I come here every Wednesday with my five a side football team partaking in the student league and I…read moreabsolutely love it there, despite my team narrowly avoiding coming bottom last season! I have played in various different five a side pitches and these pitches are amongst the best I have played on. There are good facilities with changing rooms adjacent to the pitches, which are always kept clean and there lockers are also available. One thing that does intrigue me about World of Soccer is that 5 a side games last an hour, with about a 2 minute half time "break". No where else have I seen a 5 a side game go on so long and is a real test of endurance. My main reservation about World of Soccer is the price. To enter your team you need to pay £25 and this is fine if there are loads of your mates wanting to play. But if there are only 5 or 6 of you, it can be quite costly at around £5 per person.

I used to come here every week for 5 a side, hopping on the 37 to get suitably knackered and…read moredepressingly outskilled by some cocky little 13 year old gobshite. Apart from this ritual humiliation, I had great fun there. The teams are split into two main types, the school kids that are really keen and generally pretty good (if dirty) and then there's the uni / post school kids, who are just doing it to keep fit and have a bit of a kick about with their mates. Because of this some of the matches can be irritating, with some people taking it way too seriously and getting aggressive. On the other hand you can have some really good laughs, when people just treat it as a good laugh, and nothing too important. There is definitely the competitive element, but when it is played as a game not life or death, the matches are hilarious. There are a good number of pitches here (about 10 if I remember correctly) and it is not too expensive to play. The downside is the turf which is so irritating. It rips your skin to shreds like sand based astroturf and there are these bloody little black bits of rubber, which go places you won't even imagine.

We perused through a number of 'Sports' stores in Edinburgh and we could not find any football…read morejerseys for my husband. He was set on getting a Heart of Midlothian Football Club jersey as a souvenir from Edinburgh and so we decided to head to the stadium's gift shop which is what this review will be based on. Their team store had possibly some of *the cutest* merchandise I've seen for a football club in terms of merch for the little ones. There were west highland terrier, dinosaur, and bear shaped stuffed animals. They had pop it toys, adorable westie pencil cases, and clothing just to name a few. For the older crowd, they had a wide range of items that included your typical jerseys, keychains, apparel to nicer items like stainless steel water bottles, coffee mugs and tumblers, and a mix of candies. They didn't have my husband's size available in the jersey that he wanted, but he was able to snag some shorts as a souvenir which is a successful trip in my book! Definitely recommend a stop here if you're a football fan and wanting some Heart of Midlothian souvenirs!

They actually built a castle out of used watches and clocks, and called it "Timecastle." Sounds…read morelike a sci-fi TV show or something. First-Hand Experience: More info about my personal experience at this stadium - I believe that other than Celtic Park, Tynecastle is up there with Dundee United as the most intense atmosphere in Scotland. I've now seen 4 games here (including one when I was still a teenager), and it's left a permanent mark on me. It's a thrill to be in here. It's dark and imposing, it's intense and cauldron-like. It's the heart and soul of Edinburgh football. Everyone was very nice to me (even Hibs fans in town), and I can't think of a club other than the Old Firm and DUFC that inspires more intense passion from supporters than HM1874. Yes they have been around that long. I was most recently here at Tynecastle just last year in late 2014, and will be visiting again in 2016. It needs a bit of a facelift but it's still 5 stars all the way from me. So when I was doing my first tour of Scotland in 2011, I also hit up every single stadium in the country. My obsession with footy (soccer to Americans) is the reason. Every stadium review - like all my reviews - are based on first-hand personal experience, usually from multiple visits. As recently as Fall 2014, when I was "stuck" in UK for 3 months, I went to most of them yet again while travelling. I have pictures of me at many of them, which I will post later. Also, when back in Scotland I plan to take more pix, and add more stadia! So watch this space! *** return to regular review *** Anyway, Tynecastle is one of the great stadiums of British football. It's grand and intense and has a wonderful atmosphere, with the third highest average crowd of any club in Scotland. It probably has the best atmosphere of any club in Scotland. It holds 17k and has been around since 1886. It has a beautiful big illuminated Hearts mosaic badge on the outside of it. Bravo. Scotland played many games here as recently as 2003. In 2004, the owners tried to sell the stadium but the "Save Our Hearts" campaign saved it. In other news, it's Gorgie-ous.

The players and the staff really do care about you. I have been a loyal hibee for years.read more

Hearts is in the west of Edinburgh, whereas this stadium is much "Easter", hence the name. It's the…read morehome of Hibernian, Edinburgh's second team. It's bigger than Hearts' Tynecastle but gets lower attendances. First-Hand Experience: More info about my personal experience at this stadium - I've seen Hibernian play here twice, and both times the fans were brilliant and the experience was wonderful. The stadium, however, is a little old, and definitely not as imposing nor welcoming as Tynecastle. It's like the little brother of Tynecastle. The diet coke of Tynecastle. Just one calorie, not Tynecastle enough. Of course it doesn't try to be like Tynecastle but that is a shame because that is one of the best stadiums in Scotland. It's destined for 5 stars when the club really gets back to the big time, they fill in the corners of the stadium, and the atmosphere inevitably reaches fever pitch. But for now, based on my experiences here when they were in the lower tier or playing to less people, it's a 4-star facility and needs a bit of a revamp. So when I was doing my first tour of Scotland in 2011, I also hit up every single stadium in the country. My obsession with footy (soccer to Americans) is the reason. Every stadium review - like all my reviews - are based on first-hand personal experience, usually from multiple visits. As recently as Fall 2014, when I was "stuck" in UK for 3 months, I went to most of them yet again while travelling. I have pictures of me at many of them, which I will post later. Also, when back in Scotland I plan to take more pix, and add more stadia! So watch this space! *** return to regular review *** It's a big, beautiful, imposing stadium, but the corners need to be filled in to make it as intense as Tynecastle, it also needs to lower the prices so that it gets packed out every game. Hibs fans actually hate Rangers more than Hearts so if you're ever lucky enough to go and see Hibs v Rangers and Hibs v Hearts you'll see what I mean. The thugs of Edinburgh seem to be Hibs fans so be careful here. This stadium opened in 1892, and Scotland have played here 6 times, all since 1998, which is great for the stadium.

My brother is a huge collector of football programmes, he buys lots of them from ebay and it is…read moresurprising how much they can go for. I am however not really into it, having to pay £3 for a memento of the day really isn't worth it, when you can get the exact same information on the internet. But if this is your thing, then I can imagine that this shop would be a treasure chest. The programmes are mostly Hibernian, but there are a few others like Scottish national team programmes as well. Some of the programmes go decades back and would make a great gift to a supporter to get a piece of the clubs history. They also offer programmes from recent matches, and if you are looking to keep a complete set of programmes for a season, this shop would be a God send if you were to miss a game.