Saturday 24th October 2009

Civil Service Sports Grounds Muirhouse, Edinburgh

There is no shortage of football in Edinburgh and its environments  come Scottish  Cup weekend. With Hearts at home to Falkirk on Scottish Premier League business, it was also Scottish FA Cup day for the minor teams and fans in Edinburgh could select from Edinburgh City v Burntisland Shipyard Amateurs at Meadowbank Stadium; Whitehill Welfare v Threave in Midlothian or the Civil Service Strollers against Berwick Rangers played in Muirhouse, Edinburgh.  A quick thrown of the dice, after watching some Premiership fare between Wolves and Villa in the city centre sports bar and it was the latter down in Muirhouse which got the vote.

Civil Service Strollers are a senior non-league football team from Edinburgh and they currently play in the East of Scotland Football League. Founded in 1908 under the name Edinburgh Civil Service Football Club, they play at the Edinburgh Area Civil Service Sports Association ground in Muirhouse, a working class area of the city more famous for its  environs mentions as localities in the novels of Irvine Welsh such as Acid House and Trainspotting.  You will notice as well that Strollers play at a 'ground' and not a 'stadium.'    This is largely due to the fact that the home ground is just that; a piece of ground with no stands, no terracing and two goals with nets. 

Despite the open nature of the ground on the flight path to Edinburgh airport, it was a nice sunny day in northern Edinburgh and the playing surface was in immaculate condition. One point of note is that the Sports grounds are in fact a set of pitches that lie next to one another. The benefits of this for Civil Service were that if the previous nights rain had ruined the surface earmarked for the game, the spare pitches either side would have meant the game would have gone ahead such was the choice.

Around 400 hundred fans had gathered and more than 200 of these were from Berwick just down the road in Northumbria. Most of the early chances and creative play came from the SFL league club Berwick Rangers, but it was the hosts who took the lead in the 32nd minute when Gerry Burgess sent a looping header beyond Berwick Rangers keeper Mark Peat from a looping Danny Forbes cross.

Half time came and the nearby Civil Service social club welcomed the teams to the dressing rooms and the fans in attendance to the social club where refreshments, beer and Sky Sports News was available. When the teams ran out again Berwick immediately went for the jugular with a variety of efforts on the Civil Service goal. The men from England levelled after 59 minutes when Steven Notman played in Ian Little to score firmly to the keepers left. Berwick Rangers eventually scored the winner 10 minutes later when Alan Brazil collected Paul Currie's knock-down to fire home powerfully.