Hibernian Stage East Lothian Extravaganza

Primary School football teams from across East Lothian went head-to-head to determine this year’s champions at the Hibernian FC East Lothian Schools Football Festival this week.

Staged at the state-of-the-art Hibernian Training Centre, the Festival, now in its third year, attracted up to 200 pupils. Hibernian Manager John Hughes and goalkeeper Graeme Smith attended the event to offer support to the young football hopefuls and presented the coveted Hibernian Schools Football Festival trophy to both sets of winning teams.

Despite the weather, the fun-filled day offered boys and girls teams the chance to demonstrate their football skills to the Hibernian coaches on hand and experience a little of what life is like for Hibernian’s professional players who train at the centre on a daily basis.

After an action packed 7-a-side round-robin tournament, Stoneyhill Primary School from Musselburgh scooped the trophy for the winning boys football team and Prestonpans Primary School emerged as the winners of the girls tournament. Both schools returned to school with a glittering trophy and brand new set of mint Puma away kits to celebrate their achievement.

Manager John Hughes was delighted with the success of this year’s festival, commenting: “This is a fantastic way to get the local community involved in HTC and offer youngsters the chance to enjoy playing football and experience the facilities. I’ve seen some right good sporting talent today, so hopefully they all stick in there and keep playing football - who knows we could have had tomorrow’s big signings here with us today!"

Involved with the football festival now for the past three years, SFA Development Officer for East Lothian Council, Walter Borthwick, believes that the Festival continues to deliver a positive opportunity for local pupils, adding: “The Football Festival has once again been a big success despite the wet weather with a good standard of teams getting involved during the day.

“Whilst the focus remains on football skills, the festival offered everyone taking part the chance to build team spirit, meet new friends from other schools in the region and ultimately have fun.”

A big thanks to Hibernian FC sponsor MacBee who provided water to keep all young participants hydrated on the day! 
 
Hibernian FC Goalkeeper Graeme Smith is pictured alongside the winning boys team from Stoneyhill Primary School, Musselburgh.

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