An Edinburgh man organised a special day out to the Hearts game at the weekend for a group of Afghan refugees who arrived in Edinburgh recently.
Diehard Jambo Brian Cormack decided to take action after being inspired by a Hearts supporters charity.
Brian is the ex-chairman of the Foundation of Hearts and a life-long supporter of the club.
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A founding member of the FoH, Cormack stepped down in 2016, citing work commitments but he remains active behind the scenes.
However, listening to a Hearts podcast organising charitable efforts at the club in recent times inspired him to take action himself.
He learned that the charity Big Hearts Community Trust had been taking children along to games and when a group of Afghani refugees moved into his street he got an idea.
Brain explained: “There was a group of Hearts fans who started off a podcast called This is my Story, and after a couple of months they were asking for donations for tickets. It wasn’t just for refugees, more for local disadvantaged children.
“They worked together with Big Hearts to do that and I got the idea to help some local people.
“At the same time we got a letter form the council saying that some local Afghani families would be housed near to us.
“I began to see a lot of these families walking back and forth and I decided to do something. I contacted the club and the council and ended up coming back round in a big circle and being put in touch with Big Hearts.”
Alongside his daughter, Maxine, Brian began to organise the big day.
They decided on Saturday’s match with Livingston and the Afghani children met up with Brian and Maxine beforehand and were lucky enough to see the Jambos putting on a show in a 2-0 victory, with goals from Beni Baningime and Barrie McKay.
Brian was delighted with how the day went and thanked Kirsty Roebuck from Big Hearts and Edinburgh Council’s liaison officer, Alistair Dinnie, for their help in organising the special day out.
He continued: “So, between the council and I and Big Hearts we started to organise things.
“There were about thirty young people and children who wanted to go along.
"We negotiated with Hearts and got them scarves and all met up beforehand to walk to the game.
“They looked great walking along in a big group with the scarves and were nice young people who are happy to be in Scotland. It was just a really great day.
“Charity is part of the whole ethos at Hearts, and I’ve been involved with the club for a long time so it was great to be able to do something.”
In the past year, Big Hearts Community Trust engaged with over 8000 adults and children in need, with the support from over 250 dedicated volunteers.
