Real Maroon: Established 2001
26 Oct 2009

Real Maroon FC was the brainchild of Billy Hislop and Lewis Broadie, previous and current editors respectively of ATB, the Hearts fanzine. Some browsing of the internet had led them to discover Erin Hibs, a team made up of Hibs supporters.

Seeing what their rivals could do inspired them, and in March 2001, with the aid of Lawrence Broadie, former editor of the Jambos.net website and current member of staff on the official Hearts FC website, the Hearts IFA team was born.

The team brings together Hearts supporters from all over Scotland and all walks of life. They have travelled across Britain, forging links with clubs as far apart as Aberdeen in the north to Watford and Brentford in the south, and numerous places in between, representing the good name of Hearts.

Real Maroon are widely regarded as one of the strongest IFA teams in Britain, consistently finishing in the upper echelons of the league in every season since their formation. The pinnacle of their achievements have come in seasons 2002/03 and 2005/06 when they won the Scottish League and were runners-up in the UK League.

In August 2003, the inaugural Festival Cup was held at Easter Road as a curtain raiser to the 2003/04 SPL season. As part of the pre-match entertainment of that game, Real Maroon and Erin Hibs were permitted to take to the Easter Road pitch to parade their recently won trophies, and play a short exhibition match.

The achievements of Real Maroon are occasionally reported in the Edinburgh Evening News, and articles have appeared in Hearts’ Matchday Magazine.

Real play have settled at the Gyle Recreation after playing nomidically for a number of years.