Inverness Shinty Club demoted from National Division
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Inverness Shinty Club have been demoted from the National Division at their own request stating they would not be able to fulfil their fixtures at that level this season.
The club, who play their home matches at Bught Park, asked the Camanachd Association to drop down to the third-tier North Division One for the 2019 season.
The demotion comes as the new league season is due to start in two weeks time and as a result the fixtures in the National Division and North Division One have had to be redrawn.
The National League, the second-tier of shinty will now have eight teams while North Division One will have 11 teams.
As a result of the demotion, Inverness will receive an eight point deduction at the start of the season.
Inverness finished bottom of the National League in 2018 but were not relegated to North Division One as Bute's promotion saw the number of teams in the division originally increase from eight to nine.
The Camanachd Association released a statement from Inverness Shinty Club on their website which said: “After reviewing our confirmed list of player pool, it’s absolutely clear that if we maintain the status quo, we will not be able to fulfil the majority of the fixtures for the 2019 season.
“This is not a decision that we have taken lightly. Having looked at our stats and the current situation we face with our available player pool, we have had to take a longer term club strategic view."
Inverness will continue to have a reserve team that will play in North Division Two.
Inverness Shinty Club run the Inverness Shinty Academy which has been credited as being one of the most successful youth initiatives in Scotland with over 370 kids in the city playing the game a week.
