Friday June 5th 2026
Penicuik Athletics Youth Football Club in Germany for the tournament
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Penicuik Athletics Youth Football Club travelled to Midlothian’s twinned region in Germany to take part in an international tournament.
The Penicuik team, led by head coach Jamie Lumsden, travelled to Kreis Hensiberg on Sunday 24 May where they met with other teams from France and Poland, alongside those representing local teams including the Netherlands.
The tournament of 14 teams was sponsored by Sparkassen Bank with teams welcomed on arrival by SC 09 Erkelenz Club representative Rudi Wolf.
He thanked sponsored and said: ”It’s about the international idea, cohesion, stronger networking and new friendships – we distribute more love in Europe through football.”
Secretary and Treasurer of the Midlothian Twinning Group, Bob Atack, highlighted that ‘the teams did not keep to themselves’ during the competition, describing a strong sense of socialising amongst the teams from different nations. He explained that the teams would watch each other’s games together, ‘share a stadium sausage and duel on the goal wall’.
During the tournament, Bourussia Moenchengladbach FC’s mascot, Hunter, paid a surprise visit and gave out iced water in the high temperatures.
A Youth Leader involved in the tournament, Andreas Stefan, explained: “For me as a youth leader, it was very important that we all come together and show what we can do. Everything was super organized.”
Once the tournament started, games were played one after another, whilst numerous spectators on the sidelines cheered and shouted, creating what was explained as a ‘sportsmanlike and fair atmosphere’, that ‘left an impression on the guests.
Penicuik Athletics Youth Football head coach, Jamie Lumsden, explained:
“The atmosphere was always positive, and it was also great that the fans weren’t directly on the pitch. We’re definitely making new friends here, especially with the guys from Poland.
“We shared the same hostel and the kids just clicked straight away.”
After the semi-finals, both of which were decided in a penalty shoot-out, there was a French duel for 3rd place with St. James as the winner. In the final, hosts SC 09 Erkelenz met the Polish side Malapanew Ozimek, ending in the Polish visitors winning 5-0.
With mutual applause, high-fives and many water showers, all teams celebrated on the pitch until the award ceremony and also took souvenir photos together. “It’s such a strong togetherness, it’s really cool – I shed a tear at times”, the youth leader admitted, “It was a great tournament, we all had a lot of fun – a big thank you goes to all helpers and supporters, without such people it would not be possible.”
The Penicuik side finished 3rd in both groups, just missing out on the semi-finals.
Jaimie Lumsden added “The whole weekend was amazing; the kids had an absolute ball and will never forget it. We were looked after so well, anything we needed was sorted straight away. The tournament was really good as well, we finished 3rd in both groups so just missed out on the semi-finals.”
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