Encyclopedia
Shinty, also known as
camanachd or
iomain, is a
team sport played with sticks and a ball. Now played almost exclusively in the
Scottish Highlands, but formerly more widespread, especially in
England.
The sport was derived from the same root as the
Irish game,
hurling and is similar to
bandy.
Shinty is one of the forebears of
ice hockey,
Scottish immigrants to
Nova Scotia playing a game on ice in 1800 at
Windsor. In
Canada, informal hockey games are still called shinny.
In the Scottish Lowlands, it was formerly referred to as
common/
cammon ,
cammock ,
knotty and various other names.
Game
The objective of the game is to play a small ball into a goal, or "hail", erected at the ends of a 120 to 160-yard-long pitch. The ball is played using the
caman, a stick of about 3 1/2 ft in length. Unlike the Irish
camán, it has no blade.
A team consists of 12 players, including one goalkeeper. A match is played over two halves of 45 minutes. With the exception of the keeper, no player is allowed to play the ball with his hands. There are also variants with smaller sides, with some adjustments in the field size and duration of play.
Whilst erroneous comparisons are often made with
field hockey, the two sports are very different. In shinty, a player is allowed to play the ball in the air and is allowed to use both sides of the stick. The stick may also be used to block and to tackle, although a player may not come down on an opponent's stick, this is defined as hacking. A player may tackle using the body as long as this is shoulder-to-shoulder as in
football.
A player may only stop the ball with the stick, two feet together or one foot planted on the ground. Only the goalkeeper may use his hands and then only with an open palm. He may not catch it. Playing the ball with the head constitutes a foul whether intentional or not.
Fouls result in a free-hit, which is indirect unless the foul is committed in the penalty area, commonly referred to as "The D". This results in a penalty hit from 20 yards.
History
Gaelic settlers from
Ireland brought the sport of hurling to Scotland, where the game was played as such until the
14th century, albeit with a different caman from the Irish one.
The modern sport is governed by the Camanachd Association . The association came into being in the late
victorian era as a means of formulating common rules to unite the various different codes and rules which even differed between neighbouring glens.
Competitions
Shinty is traditionally divided into two administrative and playing areas, the North and the South. The geographic divide is at
Ballachulish, with all clubs south of here being classified as South teams, although most are still northerly in comparison to most of Scotland.
These clubs compete in various competitions, both cup and league, on a national and also North/South basis. Whilst the top two leagues are played on a national basis, the premier competition is the Scottish Cup or the Camanachd Association Challenge Cup, which has been totally dominated by Kingussie in the last twenty years. The other dominant team in Shinty history has been Newtonmore, Kingussie's near neighbours. Strangely these two teams only met in the Camanachd Cup Final for the first time in 1984.
The 2006 final was played, for the first time, in
Dunoon between holders Fort William and Kingussie. Kingussie regained the cup after three years due to a majestic performance by
Ronald Ross.
In League Shinty,
Kingussie has been dominant for the past 20 years and, according to the
Guinness Book of Records 2005, is World sport's most successful sporting team of all time, winning 20 consecutive league championships and going 4 years without losing a single fixture in the early 1990s. This incredible, unmatched run of dominance was ended on 2nd September by ancient rivals
Newtonmore who defeated Oban Camanachd 2-0 to ensure that Kingussie cannot catch the team at the top of the league. Who the first non-Kingussie champion is to be is unclear. Newtonmore finished the season on 22 points whilst Fort William were two points behind with two games yet to play.
Summer Shinty
In 2003, Shinty clubs voted for a trial period of two years of a Summer Season starting in March until October, with a view to moving permanently to Summer Shinty if the experiment was adjudged to be a success. Despite opposition from the "Big Two",
Kingussie and
Newtonmore and other small groups in the game, an EGM in November 2005 voted by an overwhelming majority to make Summer Shinty the basis upon which the game would proceed.
Predominantly a Highland game, there are also clubs to found in
Aberdeen,
Edinburgh,
Glasgow,
Perth and even
London. University Shinty is also a popular section of the sport, with almost all Scotland's main universities possessing a team. Historically,
Glasgow University,
Aberdeen University and
Edinburgh University have vied for supremacy but in recent years,
Strathclyde University, Robert Gordon's College and Dundee University have risen to prominence. It is also played in the Army with The Highlanders Shinty Club keeping alive the tradition of the game being played in the Forces.
In recognition of Shinty's shared roots with hurling, an annual international between the two codes from Scotland and Ireland is played on a home and away basis using compromise rules. In recent years the Irish have had the upper hand but the Scots won the fixture narrowly in 2005.
Although Camanachd Cup finals and internationals have been shown over the years, 2006 marked the first ever regular TV deal for shinty with matches being shown on the BBC Sports show
Spòrs.
In August 2006, the Camanachd Association decided to move its main offices to
Inverness from Fort William. This move was met with consternation by many in the sporting community with calls for an extraordinary general meeting.
Clubs
Senior clubs include:
- Aberdeen University
- Aberdour
- Ardnamurchan
- Ballachulish
- Beauly
- Boleskine Camanachd
- Bute Camanachd
- Caberfeidh
- Col-Glen
- Dundee University
- Edinburgh University
- Edinburgh East Lothian
- Fort William
- Glasgow Mid Argyll
- Glasgow University
- Glengarry
- Glenorchy Camanachd
- Glenurquhart
- The Highlanders
- Inveraray
- Inverness
- Kilmallie
- Kilmory
- Kincraig
- Kingussie
- Kinlochshiel
- Kintyre
- Kyles Athletic
- Lochaber Camanachd
- Lochbroom Camanachd
- Lochcarron Camanachd
- London Camanachd
- Lovat
- Nairnshire Camanachd
- Newtonmore
- Oban Camanachd
- Oban Celtic
- Robert Gordon's University
- Skye Camanachd
- St Andrews University
- Strachur and District
- Strathclyde University
- Strathglass
- Tayforth
Women's Shinty- Aberdeen University
- Dunadd
- Edinburgh University
- Forth Camanachd
- Glasgow Mid Argyll
- Glengarry
- Inverary
- St Andrews University
- Tir Connaill Harps
- Robert Gordon University
Youth ShintyYouth clubs who go by a different name from any connected senior club include:
- Assynt Camanachd
- Gryffe Shinty Club
- Lewis Camanachd
- Linlithgow Camanachd
- Menteith Camanachd
- Milngavie and Bearsden
- Uist Camanachd
Shinty Teams in North America- Northern California Camanachd Club
- Morro Bay Shinty Club
- Houston Camanachd Club
- Dunedin Camanachd Club
- Washington Camanachd Club
Shinty Abroad
London Camanachd is the only shinty club in England. They do not play league matches but do compete at present in the Bullough Cup. They have historically been attached to the South District. They went into abeyance in 1992 but were reconstituted in 2005. They played the first officially recognised Shinty match outside Scotland in 80 years on Saturday 22nd July 2006 against the Highlanders.
Shinty is also spreading to North America, though originally played in the 18th and 19th century by Scottish immigrants, the sport died out, however it is enjoying a revival. Two teams, Northern California Camanachd Club and Morro Bay Shinty Club, play on the
Highland Games circuit in California, The Northern California Camanachd Club also has Regional Challenge matches during the off Highland Games season, both clubs train year round. On 04 September 2005 the first international Shinty match between a team from USA and a team from Scotland on Scottish soil was played. The event was hosted by the Blairgowrie Highland Games where the Northern California Camanachd Club played a series matches against Tayforth. The Cup for the match series was provided by the Pleasanton Blairgowrie Fergus Sister City Organization and the "Player of the Match" award was provided by the Campbell Highland Games Association. The hosts Tayforth took home the cup.
Northern California Camanachd Club also participated in the first Annual Edinburgh East Lothian Levenhall Six a Side Shinty Tournament in
Musselburgh on 05 September 2005, other teams were Edinburgh East Lothian,Aberdour Shinty Club and Edinburgh University Women’s team. Edinburgh East Lothian won the tournament with NCCC coming in 3rd out of 4 teams.
June 2006 Gary Innes – Captain for Fort William Shinty Club 2005 and Man of the Match for the 2005 Camanachd Cup came to California to play Shinty and to teach at a workshop hosted by the Northern California Camanachd Club open to all US Shinty Clubs.
The Northern California Camanachd Club returned to Scotland in 2006 to play in the Levenhall Sixes Tournament, 02 September, hosted by the Edinburgh East Lothian Shinty Club. The tournament saw Aberdour, Edinburgh East Lothian and Northern California Camanachd Club , with Edinburgh East Lothian winning the Tournament. The following day played in another sixes tournament at the Blairgowrie Rattray Highland Games, hosted by the Tayforth Shinty Club, the Cup for the match was provided by the Pleasanton Blairgowrie Fergus Sister City Organization and the "Player of the Match" award was provided by the Campbell Highland Games Association. The teams appearing in this tournament were Tayforth, Aberdour and the Northern California Camanachd Club , with Tayforth taking home the cup two years running.
As the teams in Scotland have switched from a winter schedule to a summer schedule more American visitors to Scotland are seeing the sport and returning very interested in it. In addition to the Northern California Camanachd Club other clubs have formed in Houston , Washington State, Central California and there is interest in forming clubs in Portland , Oregon, Santa Monica and Bakersfield, California, Dunedin , Utah, Phoenix .
See also
References
External links
