CAMANACHD -- THE GAME OF SHINTY

 The Gaelic name for the game of shinty is camanachd. The historical record shows that it has been played for at least fifteen hundred years and thus it is possibly the oldest organised team sport still being played to virtually the same rules. It can be properly claimed to be both the fastest and most exciting game devised by man. It was introduced into Scotland from Ireland along with Christianity and its popularity quickly spread throughout the Highlands and Islands. Some claim that golf was born out of shinty players practicing alone or in pairs, the art of driving a ball with the caman, the Gaelic name for the club from which the name derives. Field hockey is a much tamer form of shinty and there is strong evidence that ice hockey also derived from immigrant Scots playing shinty on the frozen lakes of Canada.

The game of shinty involves two teams of players equipped with camans. Each team attempts to drive a leather-covered ball past the goal of the opposing team as many times as possible within a specified time. The caman has a hooked-shaped head with a wedge-shaped cross-section. This allows the ball to be lofted when struck and there is no limit on the height the stick can be raised. Originally the game was played in the winter months on a field of unspecified size with teams of unspecified but equal number of players per side for an unspecified duration which sometimes ran for days. As can be seen in the photograph of the painting at the right the number of players could be quite large. Today the game is played on a pitch (field) that is between 120 and 160-yards long and between 70 to 80 yards wide. A team consists of 12 players, with one goalkeeper. A match is played over two halves of 45 minutes. With the exception of the goalkeeper, no player is allowed to play the ball with his hands.

Today shinty remains an amateur sport played mainly in the west and central Highlands year round with a short break in the winter. The sport is now governed by the Camanachd Association which was founded at Kingussie in 1893 by 23 of the 33 Shinty clubs then in existence. C.J.B. Macpherson of Belleville (now Balavil) was the chairman of the founding conference which formulated a standardised set of rules and elected officers to see that the rules were followed. Simon, Lord Lovat was the first President and three Macphersons were appointed Vice-presidents -- Belleville, Corrimony and Cluny. John Campbell was the first secretary-treasurer.

The Camanachd Association awards the Camanachd Challenge Cup trophy annually to the team that wins the championship match between the winners of league play during the season of regular play. The Cup was awarded in 1896 and was won by Kingussie who defeated Glasgow Cowal by the score of 2-0 at Inverness. Since then there have been 101 championship matches (through 2007). Kingussie has played in 33 of them and won 23 times; Newtonmore has played in 47 winning 28 times. The Laggan team competed only once in 1904 but lost to Kyles Athletic. Thus it can be seen that Badenoch teams have dominated the game of shinty from the beginning winning 80 of 101 competitions to date.