The Edinburgh Reporter May 2022

22 SPORT
What now for Hibs?
Following Shaun Maloney’s shock exit
who could be next at Easter Road?
100 years of Royal
Scots Golf Club
By NIGEL DUNCAN
Ian Jacobs
By JOHN HISLOP
FOLLOWING the departure of Shaun Maloney
after four months in charge, what now for Hibs in
the wake of the Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by
city rivals Hearts?
Chairman Ron Gordon said in a statement:
“Our hope in appointing Shaun Maloney as a
young, highly regarded coach was that he would
help us take the club forward, but ultimately it
didn’t work out. We thank Shaun and his
coaching staff for all their hard work and efforts
and wish them all the best for the future.”
The former Celtic and Scotland midfielder left
his post as Belgium’s assistant manager to succeed
Jack Ross in December and after initial
excitement from the Hibs’ fans at the prospect of
a “Belgian” style of football at Easter Road, it
quickly became apparent that many of the players
at his disposal were not suited to the possession
style of football.
Hibs have only won one league game this year,
and a 3-1 league defeat against Hearts the week
before the semi-final consigned them to a bottom
six finish.
A disastrous transfer window which resulted in
only two of his seven January signings being
selected for the massive semi-final against Hearts
did not go unnoticed amongst the long-suffering
Hibs’ fans.
Maloney’s team selections and substitutions
were also criticised by supporters, although to be
fair he had a number of injuries to contend with.
Having said that, the attitude of the players
despite the result seemed to have bought him
time and a poll of Hibs.net the fans forum
immediately after the game went narrowly in
Shaun Maloney’s favour.
So the sacking clearly came as a surprise to the
39-year-old who claimed that he knew “exactly”
what was needed for his side to be able to
compete with Hearts next season.
Speaking after the final whistle at Hampden, he
said: “I have known for quite a while the areas
where we need to be better to give us an
opportunity to fight for top six, top four, Europe. I
have known that from very early on.
“I have worked extremely hard with the players
we have, young players, but we all have to make
sure that come the summer, come pre-season, we
are a lot stronger in certain areas, so that when we
have performances like this, we take advantage.
“The money we have, we have to spend it
wisely this summer, and we have to be a lot, lot
different at the start of next season.”
Maloney will not get the chance to implement
his plans with backroom staff Gary Caldwell,
Valerio Zuddas and Brian Doogan also leaving
with immediate effect.
Former skipper David Gray will take caretaker
charge for the remainder of the season with
support from Eddie May and Jon Busch.
Suggested replacements so far include Celtic
coach John Kennedy, former Celtic boss Ronny
Deila who is currently in charge of New York,
Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes, Ross
County manager Malky Mackay, Michael O’Neil
who is currently Stoke boss or highly rated Kjetil
Knutsen, the Bodo Glimt boss.
More controversial suggestions include the
return of former boss Neil Lennon who is
currently managing Omonia Nicosia in Cyprus.
Or how about a Kevin Thomson and Scott
Brown partnership? KT led Kelty Hearts to the
title and his big pal Scott Brown is a free-agent?
THE ROYAL Scots Golf Club (RSGC)
celebrates its 100th anniversary this year
with their centenary match at Glencorse
Golf Club near Penicuik, the course which
allowed the first event after the club was
instituted on 17 March 1922.
The club welcomed 97 members in its
inaugural year and was one of many
organisations within the Royal Scots Club.
The first Captain’s gold medal was
struck in 1924 and a Hole & Hole medal
was presented by J K Graham in 1922 for a
competition that is still played today for
the same silver medal.
Members originally only came from
Royal Scots regimental members of the
Royal Scots Club in Abercromby Place,
however, when the Institute of Directors
(Scotland) and other organisations took
office space at the club, in Edinburgh’s
New Town, they were also allowed to join
the society golf club.
The RSGC have a long history of
competitive matches against another old
Edinburgh golf society, The Corstorphine
8:30 Golf Club, which was instituted
in 1924.
The “8:30” club took its name from the
time of the train from Corstorphine to
Waverley which carried the original 12
members to work each morning.
The matches are home and away,
playing for the model of the train and the
other is a model of a Royal Scots Pikeman.
The train and the pikeman form the
centre point at an annual dinner, cup and
medal presentation held separately by
both clubs.
The losing team’s representative who is
in attendance has to make the long walk
to hand over the relevant trophy to the
winning club.
Edinburgh Uni water polo team victorious
Luca D’Adderio, (capt), Guy Broadhurst, William Moores, Dominique
Zahra, Filip Hannel, Finlay Nesbitt, Rory Nesbitt, James Melville,
Matthew Seward, Nikos Zavitsanos, Ramon Fernández Mir, Alexander
Aitken, Thomas Cameron, Yalin Gulen and Alasdair Campbell (Coach)
THE MENS Water Polo team at
Edinburgh University is the first
Scottish university team to win
the British Universities & Colleges
Sports (BUCS) Championship.
Under the leadership of
Edinburgh captain Luca
D’Adderio and coached by
Alasdair Campbell, the University
of Edinburgh’s men’s water polo
players were victorious, making
them the first Scottish team to
win the prestigious title.
The team finished the league
phase in top spot, with a 100%
winning streak. This result gave
the men home draws in the play
offs, culminating with Edinburgh
beating Durham 21-13 in the
quarters, and Sheffield Hallam
10-9 in the semi finals.
The team has only been in the
final on two previous occasions
so this has indeed been an
historic season for them.
The final was played in
Nottingham against the home
team, and what should have
been a neutral fixture quickly
turned into an “away” day but the
Edinburgh team won 15-10, after
a 7-1 half time score.
Edinburgh’s points were
mainly scored by Finlay Nesbitt,
who scored six, and although a
team in the pool is made up of
seven players, there are thirteen
including those on the bench.
Players are regularly swapped in
as it is a very physically
demanding game.
Right wing Guy Broadhurst
and Luca explained they have
trained with the team three times
a week, in addition to strength
and conditioning sessions and
swimming as often as they can to
maintain their fitness levels.