Samba Foundation FC

Samba are heading south to the Stadium of Light. 🏟️

This Tuesday at 9.30am, the lads are ticking a major one off the bucket list.

While this one isn’t our usual charity fundraiser, it’s a massive matchday experience for the squad. But as we do every single week, we’re still proud to be using our platform to back the message of Andys Man Club.

Look out for your mates, on and off the pitch.
💛💙

All the goals from yesterdays game at Tynecastle Park in aid of Big Hearts Community Trust.

Goal 1: Kyle Boggie rifles a free kick into the top corner.

Goal 2: Daz Cain smashes it into the roof of the net.

Goal 3: Johnny Cairns tucks it away after a great through ball from Dirk Ottway.

Goal 4: Kyle Boggie one touch and finish.

Goal 5: Robbie Simpson curls it home (from 25 yards 👀)

Goal 6: Johnny Cairns and Dirk Ottway link up again with a tidy finish.

Goal 7: Mark McLeod doing what he does best.

Some very good goals scored on the day.

FT | Blues 4 - 3 Yellows ⚽

⚽ Game 14 | Tynecastle Stadium, HeartofMidlothianFC
🔵 Blue 4 - 3 Yellow 🟡
🤝 Proud to Support: Big Hearts Community Trust

Samba had the privilege of playing our 14th game at Tynecastle Stadium. A little rain before kick-off made the pitch a dream to play on. This match was all about raising as much money as possible for Big Hearts. We will announce the total amount raised in the coming weeks.

First Half
Both teams played some great football with chances at both ends. The deadlock broke in the 20th minute when Kyle Boggie rifled a free-kick from the edge of the box into the top corner to make it 1-0 to the Blues.

Not long after, Graham Miller broke down the left wing and cut the ball back for Daz Cain, who smashed it into the roof of the net for 2-0. With ten minutes of the half remaining, Dirk Otway intercepted the ball on the halfway line, drove at the Blue defence, and played a perfect through ball for Johnny Cairns to finish and make it 2-1.

Just before the break, the Blues grabbed a third. Daz Cain made a great run and found Kyle Boggie in the box. With one brilliant touch, Boggie lost his man and fired into the bottom corner. 3-1 Blues at half-time.

Second Half
The second half started as a cagey affair. The game sparked back into life when Rich Rintoul found Robbie Simpson, who curled a 25-yard beauty into the top corner to make it 3-2. The Yellows pushed hard for an equaliser. Calum Sneddon had a massive chance inside the six-yard box, but James Ebbs pulled off a phenomenal save to keep the Blues ahead.

The Yellow pressure finally paid off with ten minutes left. Dirk Otway played a great ball to Johnny Cairns, who expertly fired into the bottom corner for 3-3.

An exciting finale followed, and the Blues took the lead again with five minutes to go. Ryan Lindsay laid the ball off to Mark McLeod on the edge of the box, and he hit an absolute thunderbolt into the top corner, leaving the keeper with no chance. 4-3 Blues.

In stoppage time, the Yellows broke on the counter. Calum Sneddon went one-on-one with the keeper but opted to shoot instead of squaring it to Cairns for an easy tap-in, and Ebbs made another great save. There was time for one last Yellow attack, but Jon McGraw’s distance shot was tipped onto the crossbar by Ebbs to seal the win.

Key Moments

Moment of the Match ✨: Mark Mcleod's worldie to win the Blues the game.
Man of the Match 🏆: James Ebbs. He dominated his box and made crucial saves to win the game. This was his best performance in a Samba shirt to date. 💙

Squads

Yellow Team
Calum Brockway
Ross Brown (GK)
Johnny Cairns ⚽️⚽️
Alex Cameron
Craig Darge
Kevin Fettes
Jon McGraw
Paul McPherson
Dirk Otway 🅰️🅰️
Daz Rintoul
Rich Rintoul 🅰️
Selos
Robbie Simpson ⚽️
Calum Sneddon
Martyn Wallace (C)
Matty Watson
Mark Wilson

Manager: Darren Rintoul
Assistant Manager: Mark Wilson

Blue Team
Kyle Barrett
Steven Buckley
Kyle Boggie ⚽️⚽️
Mark Boggie
Daz Cain (C) ⚽️🅰️
Dan Cuthbertson
Gary Darge
Chris Diotaiuti (GK)
David Donald
James Ebbs (GK) 🏆
Ryan Lindsay 🅰️
Mark McLeod ⚽️
Graham Miller 🅰️
Stephen Sanderson
Ryan Somerville
Leighton Thomson
Jonny Watt

Manager: James Ebbs
Assistant Manager: Gary Darge

🛠 Club Sponsor: Celsius Plumbing and Heating
🤝 Proud to support: Andys Man Club

Game day tomorrow. ⚽

Samba Foundation FC head to Tynecastle for a 12.30 kick-off - two teams, one goal. Every minute on the pitch is raising money for Big Hearts Community Trust.

We're already at £6,184 with gift aid to be added thanks to 205 amazing supporters. Help us push it further before we lace up tomorrow.

Donate here 👇
https://www.justgiving.com/team/samba-tynecastle

A massive thank you again to everyone who came out and made our charity night such a brilliant success.

We do want to be completely transparent with you about a frustrating situation behind the scenes. Sadly, one of our original suppliers repeatedly changed our agreed terms before the event. When we rightfully walked away to secure a reliable alternative, they refused to return our £200 deposit. They are currently holding this charity money unlawfully.

As a community-run initiative, every single pound counts. Taking a £200 hit from the final fundraising pot is a real dampener, especially given how hard everyone works to maximise the money we give to the charities.

We are still taking action privately to recover the funds, but we wanted to be honest about why the final total will be slightly lower than it should be.

As soon as we have an update and a final total, we'll let you know.

Thank you so much, as always, for your incredible support.

CRAZY BINGO NIGHT: THANK YOU! 💛💙

What a night. Our first ever charity event off the pitch, and you lot absolutely delivered.

We raised over £4,000. That's incredible, and every single contribution counted, whether you were in the room or bought raffle tickets from afar.

A massive thank you to everyone who came, supported, and showed up for this. And a special shoutout to who was a fantastic host for the evening. He kept the the night alive from start to finish.

That money is going somewhere special. In August, we'll be playing at Olivebank, the home of Musselburgh Athletic, with funds split between The Burgh Foundation and SNAC, a charity that supports children with arthritis and their families. It's a cause close to our hearts, and this game is going to mean a lot.

More to come. Thanks again. 💛💙

Another fantastic local charity ❤️

We had money left over from Mr Doig Memorial bench game, on top of the bench all money raised went to local charities based in the leith area.

Having worked in a local school with The Ripple I have witnessed first hand some of the vital work they provide in the local area. After talking with the staff and hearing all the other services they provide, we really wanted to help them out.

💛💙

Lovely way to start a Monday - Special thanks to Samba Foundation FC for their donation of £300.00 this morning - our holiday clubs for young people are always a struggle to get funds for so this will go to great use this summer - thanks again

Another incredible ground. Another incredible cause. 💛💙

On Wednesday 20th May, Samba Foundation FC takes to the Tynecastle pitch to raise money for Big Hearts, the official charity of HeartofMidlothianFC .

From Easter Road to Tynecastle, we keep pinching ourselves. This is what it's all about.

Support the lads and the Big Hearts Community Trust: https://www.justgiving.com/team/samba-tynecastle 💛💙

CRAZY BINGO NIGHT: THANK YOU! 💛💙

What a night. Our first ever charity event off the pitch, and you lot absolutely delivered.

We raised over £4,000. That's incredible, and every single contribution counted, whether you were in the room or bought raffle tickets from afar.

A massive thank you to everyone who came, supported, and showed up for this. And a special shoutout to who was a fantastic host for the evening. He kept the the night alive from start to finish.

That money is going somewhere special. In August, we'll be playing at Olivebank, the home of Musselburgh Athletic, with funds split between The Burgh Foundation and SNAC, a charity that supports children with arthritis and their families. It's a cause close to our hearts, and this game is going to mean a lot.

More to come. Thanks again. 💛💙

Fancy bingo on Friday?

We have a few tickets remaining for our Crazy Bingo Night with Mark Martin. 💛💙

We can’t wait to get everyone together for what promises to be a brilliant night. 🎉

📆 Friday 24th April 2026
⏰ 7.30pm – Midnight
📍 Ravelston House, Musselburgh
🎟️ Tickets £20

Expect a brilliant night of:
⭐ Crazy Bingo
🎟️ Raffles
🍽️ Buffet
🕺 Disco
🏆 Fantastic prizes

This is a big moment for us - our first ever standalone Samba Foundation FC event. All money raised will go towards a charity we’ll select when organising our next match, helping us continue to play football for good. ⚽️💛

🎫 If you'd like to purchase a ticket, let us know.

Thanks for the support so far - we can’t wait for this one.

👇 This is not Mark Martin. This is Mark Boggie. One is a DJ extraordinaire, the other is a Samba hero.