Macmillan Samba FC
Macmillan Samba FC
Fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Support
Story
Macmillan Samba FC – Our
Story
In the early 2000’s there was
a Sunday morning football team called Sunday Samba, this was a team of young
lads who played together for the fun of it and the social aspect more than
anything. We played in the Edinburgh pub league at the time ran by the late
Brian Latto, we wore the traditional Brazil colours. Even though the Samba made
it to a few cup finals and came close to winning the league on a couple of
occasions we never actually managed to pick up any silverware in the 3 or 4
years we had been going. As the years went by player numbers and interest
started to drop as a lot of the guys went off to have families and retire from
playing. Some players took their football more serious and went on to play for
Saturday teams which was a higher standard. Most of the guys kept in touch over
the years regardless.
In February 2015, one of our
old players Jonny McGraw’s Mum Linda Tierney was unfortunately diagnosed with
Ovarian Cancer. At that time, his Mum had to go through all the relevant
treatment and had great support from Macmillan Cancer during this time. She
went through an operation to have the tumour removed and subsequently the
gruelling chemotherapy treatment that followed as many people will be aware of.
The treatment seemed to stun the cancer at the time, and Linda had no growth
for several months which sent her into remission. This was good news for Jonny
and his family at the time, however a year or so later Linda was feeling pain
again within her abdomen area. In December 2016, the cancer was back and this
time she had a terminal diagnosis. Linda was told she had 6-24 month to live.
This terrible news took a few
months to sink in with Jonny and his family. It was then in February of 2015 at
the wake of the funeral for one of the original team members Mum who had
unfortunately passed away, all the old players from the original Samba seen
each other after so many years. After a good chat and a few beers that
afternoon we had the idea of reforming the club, bringing the Samba back to
life with a charity element to it. Jonny got to work, and Macmillan Samba FC
were born.
After a few long months of
getting old players back together, notifying LEAFA that we wanted to join the
league system and persuading some sponsors to come on board and part with hard
earned cash we managed to purchase our first set of strips. We then played our
first friendly game on 25th April 2017 on a Spring night at the Jack
Kane Centre and won 2-1. Initially we had a lot of the original players on
board, some who kept relatively fit and maybe still played to an extent and
some of which you had not kicked a ball for years. Everyone just wanted to be
on board to raise money for Macmillan after the support they offered Jonny’s
Mum Linda. A few of the guys involved also had their own reasons and stories
behind joining, cancer is such a common disease which has touched more
people than you think. Some just like to keep it to themselves as its personal
to them.
As the friendly games racked
up and pre-season fitness sessions began, a few players felt it wasn’t for them so
we recruited more bodies as the Summer months went on, we were starting to
mould our squad for the 2017-18 LEAFA Sunday Morning Division 2 season which
began in the August. We lost the first competitive game away to Newcraighall
Star 2-1 which was disappointing after taking the lead and losing a couple of
late goals.
We managed to finish 4th
out of 12 teams in our first season and again 4th out of 12 in our 2nd
season within Division 2. Last season which was our 3rd season the
league body had a restructure due to several new Sunday morning teams joining,
this meant that we were promoted to Division 1 as the new divisions were
formed. As of May 2020, due to the pandemic the league members voted for the
season to end on an average points basis which meant that we finished in 6th
from 12 teams in our first season in Division 1. We were still in both cup
competitions and going quite well which is a shame, however football takes a
back seat during times like these and safety comes first. All in all, over the
first 3 seasons there have been highs and lows when it came to performance and
results on a Sunday morning, we always felt we could do better but let
ourselves down on a few occasions.
Jonny’s mum Linda was our
number one fan; she came to as many games as she could and loved cheering the
team on. She even pitched in with a few words of wisdom for the boys before
games now and then. One of her most inspirational quotes was “positive mental
attitude”, she wanted us to remain positive even though the game might not go
our way, keep that positive attitude with each other and we will be fine. Linda
also washed the strips for us on many occasions when she was able to do so, as
she always used the term ‘Washed with Pride’.
Jonny managed everything to
do with the club in the first season, it was a lot to take on for one person.
When the second season started Jonny managed to delegate out various jobs to
ease the burden on himself and allow other people to get involved. The club had
extra support over the course of the second season from the likes of Kyle
Barrett, Kyle Boggie and Steven Buckley. They were a great help and without
them we would not be still going today.
Linda’s health started to
deteriorate during the second season, and she sadly died peacefully at the
Marie Curie Hospice, Frogston Road in January 2019 aged 57. Jonny was still
coming along to games to support the boys, but the lads took on running things themselves,
pretty much until the end of that season until Jonny came to terms with the
loss of his Mum.
Since last Summer and the
beginning of the 2019-2020 Steven Buckley and James Ebbs took over running of
the football side of the club. They have both done a great job organising
training and arranging tactics for the matches. Kyle Barrett has been
instrumental in player recruitment, he has brought in a lot of good players
which has brought the overall age down and the quality up, this was fundamental
in how well we coped with the jump up in division and our run in the cup
competitions before things were drawn to a close.
Our fundraising
As the team is all about
raising funds, in the main for Macmillan Cancer Support, we have also done the
odd fundraiser for the Marie Curie Hospice in Frogston Road. We have had yearly
charity matches with Scottish Gas every Summer; we have had a Hearts Legends
match as well as yearly fund raisers. We usually have an annual fund raiser and
player awards night around Halloween time. We have raised a lot of funds
through these and had some fun along the way, with one occasion being fancy
dress.
Macmillan Samba FC’s Just
Giving Page
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/macmillansamba?utm_id=25
Our Sponsors
We would not be what we are
without sponsors covering our start-up cost and annual league fees. We also
have an agreement with a local pub chain who put food on for us after games which
allow the boys to have a bite to eat, a few juices or beers. Usually just in
time for super Sunday starting on the TV. A big thanks to the guys at the
Terrace, Carrick Knowe /Scotties at Northfield Broadway, both have been very
welcoming when we have been in.
Also, a massive thank you to
the below companies and people for helping us out with sponsorship over the
years, we could not have done this without them
Stag Barber Company
R.D. Doig Motor Engineers
Celsius Plumbing and
Heating
Ross Love – Cash donation
to help with start-up costs
Season 2019-present
Arctic Refrigeration Ltd
A little bit more about
Linda Tierney and her fundraising, she raised funds right to the end for Marie
Curie