From: ian mackay

Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 9:04 AM

Subject: local heroes, please!

HUTCHISON Vale’s 18^th Presentation Night in the Hibs Function Suite at Easter Road produced a full house, with every available space filled by eager young footballers, their parents, family friends and a full complement of the club’s coaches led by Tam Smith. Guests of honour at the function were Hibs boss, John Collins, MSPs Margo MacDonald and Sarah Boyak. This was another incredible show by this club based at Ford’s Road in Stenhouse in front of their honoured guests. The opening part of proceedings was devoted to a huge number of players receiving their five-year awards and Local Heroes reporter, Ian Mackay, was presented with a special prize to mark his work in promoting minor-grade sport. When the award was presented by John Collins, our reporter was accorded a standing ovation by everyone in the hall. Ian then presented the Local Heroes Coach of the Year Award to Jimmy Stanton., who has retired after 15 years as a coach with Hutchison Vale. Jimmy is one of the most respected men in the game, having been a professional player for many years, then a scout for Hibs during which he and his uncle, Jimmy McManus, were responsible for getting John Collins to sign for the Easter Road club. The award to Pat Stanton’s cousin was another highlight of a glittering night for everyone involved with this youth football club. It is quite astonishing what this club has achieved in producing hundreds of players who have gone on to make a name for themselves at professional level. The supply is never-ending and Jimmy Stanton was an integral part of the coaching team at the Hutchison Vale Kids School, often in the pouring rain at Broomhouse Primary School playing fields. Margo MacDonald made reference to the ongoing fight to get better pitches for youth clubs in the Capital city of Scotland. But it is not just pitches that are required for a club such as Hutchison Vale. Really, it is almost beyond belief that this famous nursery club operates from a dilapidated wooden building in Ford’s Road. They apparently have no base other than that and their 30 club teams play at different venues, wherever they can get them. The plight of Hutchison Vale and other clubs with the same ambitions to become complete football clubs in their own right is ongoing. Hutchison Vale and others on the same scale, are held back by lack of proper funding and facilities. Many clubs go abroad in the summer and they see for themselves what is made available to clubs in Europe, Canada and America. Scotland is light years behind other countries and yet, in Edinburgh, we have some of the best youth football clubs in Scotland. The infrastructure within youth football clubs in magnificent, with Hutchison Vale among the very best of them all at producing players for professional clubs to pick up. In another important move at national level, following a meeting of the SFA Council last month, the Professional Football Committee have been tasked with assessing/reviewing the impact the Youth Initiative programme has had on Scottish Youth Football. Surely, another meeting between everyone involved in youth football, the SFA and politicians should be arranged to give clubs, such as Hutchison Vale, the help they both need and deserve! As we approach the start of 2008 it is a desperate situation for youth football clubs in the Scotland. They need help, funding and support of the highest order to allow them all to be the best they can be within their respective communities and, in the case of Hutchison Vale, that is in Saughton/Whitson/Saughton Mains. In a few weeks time, Hutchison Vale will again be handing out huge parcels of food to old people in the community. They fund this themselves and that, too, has been ongoing for many years. It is about time, the authorities in this country of ours took over the role of Santa Claus and gave this club what they desire most of all - a base from which to work as part of their destiny as a football club with ambitions to become a major player both in football and also in their work within the community!