Hopes for pop-up ‘rugby village’ to offer boost to sporting charity

Steven set up the Cavaliers Rugby team in 2008 after one year as F.I.S.H. rugby. He brought together his friends from school and university to play sevens at the famous St Andrews Sevens.

The Steven Sims Cavaliers Foundation was launched in 2013 in memory of Steven, who died suddenly aged 23 from the rare blood disease immune thrombocytopenia.

Steven, a former pupil of Stewart’s Melville College, captained St Andrews University’s first XV. Since his death in 2012, the charity in his name has raised more than £50,000 contributing to research into the disease.

They have now partnered with Malones, which has a bar on Morrison Street, to create temporary rugby village “Malones at Murrayfield” for the Scotland match against Wales on March 9.

The family-friendly village, with street food and live music, is proposed for a site at 37 Corstorphine Road and will be considered by Edinburgh Council’s licensing board on Monday. The charity has liaised with local residents to address potential issues.

Steven Sims Cavaliers Foundation’s Alasdair Crawley said: “This is a unique and huge opportunity for us and we’ve worked hard to address the many obvious questions that residents have been asking about the proposals.

“We’ve been delighted at the level of community support we’ve achieved so far, particularly from the Murrayfield Community Council.”

The community council worked with the foundation to give them an opportunity to reach local residents.

Mr Crawley said: “Murrayfield is a fantastic community and we wouldn’t want to do anything to impact negatively on the lives of local residents, even for such a short time.”

The foundation hopes to raise significant funds to help support its work, particularly tackling concussion prevention projects in rugby. Coin buckets and contactless donation points will boost funds, and it will get a share of the Malones profits.

Simon Keane of Malones – who had been hoping to open the pop-up for the duration of the tournament – said the team had carefully considered the venue to limit its impact on neighbours.

He said: “We’ve created a venue that is welcoming and family friendly, and which has minimal impact. We know from our own experience at our bar at Haymarket that most hospitality venues in Edinburgh operate at full capacity for the Six Nations, so this won’t take any business away from other operators. What it will do though is provide excellent facilities in Murrayfield that will help ease pressures elsewhere in the city and raise funds for a great cause.”