but the Scots, who included Edinburgh born Allan McGregor and Leigh Griffiths in the starting line-up, took all three points thanks to a Robert Snodgrass goal in the first half.
This result is on a par with the famous 1-0 win over France in Paris a few years ago, and ensures that Scotland will not drop into the 5th seeding pot for the next major tournament.
Football
Hearts could face a winding up order unless they settle a PAYE bill of £100,000 to HMRC by the end of Monday 10 June.
The money should have been paid last Monday, and the club were given seven days to pay the outstanding debt.
A Club spokesman said:- “We are in dialogue with HMRC and expect to make the payment in the very near future.”
Meanwhile Lithuanian prosecutors have threatened to issue a European arrest warrant for Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov after he failed to appear for questioning over the alleged embezzlement of more than £12 million.
The Lithuanian Financial Crime Investigation Service (FCIS) started proceedings at the end of April, concerning the embezzlement of £12.3m relating to the collapse of Ukio Bankas.
The 67-year-old failed to turn up for questioning and is now thought to be in Russia, reportedly recovering from a heart attack.
Across the city, Hibs unveiled their new home strip for next season, which sees Nike replace Puma as manufacturers. Teenage striker Danny Handling was on hand to model the top.
Hibs will field a team in next season’s Central Taxi’s East of Scotland League First Division after the current 26 clubs unanimously approved the Easter Road side’s application to join at their annual meeting.
Andrew Waddell, vice-chairman of the Seniors’ set-up, confirmed that Hibs had been successful in their bid and will start in the league’s bottom tier, the First Division, which already includes Berwick Rangers’ reserve team
On Sunday, an estimated 2000 took advantage of the Hibernian Historical Trust free stadium tours as part of the Leith Festival. The tours visited the Player’s Lounge, the Gallery area, the Board Room and Directors Box, the Home and Away Dressing Rooms before guests were invited to walk down the tunnel and sit in the dugouts.
East of Scotland League
The East of Scotland League has been advised that a decision regarding the commencement of the Scottish Lowland League is expected on 13th June. The proposal to form the league will be made to the SFA AGM on 11th June. If the SFA approve the proposal it is anticipated that there will be a meeting of all East of Scotland League clubs before the end of June to discuss any changes resulting from the new league.
Following Spartans Kings Cup triumph, the club held their player of the year awards at the Academy where the winners were announced as follows:
Seniors: Players player: Willie Bremner, Coaches player: Gary Cennarazzo, Supporters player: Gary Cennarazzo. The Malt and Hops winner of the most man of the match awards: Keith McLeod, and the Goal of the season: Willie Bremner vs Tynecastle, league game at home to Tynecastle.
Juniors: Players player: Matty Cunningham, Coaches player: Matty Cunningham
Amateurs: Players player: Robbie Laird, Coaches player: Robbie Laird
Under 19: Players player: Brad Raiker, Coaches player: Brad Raiker
Top Goalscorer: Matt Underhill
Mr Spartans Ronnie Swan and Chairman Craig Graham we inducted into the Spartans Hall of Fame to complete a great night.
Women’s Football
Spartans travelled to Kilwinning and returned with three points thanks to a 6-0 victory. Mason gave them the lead in the 10th minute, before a Lou Paterson header made in 2-0 just before the break. Second half goals from Louise Mason, Kirsty McLaughlin, Ellis Jenkins and Lana Clelland with her first goal since her return from injury secured the victory.
At Albyn Park Broxburn, Hibs ladies easily defeated Falkirk 11-0 thanks to goals Susan Fairlie (3), Kirsty Smith (2), Claire Emslie (2), Zoe Johnston, Lizzie Arnott, Sammy Hare and an own goal.
Cricket
Scotland lost by 360 runs against a strong Australia A side at the Grange.
Australia A started the 4 day contest with Scotland, with an impressive 335 for six, thanks to a 113 from captain Brad Haddin. The visitors took their overnight tally to 372 for eight and declared once Peter Siddle reached his century.
Scotland were then bowled out for 149 on the second day after struggling with the pace of Australia’s bowling, with only Calum MacLeod (51) and Iain Wardlaw (33 not out) offering any resistance.
Australia A closed on 165 for four to lead by 388 runs with six wickets remaining. The following day, they increased their lead to over 450,and declared on 230 for five before handing the bat to Scotland, however the Scots were bowled out for 93.
Speedway
The Scotwaste Monarchs suffered a one point defeat to Redcar on Friday night.
With Theo Pijper missing, the Monarchs built up a 12-point advantage however things went badly wrong from that point.
Redcar then took their chances and grew in confidence and took an 8-1 in heat 11, followed by a 4-2, and a 5-1 in heat 14, as well as sharing heats 13 and 15 behind Cook.
Monarchs’ teenager Max Fricke had wins in his first three races, pushing past Max Dilger in heat 2 and heading Aaron Summers in heat 4.
Bowling
Tanfield went top of Division One of the Alpha Trophies Edinburgh Bowling League with an 8-1 win at home to Northern in the fifth round. Defending champions Parkside are only one point behind.
Snooker
Granton’s Craig MacGillivray’s bid to win the European Masters Snooker Championship ended at the last-16 stage when he lost to Wales’ Darren Morgan.
Hockey
Scotland Senior Women will begin their preparations for the Euro Hockey Nations Championship in Belgium this summer with five international matches at Peffermill, Edinburgh from 10-18 June.
Gordon Shepherd’s side will play a single match against Ireland (10 June) before taking on South Africa in four encounters in the capital (13/15/16/18 June).
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.
