The Spartans Academy doesn’t confine itself to Nort h Edinburgh. ‘What would that say ,’ Kenny suggests, ‘that there’s nowhere else?’ Each year a group from the FootTEA club of 7-11 year olds goes to HopScotch near Fort William. The exploits, particularly the big game sea fishing, are legendary. But in 2013 a group of…

Kenny is full of praise for the local primary schools and the local high school, Craigroyston. ‘The high school is now getting results that rival many Edinburgh schools in much more affluent areas. The primaries are great and we work clos ely with them all.’ But there are always some kids for whom no school…

The Women’s, Men’s and Youth teams are big players in the leagues, but the heart of the operation is the Academy – the social and educational activities that make an immense contribution to improving life in North Edinburgh. “And you don’t really even have to be good at or even like football much, there’s arts…