Sporting success paled into insignificance this weekend with the news that 13 year old Jamie Skinner died whilst playing for Tynecastle FC Under 14s at Saughton Park and Hibs Under 20s star David Paul passed away in his Edinburgh home.
A statement from Tynecastle FC read: “A tragic event happened at Saughton Astro on Sunday 22nd December 2013, a young boy playing for the Under 14s, Jamie Skinner, playing the game he loved, lost his life on the pitch.
“In an innocuous event during the game Jamie collapsed and despite the valiant attempts of everyone at the game, and the ambulance service, attempts to revive him were sadly in vain.
“Although Jamie was new to our Tynecastle family, he had up until recently been playing for Hearts, he was a prospect that undoubtly would have had a bright future in the game. No words can fully express our grief and dismay at seeing this happen, we can only pass on all our thoughts and prayers to friends and family and hope they will get some strength from the out pouring of love and support from everyone.
“Everyone at Tynecastle is in total shock at what has happened, and we are sure the youth football community will join with us in also thinking of all the players, coaches and supporters at the game who witnessed this sad event, and the club also thanks everyone who tried to assist.
“As a mark of respect all Tynecastle teams will hold a minutes silence before their next game.
A statement from Hibs read: “It is with great sorrow that Hibernian FC today confirms the sad death of youth player David Paul (18).
“David, who could play in midfield or in attack, passed away in the early hours of today at his home in Edinburgh. There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding David’s untimely death.
“David’s father, Gordon, said the family were devastated. He thanked those who have contacted the family to express their condolences and offer support, and asked that his family be allowed privacy to come to terms with their loss.
“Chairman Rod Petrie said: “Everyone at the Club is deeply affected by this. David was a talented and promising young footballer, and a fine young man. Our thoughts – and the thoughts of the entire Hibernian community – are with his family at this dreadful and difficult time for them.
“Whilst we understand that people will wish to offer their support, we hope that the wishes of the family for privacy will be respected.”
The thoughts of everyone at the Edinburgh Reporter are with Jamie’s and David’s families at this difficult time.
Rugby by John Preece
As reported elsewhere, Edinburgh beat current champions, Leinster, at a windy and very wet Murrayfield on Friday night. The hosts had the majority of possession and territory, but the conditions were not conducive to open rugby. Both teams tried to make the best of it, though, with a fair bit of running but a lot of kicking and a few handling errors made it a bit of a stop-start affair. Edinburgh did eventually run out winners, beating Leinster 11-6 to go up to sixth in the RaboDirect PRO12 table.
(And yes, that’s rain in the photo. Sometimes, that’s what the team have to endure to bring you the sport. And sometimes it’s warm and sunny…)
The clubs returned to league action – for a whole weekend – and all three Edinburgh teams saw some game time.
Melrose beat Edinburgh Accies 28-5 down at The Greenyards, while Heriots and Currie played out a 17-17 draw at Goldenacre.
These results mean that Heriots and Accies are in 3rd and 5th in the Premiership table with 48 and 30 point respectively, but Currie climb off the bottom of the table into 9th place with 21 points.
In the National League, all three Edinburgh clubs were playing away and were back to winning ways. Boroughmuir beat Kelso 38-14, for a bonus point win. Watsonians beat Dundee 32-18; also for a bonus point and Stewarts-Melville beat Biggar 19-7.
The table remains unchanged with Boroughmuir, Watsonians and Stewarts-Melville now on 60, 52 and 50 points respectively.
The leagues pick up again on the 25th January, but Edinburgh Accies will be in action again in the British and Irish Cup, this time against London Scottish, on the 11th January. Fingers crossed for better weather….
Football
Hibs had to settle for a point against 10 man St Johnstone at Easter Road as neither team were able to score. Saints substitute Paddy Cregg was sent off seconds after taking the field for a bad tackle on Paul Cairney, but TERRY Butcher’s men were unable to take advantage of the extra man. The talking point amongst supporters leaving the ground was the performance of referee Alan Muir who denied James Collins a penalty in injury time.
Earlier in the day, Hearts produced a brave performance against Celtic, but lost to goals from Kris Commons and James Forrest.
Hibs remain in seventh place four points behind St Johnstone, while Hearts remain bottom on minus three points, 14 behind Ross County.
Lowlands League
Spartans lost 4-3 to Stirling University at Ainslie Park in their League Cup qualifying round clash.
Stirling took the lead in the 22nd minute through Paul Jon Sludden’s then Spartans equalised two minutes later thanks to an own goal by Williams-Mitchell.
Sludden added his second from the penalty spot in the 52nd minute then Williams Mitchell made up for his own goal by adding a third with a tap on from two yards.
The prolific Keith McLeod made it 3-2 with a 25 yard piledriver but with Spartans searching for an equaliser, it was the students who struck next thanks to Miller.
O’Donnell then pulled one back for Spartans but Stirling held on for the win.
Full Time: Spartans 3-4 Stirling University.
Malt and Hops Man of the Match: Mark Whatley
Elsewhere Edinburgh City 1-0 Whitehill Welfare
Scottish Lowland Football League Cup Section C
East Kilbride 6-0 Threave Rovers
Postponed
Preston Athletic v Selkirk
Gretna 2008 v Dalbeattie Star
Vale of Leithen v Gala Fairydean Rovers
Central Taxis East of Scotland League
East of Scotland Qualifying League, Section A
Lothian Thistle HV P Civil Service Strollers
Tynecastle P Eyemouth United
East of Scotland Qualifying League, Section B
Ormiston 0-4 Edinburgh University
Hawick Royal Albert P Duns
East of Scotland Qualifying League, Section C
Burntisland Shipyard 2-4 Leith Athletic
Craigroyston 3-0 Heriot-Watt University
East of Scotland Qualifying League, Section D
Coldstream P Berwick Rangers EOS
Easthouses Lily 5-1 Peebles Rovers
Basketball
Cup Semi Final Glasgow Rocks SM 48-65 Clark Eriksson Fury SM
Cup Semi Final St Mirren West College Scotland SM 77-66 City of Edinburgh Kings SM
Cup Semi Final Clark Eriksson Fury SW 48-65 Lady Rocks SW
Cyclocross
‘Dig in at the Dock’ will be run in the Bo’ness Dock area on the 5th January 2014 for the third year by the same organising team of Dave Hamill and John McComisky. The event’s popularity has rocketed in its short history, with this year’s event selling out the first 100 entries in 23 minutes!
And the team have put together a highly entertaining video to publicise the event –
The Race
• Race starts at 1pm and runs for 55 mins plus one lap of a flat fast cyclocross course.
• Event open to male and female riders 16 yrs and over.
• Sign-on opens at 11am and closes at noon.
• You will have at least one hour to practise on the course before the race
The people running sign on will also be racing and they need time to warm up just like you do. So get there early.
Speedway
Edinburgh Monarchs’ Air fence Fund now stands at £11286.33.
The Cookie Year book and 2014 calendar continue to sell well and add significantly to the fund each week but the big contributor in the last week has been the number of donors that have come forward to sponsor the air bags themselves.
Of the thirty three air bags that will form the safety fence in 2014 the Monarchs now have commitments for 29.
The 2014 season will open with an Air Fence Challenge against the new look Glasgow Tigers. It is a two legged affair with Armadale playing host first on 28th March with the return at Ashfield on Sunday 30th.
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.
