Shinty - Sport Made in Scotland! - YouTube Shinty - Sport Made in Scotland! Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Mar 6, 2015 Promotional shinty film courtesy of Norman Strachan. Category How Shinty Is Played « Shinty How Shinty Is Played How Shinty Is Played Shinty is a fast, physical contact sport played outdoors. The object of the game is to score goals. The full Rules of Play for shinty are contained in the Camanachd Association’s byelaws , but variations to these rules, mainly to do with numbers in a team and the dimensions of the field of play, exist for women’s shinty and for children and young people. In men’s shinty there are 12 players in each team – one of whom is always the goalkeeper.

In women’s shinty and in some competitions for children and young people, there are fewer players in the team and the pitch dimensions are smaller. Each player has a caman, or curved stick, and it is with the caman that the small leather ball is struck. A well-struck shinty ball can travel over 100 metres at very high speed. Competitive shinty is organised into league and knock-out cup competitions at various levels and grades. In the men’s game the most coveted trophies are the Camanachd Cup, first played for in 1895 and in women’s shinty the ultimate competition is the Valerie Fraser Cup . Both these events take place in September each year. Internationally shinty is only just developing but an annual match between shinty and the Irish game of hurling (Camogie when played by women) – which have the same historic roots, although each has evolved in its own way – takes place in October. A composite set of rules has been agreed between the Camanachd Association and its Irish counterpart, the Gaelic Athletic Association.

When shinty is played The Camanachd Association is supportive of shinty matches being played on any day of the week in circumstances where a team involved in any individual fixture/ game indicates acceptance of the chosen day, if it is other than a Saturday. If an open competition/ league is known to require play on a day other than a Saturday then those entering a competition will be made aware of any variation in expected day of play at the time of entry. Camanachd Cup: Lovat wait for Kingussie or Fort William - BBC Sport BBC Sport Camanachd Cup: Lovat wait for Kingussie or Fort William 2 Jun 2015 Read more about sharing. BBC Alba's Hugh Dan MacLennan (left) and BBC Scotland's Jonathan Sutherland made the draw Camanachd Cup holders Kingussie face a trip to Lovat in the quarter-finals, if they negotiate a way past Fort William. Premiership leaders Newtonmore, who have won the trophy a record 30 times, will be away to Oban Camanachd or Inverness.

Glasgow Mid Argyll, second in the National Division, host Inveraray, who are second bottom of the Premiership. Kyles Athletic beaten just once in the top flight this season, take on Skye or Beauly. Camanachd Cup quarter final draw: Lovat v Kingussie or Fort William Oban Camanachd or Inverness v Newtonmore Glasgow Mid Argyll v Inveraray Kyles Athletic v Skye or Beauly Share this page Camanachd Cup: Mossfield stadium to host 2015 final - BBC Sport BBC Sport Camanachd Cup: Mossfield stadium to host 2015 final 26 Mar 2015 Oban will host the 2015 Camanachd Cup final The 2015 Camanachd Cup final will be held at Mossfield stadium in Oban on 19 September. Argyll & Bute is the agreed southern venue for the showpiece, the location of which is rotated on an annual basis. Both Mossfield and Dunoon stadium were in contention to host the final, in which Kingussie beat Glenurquhart 4-0 in 2014.

Mossfield's larger pitch, as well as better access to the shinty community, made it the preferred choice. Share this page Skye Teams Compete Well In 2013 Gilmour Sports Shinty World Cup Skye Teams Compete Well In 2013 Gilmour Sports Shinty World Cup Back 25 June 2013 Skye teams Portree Primary School and Dunvegan Primary School competed well in the 2013 Gilmour Sports Shinty World Cup which took place at the Bught Park, Inverness on Monday 24 June 2013. The Gilmour Sports Shinty World Cup is a sixes competition for North area primary school teams and the action started at 12.30pm. A total of 256 primary school age shinty players from 32 teams across the North area converged on the Bught to compete in the three competitions.

Shinty World Cup Premier Competition Portree Primary School took part in the Shinty World Cup Premier Competition for established schools and they were joined by schools from Beauly, Lochaber, Inverlochy, Banavie, Kingussie, Newtonmore, Dingwall, Lochcarron and Glenurquhart. The teams played two round robin leagues of five and Portree beat Beauly 3-0, Lochaber 5-1, Newtonmore 3-0, and they drew 0-0 with Banavie in their league. Banavie, Portree, Kingussie and Inverlochy (just pipping Glenurquhart by one goal on goal difference) advanced to contest the semi finals. Kingussie raced in to a 2-0 lead in the first semi against Portree but the Islanders fought back strongly and halved the deficit but could not find an equaliser. In a tight Lochaber derby, Banavie edged past Inverlochy 1-0.

The final was an end to end affair with some great shinty played and Kingussie drew first blood but Banavie were not to be denied and equalised and then snatched victory and the cup with almost the last hit of the ball. Shinty World Cup Championship Competition Kinlochbervie, Raigmore, Grantown, Alvie, Cannich Bridge, Kinlochleven, Balnain, Dunvegan, Strathdearn and Dalneigh contested the Shinty World Cup Championship Competition for emerging schools. Dunvegan drew with Kinlochbervie 1-1, and they drew with Dalneigh 1-1, but lost to 2-0 to Kincraig before being awarded a 1-0 win over Strathdearn who unfortunately had to leave early due to transport arrangements. Dalneigh were the surprise package of the day finishing top of their league above Kincraig and a strong Cannich Bridge team finished ahead of last year’s winners Kinlochleven in the other league.

Single goal victories for Cannich Bridge and Kinlochleven in the semis set up an equally tight final which Cannich Bridge edged 1-0 to lift the trophy. The Shinty World Cup Super-Sixes Competition There was also a junior even where teams aged primary 5 and under from Beauly, Lochaber, Kirkhill, Kingussie, Raigmore, Gergask, Alvie, Newtonmore, Inverlochy, Lochcarron, Glenurquhart and Dingwall battled it out in The Shinty World Cup Super-Sixes Competition. The teams were split in to two leagues of six and Inverlochy and Lochaber topped their leagues ahead of Kingussie and Dingwall respectively and the Lochaber area sides both won their semi finals 2-1 to set up a local derby final which did not disappoint. The sides were extremely evenly matched and a solitary strike from Inverlochy was all that separated the teams at full time although Lochaber had had as much of the game.

All of the games in each of the three competitions were extremely close and the skills on show from the young players were a credit to themselves and their coaches and made for a really enjoyable afternoon of shinty. Camanachd Association Chief Operating Officer Torquil MacLeod presented the trophies to the winning captains and medals to all finalists. Following the event, Highland Shinty Development officer Russell Jones said, “I would like to thank our sponsor Gilmour Sports, referees Laura Gallagher, Rory MacGregor, Darren Hanlon, scorers Susanne Standish-White, Bridget Thomas and Graham Cormack but most of all the Coaches and all 256 players from the 32 teams for a terrific afternoon of Shinty.” ©Skye Camanachd 2017 Fired-up rivals have semi-finals targets in Camanachd Cup | Highland News | Sport | Shinty Tweet Fired-up rivals have semi-finals targets in Camanachd Cup SIX Premiership team plus two from the National Division will battle it out for places in the semi-finals of the Camanachd Cup on Saturday.

Kilmallie are strongly tipped for promotion to the top-flight and have home advantage over Oban Camanachd, a team who have totally transformed their results this season to the extent that they are up there amongst the front-runners in the Premiership. Kilmallie defeated Fort William 2-0 in the previous round and have tasted defeat just once this season in eight matches played. The Caol side’s only Camanachd Cup success came over 50 years ago when they defeated Inveraray 4-1 at Fort William in 1964. Beauly, the other team flying the flag for the National Division, have a difficult task ahead of them facing Premiership joint-leaders Kinlochshiel at Kirkton. Shiel are undefeated on their home pitch this season having won four of the six league and cup matches played there to date. The visitors will be spurred on by the prospect of a long awaited place in the last four whilst Shiel who achieved this feat for the first time when they went down 3-1 to Inveraray in 2012 are targeting their first-ever Camanachd Cup final.

Lining up against his old team-mates for the first time will be former Beauly stalwart and international midfielder Conor Cormack, who has proved an inspirational signing for Shiel boss Colin Fraser. With it being three years since they last got their hands on the sport’s most prestigious piece of silverware 30 times winners Newtonmore will be keen to secure a league and cup double. Standing in their way of a place in the last four are Skye who visit The Eilean in the hope of upsetting the odds by knocking out the tournament favourites. The islanders are still searching for their first league win since their return to the top flight, but with only one loss in the Premiership, their performances to date more than endorse their capabilities to compete at the top level. On More’s march towards MacTavish Cup glory, Skye were disposed of in Portree by a 4-0 margin at the quarter-final stage. Kyles Athletic, beaten by Lovat in last year’s final, will also fancy their chances of going all the way this year as they aim to lift the trophy for a 22nd time.

With home advantage over Lochaber, and having already beaten Ally Ferguson’s men 6-2 in the league in early April, the Tighnabruaich side are strong favourites to take up a place in the semi-finals. Just two fixtures are scheduled for the National Division. At The Meadows, Bute will be hoping that they can maximise upon home advantage to engineer the defeat of leaders Inveraray, who can go four points clear of the chasing pack if they register a win over an island side flirting with the possibility of relegation being just two points ahead of basement team Ballachulish. Glasgow Mid Argyll travel north to Ballachulish and are expected to take both points to elevate themselves into second place alongside Beauly and Kilmallie. In North Division One, leaders Strathglass make the short journey to Kiltarlity where a win over Lovat would increase their lead over Newtonmore, who are idle on Saturday, to four points. Kingussie take on Kinlochshiel at The Dell where Shiel will be anxious to add to the two points gained at Fort William last week to reinforce their mid-table position and distance themselves from the relegation zone.

At Braeview Park, Beauly look to be good for a win over joint-bottom placed Skye. Shinty - a cross between hockey, lacross & ice hockey - sport Scotland | scottish Or in Gaelic - "iomain" or "Camanachd" (prounounced yi-mane and ca-man-achd) Introduced by the Irish over 2,000 years ago with Christianity. Official Shinty Website: Shinty is unique to Scotland and one of the oldest games in the world. The game is similar to games such as hockey and lacrosse in some aspects and has historical roots with golf and ice hockey. As with lacrosse the game is a fast moving aerial game where physical fitness is tested to the limits. However, different from both hockey and lacrosse as in Shinty, feet can be used to stop the ball but not the hands (unless you are the goal-keeper). You can carrry the ball on your caman which can be also be swung above shoulder height.....a skilful eye and a sense of survival are paramount!!

The Game Fast moving skilful sport that, like lacrosse is thrilling to watch Played between 2 teams of 12 players Each player is "armed" with a curved stick called a Caman (pronounced ca-man) which has a triangular in section Each game lasts 90 minutes Shinty is a community game played in some of the most remote parts of Scotland The Dell playing fields at Kinguisse are considered by some to be the original home of organised shinty as we know it today. The Rules The fundamental difference between hockey and shinty is that in the game of shinty there is no restriction on the swing of the caman. Players can strike the ball with both sides of the stick - like ice hockey. However, handling and reaching for the ball is not allowed. The "stick" The caman was originally made of ash or hickory cut from a tree with a natural bend, but nowadays modern sticks are made from strips of wood glued together. The shortage of high quality wood in some areas of the country led to experimentation with various other materials such as aluminium but players have always reverted back to the natural product. The Ball The Ball is a similar size to a tennis ball.

The interior is cork and worsted, with an outer cover of leather or a similar approved material. Originally blocks of wood or pieces of cork were used instead of the modern ball until the rules were formally accepted about 100 years ago and the cork ball became the standard. Shinty is still a truly amateur sport, although the level of skill and athletic ability demands great things of the players. Some players travel hugh distances to play and represent the club in competitions. The best teams and players play in the national premier league and there are different grades of the game from school teams to international games. The Glenmorangie Camanachd Cup Knock Out Championship was first played in 1896 and won by Kingussie Annual event with the the cup final normally played on the first Saturday in June. The cup final attracts shinty's biggest crowds of between 3,000 - 5,000. Shinty and Hurling Hurling is played in Ireland with different sticks from shinty players with a broad face. There often are matches between the shinty and the hurling teams on an organised basis. The first games were played in 1897 in Glasgow .

Challenges regularly take place at club level particularly in the summer. Shinty Teams Club History Club History Skye Camanachd - A Century Remembered For the past hundred years Skye Camanachd has been a focus of island hopes and aspirations. More than any other organisation the shinty club has engaged the islanders’ loyalty. It was born in the turbulent years immediately after the crofter unrest of the 1880s; many of its founders were active in the bitter land disputes of those years, and lingering political dissension threatened its early years. Distance, and the cost and difficulty of travelling to mainland shinty centres, also menaced survival. Down the century the team’s fortunes have mirrored the social and economic condition of the islanders. Frequently, winning teams were dispersed as young people were forced to leave Skye in search of work. In 1903 a Glasgow Skye Camanachd Club was formed by Skyemen based in the city, and continued until 1961, when the movement of islanders to the city had slowed to a trickle. That the modern club has managed to overcome these difficulties is a tribute to the tenacity of those who fought for its survival down the years.

Many of those who now play for it are the grandsons and great-grandsons of the original founders, and the club is intensely aware of its Gaelic roots and identity. The Author Martin Macdonald was born in 1937 and brought up in the crofting township of Achachorc, Portree. He became a newspaper reporter in 1960, and five years later joined BBC Gaelic Department as a radio producer. After a period as a television director, he returned to radio in 1971 as editor of English news and current affairs programmes, including a period at Westminster to launch parliamentary broadcasting on radio. Since 1976 he has been based in Inverness, working as a freelance journalist in English and Gaelic for a variety of newspaper, radio and television outlets. He is married, with two of a family. Jacket illustration The Cuillins from Drynoch by Tommy Mackenzie, Portree.

Copyright © Tommy Mackenzie, 1992 ISBN 0 9519523 0 7 Published by Skye Camanachd, Portree, Skye (On this page we are delighted to publish the text of chapters 1 & 14, kind courtesy of Martin Macdonald. The text of Chapters 2 to 13 and the images await a kind soul with the time and devotion to scan Martin's wonderful volume, OCR, edit and proof the copy. If you would you like to volunteer contact webmaster@skyecamanachd.com ) Chapter 1 Bannocks & Cheese On New Year’s Eve 1875 Main Mhor nan Oran, the Skye bardess, was in nostalgic mood. As she sat with a group of fellow-Gaels in Glasgow, busily baking the bannocks that would sustain 60 stalwart Highlanders through next day’s festive shinty match in the Queen’s Park, her mind went back to her childhood in Skeabost.

Next day’s game would recall the great days when the whole populace of Skeabost and Carbost used to crowd down to the “bugha mor” by the river — she wrote to her friend, John Maclean, Bernisdale — “le buideal air gach ceann dhe’n raon, agus pailteas bhonnach agus caise.. with a keg at each end of the field, and plenty of bannocks and cheese.” As a child, some 40 and more years earlier, she had probably watched her mother and the women of the townships prepare the bannocks and cheese, much as she was doing at that moment. And filling the kegs — and indeed emptying them! - was no doubt a matter for the men. Main Mhor nan Oran (Great Mary of the Songs) was born in Skeabost in March 1821. Her father, John Macdonald or lain Ban mac Aonghais Oig (Fair John, son of Young Angus), was a crofter. She married Isaac Macpherson, an Inverness shoemaker, and following his death in 1871 took up nursing to support her family.

Following an accusation of theft of an item of clothing she served a prison sentence, though she and her many friends always maintained her innocence. She poured her bitterness over this incident into the poetry she began to compose when well over 50. The “bugha mor”, that wide loop of green sward by the Skeabost river, has seen many games of shinty since. But how many of them matched the great communal occasions that Mairi Mhor remembered so warmly from her youth? They belonged to the Gaelic tradition once common throughout the Highlands when whole communities, from the toddler to the aged, turned out on high days and holidays to centre their celebrations around the skills of caman and ball. Most of these games took place around New Year or Old New Year, on 12 January, which was still celebrated in many parts of the Highlands well into this century. The rules varied according to locality. In some places — perhaps at Skeabost where the river boundaries of the field imposed a certain discipline on the game - two captains would choose teams whose numbers were limited only by the supply of the willing and able-bodied. In others, traditional rivalry between neighbouring communities would dictate the sides and the action might stretch across several miles.

Dan MacDonald from Bernisdale, a notable pre-war Glasgow Skye player, could remember oldtimers earlier this century speak of such games between Bernisdale and Edinbane in their parents’ time. “They didn’t have goals. They would drive the ball back and fore across the crofts until they reached a certain place, like a boundary wall perhaps,” he recalled, “and then they would say ‘Chaidh i tigh’.... ‘It went home’ or something like that but ‘tigh’ was the word they used.” Main Mhor is the best loved of all Skye bards. Her songs show her love of the island and its people, and she took an active part in the political campaigns of the 1880s, frequently appearing on Land League platforms throughout the Highlands. Following a period in Glasgow she returned to Skye in 1882, where she was given a rent-free cottage by Lachlan Macdonald of Skeabost. He also helped with the cost of publishing her poetry in 1891.

Main Mhor died in the old Temperance Hotel, on Beaumont Crescent, Portree in November 1898.learly such cross-country rampages, with the leading players driving the ball with one hand on the caman and the other fending off opponents, and the pack hot on their heels in support, bore little resemblance to the disciplined game we know today. But, few and basic though they may have been, there were rules. One that Dan could recall was contained in the injunction “Seas do sheas”, or “Stand by your stance” in rough translation. “You weren’t allowed to turn with the ball,” he explained. “If you started off with the ball on one side of you, you had to carry on with it on that side, rather like hockey nowadays.” Such occasions, joyous celebrations of communal loyalty and friendly rivalry among people who knew each other well, were once common throughout Skye. In townships from Rudha Hunais to Aird Shleibhte the winter dusk would ring with the cries of the caman players: bannocks and cheese would be shared and toasts would be drunk.

And yet on that New Year when Main Mhor relived her youth in her Glasgow exile few games, if any, would be played in her native island. Under the pressure of social and economic circumstances shinty had all but died out in some parts of the island, and maintained only a flickering and precarious presence in others. As early as 1841, when Main Mhor was 20, the parish minister of Diurinish noted in the Statistical Account that “all public gatherings, whether for shinty playing, or throwing the putting-stone, for drinking and dancing, for marriages or funerals, have been discontinued, and people live very much apart.” There were a number of reasons for this and Main Mhor certainly pinpointed one of them in a simple verse:— Bho’n chaill sinn amfearann Gun chaill sinn an iomain S cha mhorgu bheil duin’ ann tha eolach oirr’. Since we lost our land We lost shinty as well And there are few men left who are skilful now.

The evictions and clearances, which left vast tracts under sheep in the early nineteenth century and dispersed thousands of Skye people to the slums of Glasgow or the far ends of the earth, also dissipated their traditional skills. And communal life for those who remained, now crammed onto half-acre plots of infertile land by the shore, was utterly dislocated. Few of the native tacksmen, who traditionally gave leadership in social events like shinty as in so much else, still lived on the island, and fewer still made common cause with the people. The famine years in the middle of the century, particularly between 1846 and 1852, added to the misery. Three-quarters of the people were on the brink of starvation, existing on a thin diet of shellfish and oatmeal. A dispirited, downtrodden and fever-ridden population had little reason to celebrate and less energy for shinty. The other element in the demise of shinty, and probably the one foremost in the Diurinish minister’s mind as he penned his report, was religious.

As waves of fundamentalist, evangelical zeal swept the island in the early part of the century shinty was assigned to the Devil as surely as fiddling and piping, probably because of its associations with drinking and communal revelry. “Tha’n sluagh air fas cho iongantach, ‘s gur cruithneachd leotha bron...,” was how Main Mhor summed up this strange, new mood. “The people have grown so peculiar that gloom is the wheat they live on....” Although she herself was loyal to the new Free Church, and an ardent follower of Maighstir Ruairidh MacLeod, the famous minister of Bracadale and Snizort who led most of Skye into that church at the Disruption in 1843, she was no friend of gloom and despondency and never wavered in her loyalty to shinty. But Maighstir Ruairidh was proud to boast: “I have raised the standard against shinty and tobacco both, and with some measure of success.” Maighstir Ruairidh was a charismatic and influential figure in nineteenth century Skye.

A man of patent integrity, his was one of the few voices raised against the policies of eviction and emigration and the creation of sheep runs, and he won the love and respect of the ordinary people, whatever reservations some of them might have about the narrower aspects of his creed. So he had a right to expect “some measure of success” in his crusades, though he may have overestimated the degree of success. Certainly his leading elder, Gilleasbuig Gillies, stood the ban on tobacco for about a week before coming to a unilateral decision that an occasional, contemplative pipeful might not be an offence to his Creator! And on long, cold journeys to communion seasons other elders were known to sit in a wayside inn supping a medicinal whisky under Maighstir Ruairidh’s baleful gaze as he enjoyed — or pretended to — his lemonade.

So also one might imagine that independent-minded crofters might occasionally cut a caman and “cnapag” (Main Mhor’s word for a ball) from a hazel root for their sons, as their fathers had done for them, reasoning that the sight of young lads at play, innocent of all unseemly revelry, would not incur the wrath of the church. As long, of course, as they did not play too blatantly, too loudly, or too near the Sabbath! Whatever the case, shinty does not seem to have died completely for any great length of time throughout the whole island. Although there is no evidence of any one locality where the tradition flourished from year to year — such as Badenoch, Glenurquhart or Lovat on the mainland, with their advantages of stable communities and resident landlords — there is evidence of sporadic revivals, largely, it should be said, sponsored by sympathetic local gentry. Thus in January 1850 the Glasgow Citizen reported that on Old New Year’s Day Patrick Cooper, Lord Macdonald’s chamberlain, “desirous of reviving the old sports of the season” had attended a shinty match in Portree.

After Mr Cooper had done the honours with refreshments all round the game was resumed with “great spirit and hilarity” until late in the afternoon. “Meetings of this kind, where all classes mingle, must have a beneficial effect,” the Citizen reporter observed, “and tend to strengthen the feeling of mutual good-will at present existing between Lord Macdonald and the inhabitants of Portree.” Had they read it, this latter comment must have raised eyebrows among the local citizenry, a fair number of whom had been turfed out when the Macdonald Estates cleared the populous townships of Scorrybreck only ten years earlier. Some of them were still living in poor hovels on the edge of the village, others had been dumped in the overcrowded Braes townships. In fact, the whole incident was bizarre. At that time Mr Cooper and his colleagues were actively contemplating further clearances in Strath, and he had ambitious plans for giving “southern” farmers large holdings in every crofting township on the estate, ostensibly to teach the locals how to farm though the crofters were convinced it was to squeeze them out once and for all.

Fortunately, Mr Cooper had to hightail it out of Skye before his plans came to anything, though the Strath clearances did take place. The verdict must be that Maighstir Ruairidh, by standing against clearances and teaching his fellow islanders a degree of self-reliance, did more for shinty in the long run — however sinful the caman in his eyes! — than Patrick Cooper’s dubious exercise in public relations on behalf of a remote landlord. ARNISORT, SKYE, 17th JAN, 1866 - Last Saturday being Old New-year’s day, the usual amusements and modes of celebrating it were deferred until Monday; and, according to an invitation by Mr Macleod of Grishornish, a large body of the active and athletic young men from among his tenants and others in this district, to the number of about two hundred, assembled on that the green grounds of Coishletter to play at the game of shinty. There was excellent sport, kept up with good spirit, assisted by an ample supply of hers Highland whisky and other liquors, and a substantial lunch supplied by Mr Macleod.

A piper was also present, which afforded the youths an opportunity of varying their sport by dancing reels. A party from Dunvegan Castle was present part of the time, and Mr Macleod, in his usual hospitable manner entertained the gentlemen to dinner at Grishornish House after the day’s sport was over. Inverness Courier - 25/01/66 SKYE - NOTES FROM TROTTERNISH - On Kilmuir Common, on the 13th inst, a considerable number of young men played a shinty match, which was well contested and very amusing to witness. The vigour and skill displayed on the occasion, under the leadership of Samuel Macleod and Charles Stewart, natives of the place, were astonishing to a bystander, and if the whole band was under the guidance or superintendence of some of our old principal gentry and tenant farmers, they could compete with any number of the same class from a distance. They were strong, able, stalwart fellows. Inverness Courier - 20/01/81 But not all landlords should be tarred with the same brush and some of the shinty revivals have a genuine ring.

Main Mhor, then raising a family in Inverness, might have been proud to have followed Mr Macleod of Greshornish onto “the green grounds of Coishletter” near Edinbane in January 1866. Sustained by “an ample supply of Highland whisky” and a “substantial lunch” some 200 “athletic young men” had an excellent day’s shinty. The game had been held over until Monday from Old New Year’s Day which fell on a Saturday, no doubt to avoid encroaching on preparations for the Sabbath. By January 1881 the Portree correspondent of the Inverness Courier was wistfully lamenting the lack of any activity on Old New Year’s Day, while observing that “a few years back a shinty match used to take place, but on account of the absence of our townsman, Mr Harry Macdonald of Viewfield, in India, there was no person who took any interest in the matter “ Without the leadership of the local gentry social activity tended to lapse, it seems. But that was soon to change. From Kilmuir in the same month came a somewhat similar tale of seasonal woe.

“These days used to be celebrated by shinty matches, balls, &c, but there is hardly anything of this kind in the district now” But at least the Kilmuir correspondent did have one match to report — played on Kilmuir Common by “strong, able, stalwart fellows” who had clearly organised the affair themselves. “If the whole band was under the guidance or superintendence of some of our principal gentry and tenant farmers, they could compete with any number of the same class from a distance,” the correspondent observed, tipping his cap to the said gentry. But the crofters of the Kilmuir estate, having suffered the rack-renting of Captain William Fraser for 25 years, were in no mood to follow a landlord. That same winter the tenants of the townships of Valtos and Ellishader announced they were withholding their rents. The spark of rebellion quickly spread to the rest of the estate, and to the districts of Glendale and Braes, where the crofters were suffering under similarly oppressive regimes. For the next six years Skye was to be the main cockpit of the land agitation that spread throughout the Highlands, leading to frequent physical confrontation between crofters and the authorities.

The hated figure of Sheriff Ivory stalked the island at the head of a reluctant police force — who hated being cast in a political role — arresting crofters on the slightest pretext. In November 1884 two gunboats and a troopship with 350 Royal Marines on board were sent to Skye to “pacify” the islanders, and in October 1886 the Marines returned to an island still in turmoil, where public administration had all but broken down because of a rates strike. Samuel Macleod, who had captained one of the teams that celebrated New Year 1881 on the open fields of Kilmuir, was among the contingent of Bornaskitaig crofters serving three months imprisonment in the Calton Jail as the bells of Edinburgh chimed in New Year 1887. During those tumultuous years, with the island under the constant scrutiny of the local and national press, no shinty reports are to be found in the papers; if occasional games did take place they were not reported.

But it is more than likely that, under the stress of events and explosive political tensions, the sport lapsed completely for a period, much as it had done earlier in the century in the face of famine, clearance or a frown from the pulpit. After all it is rather difficult to organise a shinty match if a crofter revolt is likely to erupt at any moment as a rival attraction, or half your pool of players is in gaol! But as the tensions died slowly, and the island began to return to some semblance of normality when the provisions of the 1886 Crofters Act began to take effect, shinty began to revive. The first hint of a new spring was in Sleat, a backwater almost untouched by the active skirmishing of the land war. On Old New the Year’s Day 1887 in a field near Armadale Castle, with Mr Donald Macdonald of to Tormore as main promoter, a team from Aird defeated a Calgary team 4-0 in a three-hour, 30-a-side tussle that only ended with the onset of dusk.

The teams were sustained in their marathon bout by “refreshments provided at intervals throughout the day by Mr Macdonald.” Two years later on the same day “camanachd was carried on with great zest in the park adjoining Knock Lodge by a large number of the young men and boys in the vicinity,” the Oban Times reported. “Captain Kemble of the Lodge took considerable interest in the matches, and invited the whole party to the Lodge, our where a liberal supply of refreshments was given to the grown-up men, and tea the and fruit with accompaniments to the boys…” The old tradition of festive shinty had re-established itself in Sleat and was to continue largely unbroken up to World War 2. In the north end of the island a match at Uig between a local team and a team from Portree on a Thursday afternoon in February 1888 heralded the revival. People from capitals, however small, tend to have a healthy conceit of the themselves and it seems the Portree men expected a walk-over. But they were sorely disappointed and had to admit shamefaced defeat before the final whistle, losing by a margin of one hail to two hails and three points.

(Under “Strathglass Rules” single points were awarded for balls driven past the goal-line outside the goals and over the crossbar.) At the very end of that year, on 29 December 1888, the Oban Times reported briefly: “A shinty club has just been formed at Bernisdale. Thirty-two members have been enrolled, and Mr MacDonald of Skeabost, who is to provide the shinties, is captain. It is expected that a match will take place before the winter is over between this new club and the Portree Shinty Club.” The news must have brought joy to the heart of Main Mhor nan Oran, who had returned to her native home some six years earlier — her beloved “bugha mor” would ring again with the sound of camans! Whether the hoped-for match with Portree took place is not on record, but the formation of the Bernisdale club is an occasion to note in the annals of Skye shinty. The crofting district at the head of Loch Snizort was to be a notable nursery of the skills of the caman, supplying Skye with some of the most glittering names ever to have graced its team lists.

Circumstances in Bernisdale were favourable for the formation of the new club. Apart from the local shinty tradition the district was a peaceful oasis in the strife-torn Skye of the 1880s; the bitterness which characterised landlord-crofter relations over much of the island was noticeably absent. Almost alone among Highland lairds Lachlan Macdonald of Skeabost took the part of the crofters in the land debate, and frequently tried to temper the more extreme excesses of his fellow landlords. When he was absent from home on business prominent Land League leaders from Portree often took over his role as chairman at local ceilidhs and social events. Lachlann Sgeathaboist, as he was known to fellow Gaels, was to be a supportive patron of the early Skye teams. Lachlan Macdonald of Skeabost was a son of Lieutenant Charles Macdonald of Ord - the “M’Ian” of Alexander Smith’s A Summer in Skye. Lachlan was reputed to be the richest man in the island, having founded the family fortune as an indigo planter in India where he served in the Behar Light Horse during the Indian Mutiny.

His pro-crofter stance during the land agitation singled him out among Highland landlords. He opposed the use of the military in Skye, and shocked his fellow proprietors at a conference in Inverness by refusing to condemn tenants who deforced sheriff officers. Apart from his patronage of the original Bernisdale shinty club he was also an active supporter of Skye Camanachd in its early years. No doubt there were a number of reasons for the revival. The ancient sport of camanachd was enjoying a new vogue throughout the Highlands and among the expatriate Gaelic communities in the cities of central Scotland. There was a buzz of excitement in the air, and much talk of standardising rules and setting up associations to administer the sport. And Skye, with a confidence born of holding centre stage in Highland politics for a decade and success in the land struggle, was in a mood to participate. But the years of conflict had also been divisive within the island community, and it needed the balm that communal activity like shinty, with its appeal to common loyalties, could bring to its raw wounds.

In the next decade men who had lately been the most bitter of political foes were to sit round the same table with the single aim of promoting the island’s fortunes on the shinty field. And in the years until the end of the century the impetus that was to drive Skye forward into the mainstream of shinty development was to come from the little island capital, Portree. Chapters 2 to 13 await a kind soul with the time and interest to scan Martin's wonderful tome, OCR, edit, proof & publish - would you like to volunteer? contact webmaster@skyecamanachd.com ) Chapter 14 A Fitting Finale On Friday evenings and Saturday mornings during the shinty season in the mid to late 1970s motorists on the mainland highways to Skye were often waved down by three or four or five youngsters thumbing a lift. A goodly part of the Skye Camanachd team was on its way home for that weekend’s MaGillivray League tie! The club, running on a bank overdraft at the time, couldn’t afford to pay their expenses; and the lads, young apprentices and students in Inverness and other mainland centres.

were on meagre wages or skimpy grants, and couldn’t afford to use public transport. But such was their commitment to the club that they were willing to devote their weekends to endless hours of waiting by roadsides in all kinds of weather to play for their home team, spurning the chance of playing for teams nearer at hand. The hitch-hikers usually were Donnie Martin, I)onnie “Digg” Macdonald, Alistair Cruiekshank and Ewen “Yogi” Grant - all names that had a significant role at various times in building a Skye team that could challenge the top teams on the mainland. “If these boys hadn’t been willing to do that Skye Camanachd would have gone to the wall,” says Donnie Mackinnon, team manager at the time. Interestingly, all of them got their first taste of shinty in primary school, although not all of them took to this particular sporting diet initially. Donnie Martin was at Kilmuir Primary school around 1967, when the Skye primaries received an issue of camans to try and encourage the game among the kids.

“The first day we got them we smashed the ball through the classroom window and the camans were locked away after that!” he recalls. Other schools were more enlightened though many of the boys rapidly lost interest because of a lack of positive guidance. “I simply didn’t know what shinty was at the time,” says Donnie Digg, a fact that shouldn’t he too surprising since Skye Camanachd were then in abeyance, and in any case Staffin, though still an intensely Gaelic community didn’t have the same sort of local shinty-playing tradition that Bernisdale had. Their real introduction to the game began when they became secondary pupils in Portree High School. “W put our names down for football and rugby but somehow or other we landed up doing shinty,” Donnie Martin recalls. “It was quite a while afterwards that we worked out what happened — it was all due to D R Macdonald. Somehow all the members of his Gaelic classes ended up doing shintv!” Through his activities in the school, Donald R Macdonald was to be one of the major seminal influences over Skye Camanachd’s fortunes over the next twenty years.

A North Uist man, DR, as he is familiarly known, was a pupil at Portree School in the 1950s, but became actively involved in shinty during his Uversity days in Glasgow. When he returned to Portree in 1965 as head of the Gaelic department he started coaching shintv in the school with the help of Colonel Jock Macdonald and Jonacks Mackenzie. When Friday afternoon was designated an “activities” period, shintv coaching intensified and children from outside Portree were given an opportunity to join in. The next step, with the help of one or two enthusiastic ex-players, was to introduce coaching for the primary children outwith school hours, and a new generation of Skye Camanachd’s future stars was established. Skye and Newtonmore line up for the Thomas Ferguson Memorial Cup match of 1972. Newtonmore won by 6-3 Skye team — back row, l-r: Rory Bain, Hugh Clark, Cohn Murchison, John Mackenzie, Sammy Gordon, Willie Macpherson, Andy Macpherson, D R Macdonald.

Front row, l-r: Kenny Macpherson, Ewen Grant, Calum Beaton, Alistair Mackinnon, Richard Stoddart, Alisdair Morrison, Ian Macdougall. Referee, G Y Slater, Oban. Newtonmore team — back row, l-r: Rab Ritchie, K Smith, H Chisholm, B Kirk, D Cheyne, B Stewart, I Macgregor. Front row, l-r: J Campbell, W Macbean, J Fraser, I Bain, G Fraser. The Thomas Ferguson Cup is played for by invitation every year in memory of Thomas Ferguson, a member of Skye Camanachd, who was killed in a road accident in 1971. His was one of a number of tragic accidental deaths which have hit the club in fairly recent years. Others were Angus Murchison, John Matheson, Iain Nicolson and George Michie, the latter a young player of exceptional promise. Meanwhile, the club had shaken itself out of hibernation.

On 2 September 1969 it reconstituted itself with Colonel Jock as president and Duncan MacIntyre, a shinty enthusiast and local police inspector at the time, as chairman, and immediately set about fund-raising for the forthcoming season. They entered for the usual competitions, the MacGillivray Junior League, the Sutherland Cup and the Strathdearn Cup. “The meeting closed with a feeling of optimism regarding the future of shinty in Skye,” the minutes record. That feeling was justified for the club was now firmly set on a progressive course that was eventually to lead to that elusive and much cherished trophy, the Camanachd Cup. The teams of the early 1970s were built round a nucleus of experienced players who had first worn the Skye colours in the late 1950s, with Donnie Macleod, a veteran of the immediate post-war era, in goal, a position later taken over by John Angus Morrison. The others included Willie and Andy Macpherson, Peter and Alasdair Mackinnon, the Beaton brothers, Calum and Alasdair, D R Macdonald, Hugh Clark, Sammy Gordon and Ian Macdougall.

Ian actually first played for Skye against Lochcarron in 1954 — on the day before his fourteenth birthday! But he missed out on much of the period in the late 1950s when Skye were making their mark by his absence from the island through work and National Service. He probably holds a unique record among Portree players — in what turned out to be his last shinty match, in 1982, he played for Bernisdale! “I got a bad knock in that game for my trouble — it probably serves me right,” he says. MacGillivray League team, 1973. Back row, l-r: Peter Mackinnon, Ally “Ruadh” Mackinnon, Calum Beaton, John Angus Morrison, Alistair Morrison, Donald “Digg” Macdonald, Alistair Cruickshank, D R Macdonald. Front row, l-r: Ewen “Yogi” Grant, Donald Martin, John Murchison. Ian Macdougall. Hugh Clark. Colin Murchison.

Like Peter Mackinnon, and Willie and Andy Macpherson, he frequently guested for Lochcarron in Skye’s idle patch after 1963, as indeed Ewen Maclean, Billy Mackinnon, John Mackenzie and Donnie Macleod had done during Skye’s blank season in the early 1950s. As they gained experience the youngsters being trained in Portree School were gradually blended in with the established players. The first of them to arrive was probably John “Bodach” Mackenzie in 1972, and by the following year Donnic Digg, Alistair Cruickshank, ‘Yogi’ Grant, Donald Martin and John Murchison were making first-team appearances while still in school. Skye Camanachd was beginning to find its feet again. In 1971 the team reached the final of the Sutherland Cup, only to he beaten 2-0 by Ballachulish at Inverness. At the 1972 annual meeting “general satisfaction was expressed at the performance of the team in the previous season.

Though no silver-ware had come to Skye yet, the team had one of the best overall performances in the North to its credit.” Indeed, such was the confidence that in 1971 the club had entered the MacGillivray Senior League, the first time it had played at this level since its 1939 Mactavish Cup game, though many of the 1950s teams were thought at the time to be of senior standard. For much of the 1970s Ewen Morrison was the team’s regular driver to away games. For a period of three years, during a particularly lean financial patch for the club, he refused to submit a bill to them. Ewen belonged to Druimuie, just outside Portree, where his family were crofters for many generations. Travelling with him was an education and entertainment wrapped up in one. He had a fund of local history and Gaelic anecdote which he was more than happy to recount, and an equally large repertoire of Gaelic songs which he liked to sing as he drove along. His son, Alistair, played for Skye during this period.

In 1974 Skye’s Irish connections were renewed when the team was invited to take part in a shinty-hurling match at the Pan-Celtic Festival in Killarney. In many ways itwas a memorable affair but in others less so; for instance, nobody seems to remember the score, but everybody still has vivid memories of the Irish post-match hospitality! Their Irish hosts took some of the team to visit a rather plush lakeside hotel largely peopled by excessively rich American tourists. The team members, clearly in high spirits and hopefully in good voice, staged an impromptu ceilidh. “The Americans were sotaken with our Gaelic songs that they bought all our drink and tried to persuade us to stay for a couple of nights to entertain them,” Ian Macdougall recalls wistfully, “They promised to pay all our expenses.” This was the famous occasion on which Jimmy Dewar tried to persuade Colonel Jock to desert his favourite Scotch tipple and in a spirit of Celtic fraternity try an Irish whiskey instead, only to have the Colonel dismiss the latter as: “Adder’s piss!” But things of more lasting importance to Skye shinty happened that year as well.

Two teams from Portree School brought back the first shinty silverware to reach the island’s shores for many years, by winning the two most important trophies in school shinty, the MacKay Cup for primary schools and the MacBean Cup for senior schools — an excellent omen for the future. The 1976-77 season proved to be a turning point in the fortunes of the club. The second team won the John MacRae Cup, the MaeGillivray League Division Three championship, after beating Kincraig 3-2 in an exciting play-off that ran to extra time. It was not one of the major trophies, certainly, but nonetheless welcome in an island that had been starved of any trophies for so long. The West Highland Free Press commented: It was the first time for 27 years that the captain of a senior Skye shinty team had collected a trophy. Since the Sutherland Cup win of 1950 Skye’s senior players have competed in many finals, but managed to lose all of them. Willie Macpherson and team-mate Iain Macdougall are only two of that host of Skyemen with an attractive display of runners-up medals.

By now the team management system had been streamlined, with D R Macdonald as manager of the second team and Donnie Mackinnon as manager of the first team, replacing a selection committee system that had proved too unwieldy. They were to he ably helped by John Nicolson — John the Caley — whose hack-room support down the years has meant a lot to the club. The new managers decided that it would be to the long-term benefit of the club if some of the mature first team members should play in the second team to bring on the youngsters, most of them still in school, thus also giving some of the more advanced second team players a run with the first team. It was realised that in the short term this policy might affect the standard of the first team and so it proved. In 1976 they dropped into the second division, gained promotion for 1978-79, dropped again and finally regained first division status in 1982. But if 1979 brought the disappointment of relegation it also brought the triumph of a cup victory. After 29 years the Sutherland Cup was again destined for Skye.

In a performance “marked more by character and determination than by smooth-flowing shinty” they beat Kyles Athletic 3-2 in Fort William on 12 May. Skye Camanachd has been fortunate with its bodv sponsors and patrons down the years. They have been an important element in the survival of the club since its distance from the main shinty centres against whose teams it has to play means it has to carry an immense burden of expenses. While travel and com tha munications have become faster and easier over the years, that burden has grown no less because of the greater number of games now played by the team in league and cup competitions. The supportive role played by Duncan Macleod, Skeabost, in the years immediately after World War 1 has been carried out for the last 15 years or so by PBCS - Portree Building & Contracting Services. The company was founded and developed by the Macfarlane brothers, Ian and Neil John, seen here with a 1970s Camanachd squad. The family’s business activities go back to a small carrier’s business conducted by their father, Davy Macfarlane.

He is seen here near the pier in Portree in pre-war days with the Ford half-ton truck with which he used to deliver goods from the evening steamer or the weekly Glasgow cargo boats to the Portree shops. Local children used to vie with each other to have a ride on “Davy’s lorry” and help him on his rounds.# Not that too many of their supporters would have eared to bet on the final outcome at half-time when the score stood at 1-1. After dominating the early part of the first half and gaining the lead with a Calum Murchison goal after 20 minutes, Skye were losing their grip on the game when Kyles equalised just before halftime. Then Kyles rocked them with another goal two minutes after the restart. But Skye then mounted a series of attacks which pinned Kyles in their own half, though their goal came from a hit-in near the corner flag. Calum Murchison picked the ball up and without waiting for most of his attack to arrive or for the Kyles defence to settle, he hit itlong and high to the far post, where a solitary Jock Macfarlane was waiting to scramble itover the line.

But Skye’s lack of finishing power delayed the killer blow until the last six or seven minutes, when a strong run by Donnie Martin down the middle of the park ended with the ball spinning to the feet of Willie Cowie 15 yards out. Cowie wasted no time in hitting itinches the right side of the Kyles’ keeper’s right-hand post. The team and support, in recognition of what was unmistakably a winning goal, allowed themselves a lengthy celebration. And after waiting 29 years who could blame them? From then on itwas to the famine to feast scenario as far as that particular competition was concerned. In the next nine years they were to win the Sutherland Cup a further three times. Sutherland Cup winners 1979. Back row, I-r, Donald Mackinnon (team manager), Duncan Campbell, Willie Cumming, Kenny Mackinnon Willie Cowie, Alistair Morrison, George Michie, John Mackenzie, Donnie Macdonald (captain), Ian Macdoiugall, Ian “Dowal” Macleod, Calum Beaton, Ewen Grant.

Front row, l-r, Ross Cowie, Donald Martin, Jock Macfarlane, Peter Murchison, Calum Murchison. Their next final outing was against Glasgow University at Oban two years later, in 1981, Skye having had the rare satisfaction of beating Kingussic 8-0 in the quarter-finals, and Lochaber 5-1 in the semi-finals. The Skye support was out in force for the game but, as the West Highland Free Press remarked, “there were a lot people around with divided loyalties, for no fewer than nine of the university pool were Skyemen while two others hail from Kyle!” That in itself was surely a remarkable tribute to the success of Portree School’s coaching policy. Most of the early part of the game was spent in the university’s half of the field but without any scoring, then, on the half-hour mark, Skye got a break.

Bodach Mackenzie cracked in a speculative shot from the halfway line, and as soon as the ball left his caman young Duncan Macpherson was starting his run on goal; the students’ keeper, Ian Gillies (also from Portree) could only chest the ball down and Macpherson was onto itin a flash to ram it into the net. A beautifully taken goal. And within five minutes Skye were two up. Again the move started with a through ball which was picked up by Calum Murchison; due to the close marking of Macdonald, however, Murchison was unable to get a shot in so he pushed the ball into the path of Duncan Macdougall for the youngster to score easily. Skye were really beginning to turn on the style now, and three minutes later they scored number three. This time it was Calum Murchison’s turn he moved out from goal to find himself a bit of space, and smacked in a perfectly hit ball which keeper Gillies had no hope of stopping. So Skye finished the first half already looking like champions.

And they emerged in the end as champions, to the tune of 3-1 in fact, though had the issue been judged purely on their second half performance they would hardly have merited it.Glasgow University had all the pressure, and only some wild shooting and an excellent performance by Dowal Macleod in the Skye goal prevented higher scoring. Sutherland Cup team, 1981. Back row, l-r, Ian Macdougall (committee), Cally Maclean, Ronnie Macpherson, Willie Cowie, Donald Martin, John Mackenzie, George Michie, Ian “Dowal” Macleod, Calum Murchison, Donnie Macdonald, John Angus Morrison (manager). Front row, l-r, Neil Maclean, Alistair Morrison, Robbie Macdougall (mascot), Ewen Grant (captain), Peter Murchison, Duncan Macdougall, Duncan Macpherson, Duncan Martin.

Skye’s two other Sutherland Cup victories — both by their second teams, whereas the first teams had played in the earlier finals — were both against Strachur, winning by a 2-1 margin in the 1985 final at Inveraray, and by 7-2 in 1988 at Strathpeffer. In the latter game Skye found themselves two down in 25 minutes though Angie Murchison brought one back before half-time and had another disallowed. But within ten minutes of the start of the second half Skye were one ahead through two goals by Ally Macdonald and Ally Grant. Once they got in front, Skye never looked like losing. More pressure led to a penalty which Willie Cowie converted in fine style, and a minute later John Macrae continued the spectacular display with a drive from almost 30 yards. Angie Murchison went on to make itsix with a fine solo effort, and Skye looked on the point of running up a cricket score. An eye injury to Ross Cowie failed to disrupt their rhythm, and Cowie was replaced by Neil Maclean.

John Macrae went on to complete the scoring in the 79th minute, walking the ball home after a goalmouth melee. On a day when Skye had no real weaknesses once they found the way to the net, there was no question about who was the man of the match Willie Cowie, who stamped his authority on every inch of the beautifully-prepared Castle Leod pitch. In between their last two Sutherland Cup successes Skye had also finally managed to get their name on the Strathdearn Cup, but the really big one, shinty’s premier trophy, the Camanachd Cup, was still as elusive as ever. There were moments in the 1980s, as Skye consolidated their position in the first division, when their supporters dared hope: “Surely this season...” - but always the early season promise came to nothing by the end of it.They were also in a challenging position for the league championship on a couple of occasions, but that too had come to nothing. The name of Kingussic was writ large on the league competitions of the decade, and in the Camanachd competition Kingussie and that other famous Badenoch name, Newtonmore, shared the honours.

It was almost sacrilege to believe itcould be otherwise. Yet suddenly in 1990 Skye broke through. Why? The week before the final Ian McCormack, editor of the West Highland Free Press came up with this answer: Much of the credit for dragging the team into the front ranks of shinty must undoubtedly go to manager Ross Cowie. At the club AGM last year, when he was asked to take on the responsibility, he made it clear he would accept only on certain conditions. The key one of these was: if players didn’t train regularly, they couldn’t expect a place in the team. It’s a condition Cowie stuck to unwaveringly, and one to which the players responded positively. That training certainly paid off on the road to the final, which was no easy one. Having dismissed Lovat 4-1 in the first round Skye defeated Kingussie 3-1 in the second. In the semi-final they met tough opposition from Fort William before securing a 4-2 victory in extra time.

Now they were to meet that other giant of Badenoch shinty, Newtonmore, with their formidable record of Camanachd Cup performances — they had appeared in the final 46 times and won itno less than 28 times. Even in one of their more indifferent years the thought of confronting them onsuch a stage was an awesome one, made no less awesome in the weeks before the match by the high level of media interest and the heightened expectations created by the hype. The combination of a romantic and famous island, and a shinty team which was well known and yet so starved of trophies down the years, was irresistible. Whatever happened, history was to be made. Skye was not short of support at the 1990 Camanachd Cup final as Chris of the West Highland Free Press so memorably records. The “Good luck” card from old rivals Lovat (courtesy Walter Cumming and Duncan Maclennan) may refer to an incident when a Skye goalkeeper is alleged to have made a midnight raid on the larder in a Portree hotel and guzzled a delicious steak pie, not realising that dog food had been substituted for the meat!

Having stopped smoking, the same goalkeeper was known to beg cigarettes from the goal judge at moments of stress. There may also he an implication that Skye pitches haven’t improved much since last century. As the spectators crowded onto An Aird in Fort William on the afternoon of Saturday 2 June 1990, it rapidly became clear that the West Highland Free Press’s famous cartoon prediction of a deserted island had come true. Among the thousands who massed the touchline in bright sunshine Gaelic voices were predominant and the atmosphere was electric. In the opening spell Skye had the opportunities and within 18 minutes Willie Cowie had the ball in the net, the only to have the goal disallowed. But now Skye were beginning to take control of the game, as Duncan MacLennan reported for the Inverness Courier. "The Skye forward combination was now beginning to take shape with several threatening probes and in 21 minutes they took the lead when a first-time flick by Calum Murchison allowed John Macrae the opportunity to force the ball over the line at the second attempt.

Minutes later, while expecting the traditional Newtonmore riposte, Skye, now with inhibitions lifted, could have gone further ahead but for a fine save by the medal-bespattered Hugh Chisholm. At the other end the Skye defence, with Willie Macrae shining brightly, seemed capable of coping with the best of Badenoch thrusts. They were, however, shown to be fallible when a mistake by Ally Macdonald forced goalkeeper “Bodach” Mackenzie to show his true pedigree in saving from 45-year-old “Tarzan” Ritchie as he swung his way through a rake of Skyemen — always a ticklish task". In the latter part of the half Newtonmore had most of the pressure as the Skye defence fell back, though Skye were always dangerous on the break and in the minutes before half-time mounted several attacks on the Newtonmore goal. Then, just on the whistle, Norman Macarthur scrambled a goal for Newtonmore. With the wind and a 6,000 crowd behind them, the second half and the game overall belonged to Skye.

With Caley Maclean becoming an increasingly dominant force in midfield, Macrae and Murchison had narrow misses from long range before Skye restored their C pitches in 53 minutes with a close-range goal by the alert and speedy Willie Cowie. In 56 minutes Norman Macarthur was very close for Newtonmore and five minutes later he was frustrated by an excellent save by “Bodach” Mackenzie in full steam if not smoke! By this time, however, a Skye victory had about it a degree of inevitability and this was underlined in 65 minutes when substitute Willie Mackinnon provided a satisfactory Skye finish to a goalmouth stramash. Nevertheless, there still remained something of high quality to savour and, appropriately, who should it come from but the magnificent Willie Cowie. Strangely subdued for most of the match, he picked up a bouncing pass from the wing, flicked it into the air and smashed in a volley which gave no chance even to a goalkeeper of the calibre of Hugh Chisholm. That was in 71 minutes but it proved to be a fitting finale to a grand occasion which cannot do anything else but good for the whole of shinty.

Man of the match was Skye’s centre half-back, Willie Macrae. The splendid Camanachd trophy and a magnum of whisky were presented by Peter Cullen of Glenmorangie Distilleries to Skye captain Caley Maclean who will, no doubt, not be lacking advice as to how to combine the two! Delayed by the formal post-match festivities in Fort William, the victorious Skye team didn’t arrive home until around lam the following morning to find the supporters who had arrived long before them, and those who had been forced to stay at home, still thronging the village square to greet them. There was no welcoming volley from the rifles of the Volunteers, certainly, hut a peal of church hells served equally well, and the Glencoe never inched in to the pier more carefully than their coach inched through the cheering mass of humanity in the square. And as the players stepped down from the coach clutching their trophy, much as their forebears of almost a century ago had stepped ashore from the Glencoe clutching another trophy, the people rose to them — a community welded together by the victory of its heroes.

The victorious Skye team with the long- sought Camanachd Cup after the match. Unfortunately Willie Macrae (left), awarded the Albert Smith Medal as “Man of the Match” is absent from the group — he was being interviewed by radio and television at the time. Shown with the cup are: Back, l-r, Duncan Macdougall, John “Bodach” Mackenzie, Gerry Ackroyd (trainer), Andy Maclean, Ewen “Crossal” Mackinnon, Donnie “Digg” Macdonald, Calum Murchison, John Macrae, Willie Cowie, Ross Cowie (manager). Front, l-r, John Mackenzie, David Pringle, Ally “Stenscholl” Macdonald, Willie Mackinnon, Cally Maclean (captain), John “Slippy” Finlayson, John Angus Gillies, Peter Gordon. The shinty “pedigrees” of some members of the team stretch back to the early years of the century and, indeed, to the first Skye team which played Beauly in 1895.

Duncan Macdougall is a grandson of Ewen Macdougall, pre-World War I goalkeeper; Andy Maclean is a son of Cally Laban of Skye and Glasgow Skye fame; Calum Murchison is a son of Lachie Chailein; the Cowie brothers are sons of Willie Cowie, grandsons of Angus Mackinnon and great-grandsons of Billy Ross who played in 1895; Willie Mackinnon is also a grandson of Angus Mackinnon and great grandson of Billy Ross; Cally Maclean is a son of Ewen Maclean of the post-World War II era; and Slippy Finlayson’s grandfather played for Skye and Glasgow Skye. The youngsters pictured on a later page show such lines continue. Right: Donnie “Digg” Macdonald, a key man in the Skye Camanachd line-up for almost 20 years. Left: Willie Cowie in action. He was voted “Scottish Player of the Year” in 1990, the first time such an award was made. He had previously been “North Player of the Year”.

Any easy assumption that such trophies once won are easily held from year to year ever after was dispelled during the two subsequent seasons. But even if the team slipped from that single peak of excellence and achievement that the Camanachd Cup represents, no calamitous downfall has occurred, and the club is better placed than at any time in its previous history to regain the height again. The work done since 1969 has led to the most continuous period of stability and expansion that shinty in Skye has ever known. The future of the sport in the community depends on the involvement of youth in it and with almost all of Skye’s primary schools now actively involved in providing coaching facilities that future looks secure. But the history of shinty in the community in the last hundred years shows how precarious its existence can he in a sparsely populated area which is ever prone to the loss of too many of its young people to the wider world. In a sense the health of shinty has been a measure of the health of the community. Twice it has been stopped by the holocaust of total war. On many occasions it has been brought to its knees by economic pressures, by the need to leave the island in search of employment.

That has been a recurrent factor over the past century and in a fragile economy could easily recur again. Shinty and Skye Camanachd have also given much to the people of Skye. More than any other activity and more than any other organisation they have provided them with a tangible focus for their communal identity. Gumafada mhaireas sin - Long may that last. ©Skye Camanachd 2017

Question: In which sport would you compete for the Camanachd Cup
Answer: Shinty