Dynamic Dynamo’s hard work pays off

Corstorphine Dynamo started out, as all great clubs do, with a group of mates getting together on a Sunday to play football.

That was back in 2015, but in the space of eight years, that small group has become something much bigger to their community, more than the founding members could have imagined.

It only took two years for Dynamo to launch two more amateur sides, and since then the reach of the club has expanded tenfold.

Aaron Moffat, chairman of the club, believes they are building something very special.

He said: “We started in 2015 as a Sunday league team with a group of mates who basically just wanted to play football without any pressure – we weren’t great, but we enjoyed ourselves which was the main thing.

“Over the next few years, we had launched 2 more amateur sides due to the number of players we were attracting. “

Aaron believes that due to the love of football in Scotland, the process of getting the community involved is easy.

He said: “I think we are only at the start of what we want to do in the community, we’ve always believed that football is one of the most powerful tools to make a difference in our country.

“From people following their professional teams all the way down to the amateur level there is no surprise that our top league in the country is the most attended league per capita in Europe – and by some distance!

“Taking this into account we want to make a difference in our community.

“The majority of our committee and almost all of our original amateur side grew up or now live in Corstorphine.”

The club have now expanded even more and launched their own Soccer School in March last year, with around 55 children already signed up.

Impressively, the Dinky Dynamo Soccer School now also has 11 coaches committed to the cause, and through the power of social media, the club have received positive feedback so far.

Aaron added: “The feedback we have received from the parents has been great as our first priority is that the children enjoy themselves.

“The smile on the kids’ faces on a Saturday morning at the end of the session is so rewarding.

“In March this year the children born in 2013, 2014 and 2015 will be moving on from the Soccer School into fun fours, super fives, and soccer sevens. At this point we will continue our soccer school with those born in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

“The soccer school will be the base of our pathway as we continue to grow the club. We want to be able to offer football to everyone from the moment you can walk, all the way through to walking football, and we believe the soccer school is the most important part of this.”

In 2019, the club took over an unused pavilion in Gyle Park, and in just under three years have improved the facility for the whole community.

“Over the past 3 years we have invested a significant amount of money into the building, which is or has been home to baby sensory, first aid classes, dance school, boxing group, personal trainer, playgroups.

“My Football Hire, who run football sessions using the latest state of the art technology, have more recently used it too.

“We were also involved in the Corstorphine Community Christmas Support Project which saw 60 families receive support through food packages in the lead up to Christmas.”

The pandemic had a massive detrimental effect on community-oriented clubs like Corstorphine, but the club stepped up to the plate to continue their support.

The #Dynamo2Dresden campaign, which challenged players from their three amateur teams to walk or run the distance from Corstorphine Dynamo to Dynamo Dresden in Germany – around 1000 miles – raised over £1000 for NHS Lothian’s Covid appeal.

Aaron added: “Our main project through the pandemic was #Dynamo2Dresden. This was back at the very start of the Covid pandemic and at first, we thought football might just stop for a month or so.

“The guys absolutely smashed it and raised £1085 and managed to virtually travel to Dynamo Brest in Belarus which saw us travel over 1677 miles which was done by 56 players.”

And it’s not just the young people in the area that benefit from the club’s hard work, they have branched out to be as inclusive as possible.

Particularly through walking football, an activity which has become largely popular in previous years, and Corstorphine are also getting involved with it.

He said: “Walking football offers a massive benefit for the social aspect for those who may not normally be able to get the same levels of social interaction. We have a good group of 12-14 regulars who turn up every week, have a blether and even had a Christmas night out together!

“We are hoping to build on our relationship with the community in 2022, we have developed good friendships with local businesses and other groups.

“The relationships we build are vital to what we want to achieve – we see what other clubs do round the country and this is something that we want to bring to Corstorphine.”

You can follow the club’s journey on Twitter @CorrieDynamoFC and by liking Corstorphine Dynamo FC on Facebook.