Ronnie Swan was very much ‘Mr Spartans’ throughout his career. He joined as a player in 1953 and for the next 50 years was a regular every Saturday.

Ronnie kept the club going in some tough times during our early years in the 1950’s. By the 90’s Ronnie had carried out every possible role within the club, many at the same time!

He led us to our many of our early milestones including our first East of Scotland League Championship in 1972 and our first Scottish Cup win in 1979.

Ronnie sadly passed away in March 2014.

2009 | Saturday 18th July – The inaugural Ronnie Swan Tournament saw the Battle of the Spartans take place to mark the opening of Ainslie Park.

Day 1: Spartans 2-2 Blyth Spartans – Match Report

The ‘Battle of the Spartans’ finished all square at 2-2 after 90 minutes on a lush grass surface at the Academy. The Spartans goals from Hoskins and Moffat can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRHx2Ro-faY and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t62P4zEiQ2o

It was a penalty shoot-out victory for the ‘Scottish Spartans’ that won the day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_yPwyHASxU (archive footage courtesy of our man in the stand, Grim).  

Day 2: Final – Spartans 2-0 Hamilton Accies

The Spartans went on to become the first winners of the Cup with a 2-0 victory over the then Premier League side Hamilton in the Final.

2010 | Saturday 31st July

Day 1 : Spartans Juniors (Clark Campbell, Ross MacKenzie, Gary Bannon) 3-3 Musselburgh (Juniors won 4-1 on penalties) | Spartans Seniors (Malin) 1-1 Newtongrange Star (Spartans won 3-1 on penalties) Match Report

Sunday 1st August

Day 2 | Newtongrange 2 Musselburgh 0 | Spartans Juniors 1 (Kenny Young) Spartans Seniors 2 (Ross Archibald (pen), David Etale.

2011 | Sunday 24^th July

Spartans 1 (Alex King) Manchester United 7. A record crowd of 3,127 basked in the North Edinburgh sunshine as Spartans welcomed a young Man Utd side which included Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard, the latter scoring a hat-trick.

2012 | Friday 7^th September

Spartans 4 (Beesley, Manson, Martin, Wringe) Hearts 4 (aet; 2-2 – 90 mins 7-8 on pens) Match Report

2014 | Tuesday 13th May

Spartans 1-3 East of Scotland Select

Chris Anderson and Danny Main both playing their final games for Spartans in a midweek defeat at the hands of an East of Scotland Select that included three Spartans players in their squad. Match Report

2014 | Saturday 12th July

Day 1: Game 1 – Dunfermline 1-0 Livingston | Game 2 – Falkirk 1-4 Spartans (Motion x 2, Cunningham x 2). Match Report

Sunday 13th July

Day 2: Game 1 – Livingston 3-0 Falkirk | Game 2 – Dunfermline 2-2 Spartans (Henretty, Stevenson) Dunfermline win 2-3 on Pens. Match Report

2015 | Saturday 25^th July

Blyth Spartans 2 – 3 Spartans Malone, Horribine, Murrell (pen)  Match Report

2016-17 | Trophy not played for.

2017 | Saturday 8th July

Day 1 | Edinburgh City 1-1 Hibs (Hibs win 3-4 pens) | Spartans 1-0 Hearts XI (Atkinson, pen) Match Report

Sunday 9th July

Day 2 | Edinburgh City 1-5 Hearts | Spartans 3-1 Hibs XI (OG, Trialist, Atkinson) Match Report

2018-19 Not played for

2019 | Monday 15th July

Spartans 0-1 Liverpool u23s Match Report 

2019-20 Not played for

2021 | Saturday 17th July | Spartans 5-1 Chelmsford City (Murrell x2, Newman, Dishington, Jones. Match Report | Photos