Football at the Fringe: How the beautiful game will play out on Edinburgh's stages

The party may be over for the Tartan Army, but there’s plenty more football left to enjoy this summer – and not just the action in Germany.

As the Euros build to a climax over the next couple of weeks, rehearsals will be in full swing for a host of football-themed and inspired shows lined up for this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The heady highs and heart-breaking lows of the beautiful game are about to be tackled on stages across the festival landscape, in shows embracing drama, comedy, poetry and punditry, as well as the rise of women’s football in recent years.

Same Team will be performed at the Traverse Theatre at this year's Fringe. Picture: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

An all-female cast will take to a pop-up pitch in the Traverse Theatre for Same Team – a play inspired by the impact of the Homeless World Cup and the work of the Street Soccer Scotland charity, which works with men and women who have experienced homelessness, mental health issues and addiction.

Written by Robbie Gordon and Jack Nurse, Same Team, which has been revived after a brief run at the Traverse in December, brings together a group of Scottish women from different backgrounds as they bid to win the Homeless World Cup for their country.

Gordon said: “We’re hoping to see some bounce from the Euros. Football fever is still in the air, and it’s a great time to bring a show like this to the stage.

"Football is such a significant part of many people's lives, and I think there's a growing recognition of its rich potential for storytelling.

Bryony Byrne's football-inspired Fringe show Fan/Girl will be staged at Summerhall as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Picture: Edward Moore

"On stage, we can explore the emotional, social, and cultural aspects of the sport in ways that are intimate and impactful.

"The increasing interest also comes from a desire to see more diverse stories and experiences represented in theatre, which a play like Same Team is a perfect vehicle for. We truly believe in the transformative power of both art and sport.”

Women’s football will also take centre stage in Off the Bench, which has been inspired by the exploits of The Lionesses, England’s national team, who were World Cup runners-up last year.

The changing room-set show, which will be performed at the Space on Niddry Street by Norfolk-based theatre company PIAP Productions, will explore the theme of women’s representation in football, as well as the personal struggles of the three female characters, played by Kyla Mae Harwood, Erin Humphrey and Jodie Weller.

Scott Kyle, James Miller and Colin Little will be starring in Singin’ I’m No A Billy, He’s A Tim at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Weller said: “Women’s football has made leaps and bounds in the last few years but, there is still a way to go. We believe our play shines a light on what it’s like to play football at grass-roots level, but most importantly, the journeys these women have taken to fall in love with the game.”

Poet, performer and author Julie McNeill will take Fringe audiences on a “walk through” the history of Scottish football in her show at Gladstone’s Land, which she is staging months after launching a collection of work exploring the “emotional landscape” of the beautiful game in Scotland.

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It will examine the nation’s claim to be the birthplace of the sport, the controversial long-running “ban” on women’s football in Scotland, the impact of trailblazing player Rose Reilly, and the part the country has played in expanding the global reach of football.

Kyla Mae Harwood, Erin Humphrey and Jodie Weller will be starring in the Fringe show Off the Bench.

McNeill said: “The book has been really well received. It has travelled in sporrans and backpacks to stadiums and venues all over Scotland and Germany this year. It's been wonderful to see a poetry book embraced so warmly.

"This is the first solo show of this length I've ever done so I'm excited about bringing football and poetry to new audiences.

"I was over in Germany with my children and it was an unforgettable experience (results aside).

"I'm hoping the Euros and the summer of optimism hasn't faded just yet.”

This year’s Fringe will see the revival of a much-loved Scottish football-inspired play with an anti-sectarian message. There will also be a spin-off of Singin' I'm No a Billy, He's a Tim – which sees a Celtic fan and a Rangers fan locked up together on the day of an Old Firm match – with an all-female cast performing in alternate slots at the ECC to the reunited all-male cast.

Actor and producer Scott Kyle said: “Its great to see that more football-based plays are coming to the fringe this year, however with Scotland being out of the Euros already, the shows will probably have a longer run of performances that the national team managed.

Poet and author Julie McNeill, pictured here with Scottish women's football trailblazer Rose Reilly, will have a solo show at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

"The Euros is a great event in terms of engaging more people in football, there were certainly a lot of young faces in the stands in Germany cheering on the national team."

"We have specifically targeted the Euros last 16 for our STV advertising as we hope that the next generation of football fans (both male and female) will see it and come along.”

Football-themed comedy on offer at the Fringe include the debut stand-up show from BBC Radio Scotland presenter Tam Cowan and Paul Sneddon’s fictional former football footballer turned pundit Bob Doolally, who are both part of The Stand’s line-up.

Comedian Bryony Byrne’s show Fan/Girl, which is part of Summerhall’s line-up, will recall her devotion to 1990s stars like David Beckham and Eric Cantona, as well as explore why so many girls stopped playing football in their teenage years.

Byrne, who started working on her show four years ago, said: “The show came about because I went to watch Shrewsbury Town play Charlton Athletic and I realised two things. One, football was very like theatre. And two, I used to love football.

"From then on it was an exploration of when I'd stopped loving football and how that had happened.

"I rootled out my old newspaper clippings from when I played and got back in touch with old primary school teammates. And it grew from a small twenty minute bit in a north London pub to what it is now.

“It's definitely evolved to be more theatrical. I started out thinking of it as a comedy show and then it became clear that it was really quite moving to people.

“I guess football is inspiring more and more stage shows because it's something that's being discussed again on a pop culture level. And that's thanks to The Lionesses.”

More serious Fringe shows on offer include Mark Jackson’s play FUFC, which will be performed at theSpace on the Mile, and is inspired by his experiences after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

He said: “Two old friends are meeting as they do every Sunday morning to play in their local Sunday pub league. We experience the usual banter between two men, particularly as both are inept at football to say the least, before the conversation between them unexpectedly swings round to discussing health, something that men tend not to talk about.”

Underbelly show The Ghost of White Hart Lane, which will honour the memory of John White, a Scottish footballer who starred for Tottenham Hotspur in the 1960s, including their European Cup Winners Cup triumph in 1963, but was tragically killed at the age of just 27 when he was struck by lightning when he was playing golf.

Murphy said: “As a lifelong Spurs fan, it is an absolute honour to get to tell the incredible story of one of our greatest ever players.”