While racket sports are clearly the driving force behind the club, there are a variety of other sports enjoyed by the membership, including golf (currently), football (in the past), bowls (very occasionally), snooker and hill walking (Ben Vorlich in Perthshire was a regular in the 1980’s and 1990’s). If you think that ‘Pastimes’ should also be included, then shove ha’penny and Hold’em Poker should also feature, but perhaps in a future version. Click on any of the options shown below to enable the topic. Slideshows are included on each occasion.
Golf – has been an alternate sport for many years
Other non-racket sports – football (11-a-side) was big for a while, as was 5-a-side on the tennis courts until a dining room window was cracked. Snooker and bowls also feature.
Hill-Walking was very popular for a number of years, both with small groups of serious Munro-ists, annual expeditions led by late-1990’s manager Dave Thomas, and an annual Club pilgrimage to Ben Vorlich, but this article features our daredevil manager and his female accomplice as they start their love affair (with the Cuillins).
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Golf
The following are the various golf fixtures and competitions which have been known through the years.
- Singles golf championship. A trophy still exists for this event (but according to JJ has virtually disintegrated…)
- Annual golf outing – This was a group outing with some prizes, to a variety of courses including West Lothian and Kilspindie. It was last held in the mid 1990’s
- Muirfield match – The Club had the concession of a Thursday evening match for a minimum of twenty five players at a concessionary rate at Muirfield. Around the early 1990’s, it became impossible to recruit the necessary numbers, and the event was dropped
- Bruntsfield challenge for the LAAGD trophy. An annual match between ESC and Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society (BLGS) has been contested since 2011. Club member Des Creasey donated and maintains the LAAGD trophy which has been keenly fought since 2013. The 2021 match report can be seen here. Sadly, no report exists for the 2022 match, held on Sunday, June 12th, but we know that BLGS triumphed (again), and we do have some photos which are available below.
- Archive results – 2017, June 2018, September 2018, 2019
The first slideshow is a collection from the 2022 match.
The second slideshow features the teams and team photos from the LAAGD event
2011 July 17th – The first ESC v BLGS match. Vicky also in the picture 
2015 – ESC versus BLGS – on the balcony 
2016 Jun 26th – ESC versus BLGS – in the Sandy Watson room 
2017 Sep 3rd – on the steps at Bruntsfield 
2017 – The second most important competition of the day 
2018 – ESC versus BLGS – on the balcony 
2019 teams – on the patio steps 
2021 Sep 27 ESC Golf team photo (Fraser missing)
The third slide show features a mixture of team players and post match social activities.
2011 – the first fixture. Teams regroup on the patio 
2015 – Organisers Des, Chris and Al 
2015 – Post prandial recovery 
2017 – The hosts at the trough 
2017 – Captain Paterson-Brown congratulated by Captain McHoul 
2018 – a mixed bag of players get tanked up ready for the legendary Bruntsfield roast lunch 
2018, AA, Dave B and Des C look quizzical (and monochrome) 
2018 – The other diners 
2018 – The prize-giving, AA pontificating, everyone else disregarding… 
2019 – a reduced field relax in the lounge… 
2019 Andrew, Mattie, Dave and Backer 
2019 Captain Des receiving the trophy from Captain Dave 
2019 Des, Ross, Fraser and Ian
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Other non-racket sports
Football (11 a side), snooker, hill walking and bowls have featured through the years, but sadly not recently. The Loch Mullardoch walking trip was described on page 3 of the 1997 Club newsletter. 7 a side Football played on the tennis courts was played for a few years around the mid 1990’s – the October 1996 newsletter announces the season start. This slideshow features some images from each of these alternative sports. Michael Campbell recollects the club having a snooker team in the Edinburgh Leagues in the past – although as from the 26th August 2022, the snooker table was no more, much to the chagrin of the half-dozen or so regular players. The space is now designated a ‘Studio’, hireable for a variety of purposes.
1980’s football – on a pitch which nowadays is the Scottish Modern Art gallery: Stevenson, McGhee, Smith, Sproule, Tait and Anslow feature 
1980’s football – on a pitch which nowadays is the Scottish Modern Art gallery. 
1990’s – the tennis courts as they were constructed in 1971-72. Note in this image (taken around 1990) the presence of 5-a-side football goals and the wooden boards which surrounded the ‘pitch’. That sport operated for a while in the 1990’s until a player (allegedly intentionally) cracked one of the the dining room windows while lunch was being served! Note also that the mill lade had a fair flow of water. 
2010 – Charlie and Michael argue over a fine point of bowls rules 
2005 Approx – Michael spots the balls 
2005 approx – the Chris Small challenge: Brian Tait having a go 
2008 Snooker 
2000’s – Ok, so badminton is a racket sport and shouldn’t really be in here, but its the only badminton photo we have… 
2008 Sep 21st – JD and AA help Charlie to the top of Schiehallion, his only ever Munro 
2010 – Michael Campbell gets down to the rink (a.k.a. tennis court 3) 
2017 – the interior of a Real Tennis court – we could have had one of these…
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A Managerial expedition to Scotland’s premier peaks
The end of the 2021 lockdown saw our intrepid manager and his better half embark on a splendid trip to Skye, where they spent three days in idyllic weather, including one where they scaled two of the serious Munro’s. The following slideshow includes excerpts from the Ordnance Survey map, and Cameron McNeish’s Munros ‘bible’. The approach to one of the areas modest peaks (Sgurr na Stri) was effected by taking a lift on the Elgol ferry to Lake Coruisk, from where they made the ascent, returning to Elgol by foot. Their main expedition started from the Glenbrittle campsite, where they had positioned their camper van. They took Route A – shown on McNeish’s diagram, and climbed Sgurr nan Eag and Sgurr Dubh Mor (Big Black Peak, and Peak of the Notches) respectively, Curiously, the Black Cuillins, which comprise 11 summits, are comparatively low in Munro terms, most of them just exceeding the required 3,000 feet, but by any measure most of them are at the pinnacle of difficulty in comparison to other Scottish peaks. JJ and Steph are no doubt planning an assault on others on the Cuillin Ridge, and we await delivery of the routes and photographs in due course.
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Edinburgh Sports Club History 
