Bo’ness Athletic 6 Leith Athletic 1
It started, as so many Scottish romances do, with a moment of clarity outside the chippy.
‘In 1996 I was walking down to Leith Links with my two boys to play football,’ says Ger Freedman. ‘There were a lot of boys standing outside the chip shop. It came to me that they were standing there because they had nothing to do.’
Thus Leith Athletic was born. Or rather reborn. Freedman went back to his home and immediately decided to start a boys’ team. He chose the name of Leith Athletic.
‘I worked in a foundry and a lot of the old boys there were always talking about Leith Athletic, so I took that name,’ adds Freedman.
The original Leith Athletic had died in 1955 after being formed in 1887.
The new incarnation was up and running almost immediately.
Bo’ness (in blue) proved too tough an opponent for Leith Athletic in the King Cup final
Leith Athletic mount an all-too rare attack as they battle in vain during the showpiece final
Ger Freedman brought Leith Athletic back to life after a 41-year absence from the game
‘It started in a cricket club,’ says Freedman. ‘I was working in Glasgow then and I was phoned as I headed towards training. A friend told me: “They are coming from all angles”. There were 150 boys on the first night. Two weeks later there were 500.’
Success was almost immediate and achieved spectacularly at Hampden. In 2001, Leith Athletic beat Rangers 2-1 in the Under-11 Scottish Cup. ‘We won it three years in a row,’ says Freedman. ‘Every one of our players stayed within a mile of a building in Leith. That established us.’
Darren McGregor, later of Hibernian and Rangers, was one of the first heroes. But so, too, was Freedman’s son, Steven, who played in that first final, has managed the Athletic amateur team and will coach the first XI next season.
The amateur side won the Logan Cup on Saturday, beating Corstorphine Dynamo. The first team found Broxburn far too powerful in the final of the King Cup yesterday.
A weekend of success then failure did not perturb Freedman Sr, who is chairman of the club.
‘It was never about winning cups, it was about keeping kids off the streets,’ he says of the birth of Athletic. ‘It is the same now. Leith was a deprived area then, though not so much now. Kids come to us from every street in Leith. Eight or nine players today have come up through the levels at the club.’
Bo’ness Athletic celebrate a comfortable victory over their cup final foes at New Murrayfield
This graduation strengthens the family ethos at the club but there is another reason for its existence. ‘This pathway is the only way for us because we don’t have the cash to pay players big money,’ says the chairman. Indeed, players only receive expenses.
The club plays home games at Meadowbank. It relies on sponsors and functions to continue.
‘It is hard to keep it all going,’ says Freedman, 67. ‘I was going to retire at the end of this year from the football. But it’s a labour of love. It’s not fair on the kids in Leith if we stop now.’
There is personal interest, too. Three of his grandsons play at under-age level for the club. A fourth, aged only two, was wearing a Leith strip on the sidelines when Steven Freedman led Athletic to victory in the Logan Cup on Saturday. ‘This is a family,’ says Freedman before kick-off as supporters gathered in a bowling club. This statement was met with voluble cries of support.
There is a story to the King Cup. There are actually more than a few. But one was sitting on a bench at New Murrayfield in Blackburn, West Lothian, yesterday. The neutral venue for the King Cup final had a family tie to the trophy’s illustrious history.
Luke Ashworth-Ritch, a substitute for Leith, is the great, great grandson of Daniel Brown, who was part of the Athletic side that won the King Cup in 1924. Luke’s dad, Steven, was able to produce a photograph of that esteemed line-up as he waited nervously for the 2025 final.
The King Cup-winning Leith Athletic side of 1924 pose with the trophy
His hopes were dashed quickly as Bo’ness rushed to a 3-0 lead and never allowed Leith any chance to recover. The cup was thus presented to those wearing blue and white rather than black and white. The trophy shimmered in the sunshine and trembled in the rain, both alternating throughout the afternoon.
A peek at the venerable trophy — it was first contested in 1887 — revealed it had been won by such as Raith Rovers and Cowdenbeath. It is now a competition for East of Scotland League sides and both Leith and Bo’ness play in the First Division, though the latter is heading to the Premiership next season.
The King Cup has nothing to do with royalty. It was created by Percival King, who owned a sports shop in Edinburgh. King, born in Surrey in 1835, came to Edinburgh, whisper it, as a professional cricketer at Merchiston Castle School in 1862. A subsequent sports retail business flourished and the King Cup was born. It must be one of the longest sponsorships in sporting history.
It is wonderful to delve into its early history. The first season gives a flavour of its appeal. The competition notes from 1887-88 supplies the following information: Vale of Midlothian exiting in the first round because they were unable to field a team, Uphall Bluebell simply not turning up for a tie in Oakbank, and Bellstane Birds declaring it was too cold to play against Grange and thus forfeiting the tie.
Leith Thistle v Leith Harp in the second round was problematic. The first match ended 0-0 but Harp protested that the goals were too high and there was metal on the pitch. The replay was stopped with Harp winning 5-1. The ball was burst. Another could not be found but the result stood. Mossend Swifts, incidentally, were the first winners.
Leith cup winners were in Blackburn yesterday. Steven Freedman was there to support the first team after his amateurs had won the day before. It was the last hurrah for the amateur side who were formed in 2019 but whose early days were hampered by Covid restrictions before they rose through the leagues.
Steven Freedman (left) hopes assistant Stuart Martin will join him in moving up to the first team
‘That’s it for the amateur side,’ says Steven. ‘I am moving to the first team and there is no one willing to take on the job.’
Freedman Jr has been a constant with Leith Athletic since that walk past the chippy in 1996 with his dad and brother, Kevin, who also played with the club.
‘I have never been with any other club,’ says Steven. ‘I drifted away when I was 19 to go to watch Hibs but came back and formed the amateur club.’
His partner in this enterprise was Stuart Martin, who might join him in the new venture. ‘He says he wants to play golf but we will see,’ says Steven.
The Logan Cup final victory provided not just a farewell celebration but a sense of redemption. ‘We had to win to take the premier title last week,’ he says. ‘We were 3-0 up at half-time but drew 3-3.’
The pain can still be heard in his voice but he brightens when asked to recall a famous day at Hampden.
Leith are helpless as ruthless Bo’ness add another goal to put the result beyond doubt
‘I don’t remember too much of it,’ he admits of the 2001 match against Rangers. ‘I was 12 and I really never appreciated how big an occasion it was. I do have a video, though. And I set up the first goal, though I did miskick it.’
He watches the King Cup final with the determined interest of one who is set to manage the team soon. ‘We come back on June 19 so it is coming quickly,’ he says.
The work will be hard and unrewarded financially. ‘Days like yesterday — lifting a cup — make it worthwhile. We had two buses in Broxburn for the final,’ he says.
Days like a Sunday in Blackburn have a different purpose. Their existence underlines the Leith Athletic motto. It says: Persevere. The Freedmans — and the rest of the Athletic family — will do just that.
