We are delighted to announce Oriam have teamed up with Nutmeg Magazine as we embark on a sponsorship agreement for the next year. The agreement will be in relation to the Nutmeg Podcast, a fortnightly conversation about magazine content and in-depth interviews.

Nutmeg Magazine is a high class home for everything Scottish football, past, present and future. Published every 3 months, it offers opinions, reflections, insight, photography and poetry. Launched in 2016, Nutmeg has fast become a standard bearer for football-related content. It seeks to leave no reader behind, covering both science and the romance of the game.

Although paper and ink are Nutmeg’s first love, they have a strong social media presence. Producing online films and fortnightly podcast consisting of conversation about magazine content and in-depth interviews. Recent guests have included Shelley Kerr, Eilidh Doyle, Pat Nevin and our very own Director of Sport, Performance and Health Neil Gibson. Neil is delighted to team up with Nutmeg and had this to say on the partnership

“Oriam opened its doors in the summer of 2016 and since then we have welcomed people into our facility from across the sporting spectrum.  Despite there being no requirement for  ‘jumpers as goal posts’ school children, amateur, semi-professional and international level male and female players have graced our pitches.  We pride ourselves on being a facility that is accessible to all and we feel that this eclectic and inclusive mix is something mirrored in what Nutmeg have done in bringing together thoughts, comments and opinion from the far reaches of fandom in Scotland.  Their excellent podcast is something we are as proud to support as we are excited for each new edition.”

Nutmeg’s associate Editor and successful author Daniel Gray expressed his delight at teaming up with Oriam,

“We’d been aware of the high quality work and innovation that goes on at Oriam and we’d published articles in Nutmeg by the brilliant Neil Gibson, but nothing prepared us for visiting for the first time. There is this atmosphere of progress and community, and a real sense of quality about the place. The main building left us speechless. It felt as breath-taking as St Pancras Station, but with something better than trains at its centre – a football pitch. To be sponsored by a place and a cause that you believe in, and that has similar values and standards to Nutmeg, brings us great joy. We’ve got big plans for growing the podcast and Nutmeg in general, and we’re really pleased that Oriam are on board, and we’re on board with them. This will be a really fruitful, creative partnership”

Nutmeg Podcast lands fortnightly and includes conversation about magazine content and in-depth interviews https://www.nutmegmagazine.co.uk/podcast/

All Star Events present the Inner City Schools Football Tournament 2019, a tournament for Lothian Primary Schools. All Star Events is hosting the 1st Inner City schools football tournament at Oriam on Tuesday 21st May 2019, from 10am until 2pm. The event organisers are a group of Edinburgh College Year 2 HND Students. The four-strong team at All Star Events are passionate about bringing children together in sport and could think of no better event to organise than a school’s football tournament.

Event team manager Andrew Fraser said,

“We are delighted to be using Oriam’s indoor 3G pitches for soccer 7’s school teams for this upcoming tournament. This was an event that we have wanted to do for some time allowing all levels of Primary School teams a chance to play at these facilities in the friendship of sport. On conducting research it was apparent that very few primary school football teams had either a league, cup or any competitions they could feasibly enter”

Sixteen school teams from all over the Lothian’s will face each other on Tuesday 21st May at The Oriam in Edinburgh. During the tournament there will be two Cups available based on school team abilities allowing all levels of teams to participate. The winning teams will receive a trophy and all players will take home a participation medal.

This event has partnered with “Sporting Start” which is a charity that enables young people in Edinburgh and the Lothian’s to experience and enjoy sport. They help individuals and groups who face financial or other barriers which limit their opportunity to access or participate in sport. They aim to provide funding support to help with, for example, coaching, courses, events, facilities and sports equipment.

Sporting Start was founded in memory of Martin Macari, an inspirational and talented sportsman whose life was cut short by cancer aged 47. A passionate advocate for the power and joy of sport, Martin was a role model who led by example as player, coach and leader across multiple sports.

As a father, one of Martin’s greatest hopes for his children was that they developed a love of sport from an early age and thrived from the many ways sport would enrich their lives. He strongly believed that every young person should be given this opportunity

Andrew said,

“On searching through sporting charities for this tournament the team came across Sporting Start. A charity that was unknown to us it was discovered that both the team at All Star Events and Sporting Start shared the same ethos in regards to Youth Sport in the Lothian’s and we are delighted we have partnered for this tournament”

The tournament has also received sponsorship from Football Nation providing event tracksuits, Bala Sports proving Fairtrade Match Balls, Scotmid and various other local businesses to allow this event to be a lasting experience for those pupils involved. The event is also hosting a Fairtrade Fruit and Water stand allowing all participants to enjoy this throughout the tournament.

“It is hoped that the success of this tournament will allow it to become an annual event allowing more schools to be part of a Footballing experience for their pupils”

There are a limited number of spaces still available to primary schools and if you would like further details, or wish your school to participate, please contact the organisers on allstarevents.football@gmail.com or directly on 0131 297 9625.

The Scottish Student Sport Finals descended on Oriam Wednesday 1^st May. The annual multi-sport competition pitched the best college teams against one another, competing for that champion title.  We welcomed colleges from all across Scotland including Edinburgh, Glasgow, West Lothian, Dundee & Angus.

Over the course of the day, colleges competed against each other in football, badminton, volleyball and basketball. There were some highly competitive and entertaining matches on show, contributing to a highly exceptional day.

Winners on the day were Edinburgh College who reigned supreme over City Of Glasgow College with a 7-0 Victory on the Badminton Court. Edinburgh College then followed up with victories over West Lothian college in the women’s football, City Of Glasgow College in the Women’s volleyball and finally a momentous 101-22 victory over City Of Glasgow College in Women’s Basketball.

Other winners on the day were City of Glasgow College with a 2-1 win in the men’s Volleyball, New College Lanarkshire triumphed 3-0 over Dundee and Angus college in the men’s football. The final match of the day seen City of Glasgow College defeat Dundee and Angus college 68 – 93 in men’s Basketball. The overall College Cup was won emphatically by Edinburgh College, bringing their total number of consecutive wins to 6. The cup will be presented at the college later this month. Competition coordinator Jess Barrows was delighted with the finals return to Oriam.

“We were delighted to return to the excellent facilities at Oriam for our College National Finals 2019! Scotland’s National Performance Centre is a fantastic stage to battle for Gold and this could be clearly seen in the excitement and energy of the 130 students involved. The event ran very smoothly and we are grateful for the help we received from Oriam’s staff who saw to it that we had everything we needed. I also heard many positive comments on the Bistro’s lunch selections! An excellent day all round and we can’t wait to return in the future.”

Edinburgh College 7 – 0 City Of Glasgow College (Mixed Badminton)

West Lothian College 2 – 10 Edinburgh College (Women’s Football)

Edinburgh College 2 – 1 City Of Glasgow College (Women’s Volleyball)

Edinburgh College 101-22 City Of Glasgow College (Women’s Basketball)

City Of Glasgow College 2 – 1 Glasgow Clyde College (Men’s Volleyball)

New College Lanarkshire 3 – 0 Dundee & Angus College (Men’s Football)

Dundee & Angus 68 – 93 City Of Glasgow College (Men’s Basketball)

Edmon Lopez and Lucy Turmel were crowned the champions at the Springfield Scottish Squash Open at Oriam.

The Professional Squash Association (PSA) Challenger 10 event with a $20,000 prize fund which was equally split between male and female players was a great success with all competitors over the five day event were very impressed by the facilities.On Sunday,

On Sunday, Turmel, the 19-year-old number one seed from England, came out on top in the women’s final against Melissa Alves from France.

She was 10-8 down in the first game, but settled herself and won 12-10, 13-11, 11-7.

“I had to fight hard for every point, once Melissa gets into a rhythm it’s so difficult to play her,” the victor said.

“That was my hardest match of the week, but I am very delighted to have won my first title at the Challenger 10 level.”

Spain’s Lopez, the 22-year-old second seed, was up against England’s Patrick Rooney in the men’s final.

And he showed great composure to seal the match 13-11, 11-9, 8-11, 13-11 after the threat of a comeback from Rooney in the third game.

“I came into the tournament with some good preparation, but with some pressure too because I was one of the top seeds and I came here to win,” he stated.

“Patrick played very well, I’m really glad I managed to take that fourth, and I’m really happy to win this new title in this fantastic facility.”

Final results

Edmon Lopez (Spain) beat Patrick Rooney (England) 3-1: 13-11, 11-9, 8-11, 13-11 (65 minutes)

Lucy Turmel (England) beat Melissa Alves (France) 3-0: 12-10, 13-11, 11-7 (36 minutes)

The latest issue of Nutmeg Magazine features two articles from Oriam staff. Performance Sport Manager Robert McCunn writes about performance analysis and our Director of Performance Sport Neil Gibson tells us about his journey from Widnes to Wembly: “There is something special about a still ground stripped of fans, players and raucous atmosphere.”

Click here for more.