"It's part of the fabric of the Highlands" – Inverness Shinty Club's videographer, tea lady and former volunteer of the year Jeya Calder on the sport being a way of life
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There are not many roles at Inverness Shinty Club that Jeya Calder does not have a hand in.
First getting involved when son Finlay picked up a caman, Calder sits on the board of trustees after getting involved as the club's videographer, and on a match day she can usually be found making cups of tea for spectators at the Bught.
Add in creating social media content, being a supporter herself and even at times becoming a makeshift ambulance driver when injuries occur, and it is a wonder that she has any time to enjoy herself.
Calder's passion for shinty, and in particular Inverness, certainly cannot be questioned with the amount of time she commits herself to for its benefit.
It is an easy choice to make, though, with the community that has been built up around the club – on and off the pitch.
"When I think back, sport has been a golden thread throughout my own childhood," Calder recalled.
"I grew up at the side of bowling greens with my grandparents and parents, and then at school you had legends like Colin Baillie and Peggy Mackintosh as your PE teachers. They were very influential.
"When you were young, you were part of a sports club – and there's a sport for everyone, whether it's as an individual or a team.
"When I look at our club now – and you can apply this to any sport – it's much more than just playing that game. It's a way of learning to be a part of something outwith your family, and grow as a person.
"You're mixing with people of all different ages and making friendship, just being a part of a wider community dealing with winning and losing.
"Shinty is fantastic, because it's got a position that's suited for everyone. It's a mistake to think that unless you're winning a big cup, shinty doesn't matter – it's just as important for every club, no matter what league you're in.
"Every single person who picks up a shinty stick has that passion for it. I look at Inverness and there are some players in there who have the talent to play with any of the Premiership teams, but they chose to stick with Inverness and help this club progress.
"One of the quotes that always stuck with me was 'yes, I could win medals, but what would it mean if I wasn't winning it with my friends'. He had joined the club as part of a group of boys, and now they're men.
"That's what I love about Inverness, if you're a part of the club as a player you take your grandparents, your friends, your dogs along with you.
"A number of years ago Inverness created a trophy for volunteer of the year, and I was the first person to get it – I was mortified! I accepted it on behalf of all the volunteers it takes to run a club.
"Inverness is the sort of club that is a real community. We have always been that, that's what I love about it."
Impacting the local community
The idea of community can mean many different things at a sports club.
As Calder knows first-hand, it can simply be being the parent that shepherds a car-full of children around to matches.
However, recent years have proven the importance of clubs looking outwards too, and trying to reach and affect people in the local area.
That is something that projects like Shinty Memories – which Inverness are making efforts to become more involved in – try to put at the forefront, and the club have done their fair share of hard work to help their community too.
"When Covid came, the Loch Ness Country House hotels did hampers, and we got the players together to do leaflet drops and work with the local community council," Calder explained.
"On our strips we have the Archie Foundation Highland mouse on our sleeve, which just shows it's a key part of who we are and our future plans. We're proud to have that on our kit, and people always ask about it.
"We have a lot of fun in Inverness, and our mascot is called Billy Bught. He has appeared in so many places, and we recently caused chaos at the blood donation unit at Raigmore Hospital because Billy came along with some of our players and members to actually give blood.
"What we were trying to do was say that if you're part of a group, blood stocks are low, so come along.
"We caused absolute chaos. We've got a really good relationship with the Inverness donor centre, because they've got a brilliant marketing director there, and her husband is actually the goalie for Newtonmore so she totally understands the shinty mentality.
"In the hospital, you can't take pictures or anything. It's all done properly that you have to have consent forms, but Billy Bught suddenly started doing the macarena and we put it on Instagram. It's had way over 1000 views already.
"We try to recognise and connect the previous generations with our youth today, and getting our youth to understand that they wouldn't be where they are today if it wasn't for our old legends.
"We had a brilliant old guy called Denis Swanson, and in hail, rain or shine he would get himself to the Bught. It would always make our day.
"He died at the end of 2021, but when he turned 95 we got all the kids to make homemade cards for him and a couple of younger kids to play the bagpipes when we delivered them.
"It was so lovely, and his family chose the shinty club for donations at his funeral, and he was buried in his shinty jumper, but for Denis and so many people like him shinty is a love that has lasted all their lives.
"There are people like him scattered all across the Highlands and Islands."
Preserving culture
While football is the undisputed number one sport in the vast majority of the country, some areas in the Highlands buck the trend by being traditional shinty areas.
When people visit those areas, then, some of the most authentic things they can do is take in shinty in person.
The significance of shinty to the Highlands is not lost on those involved, either, as Calder believes the sport helps commercially outside of the game itself.
"It's legacy of our culture, arts and heritage," she reasoned.
"Actually, there's a real link towards economic development as well. If you take the whole Outlander phenomenon, that's absolutely grown.
"An interesting chat I had not long ago was about the huge link between welcoming tourists and giving them an authentic Scottish experience.
"There's a boutique hotel beside Eden Court, and it's run by a guy who's trying to find shinty sticks for his guesthouse, because he has created a beautiful little reading room honouring golf and shinty.
"He has displays of golf clubs, but he's struggling to get shinty sticks, and he has them beside books on why they're both important.
"Shinty is a real and authentic tourist experience. It's something that is living and vibrant, and it celebrates our culture.
"Gaelic is our heritage here, and it's a massive business, but the most important thing is that it's real.
"You don't pay any money to come along to a shinty match if it's not in the Premiership. There might be a collection put around that goes towards reinvesting back into the club, but how great is it that the loads of tourists that come to Inverness can watch a shinty match?
"They've never seen anything like it, and they're talking to real, local people, so economically there's a market there but it's also genuine.
"Our heritage and our culture is really important. If you look back at any sport, that's what it does – it's a way of life for people.
"You see the old pictures, and that will never go away. The authenticity of sport, offering it to people in the Highlands and all the economic reasons, it's part of the fabric of the Highlands."
A bright future
Because of the work of Calder alongside countless others behind the scenes, the future is exciting for Inverness Shinty Club.
They have made a point of investing in youth, and as a result can now boast the largest set up in the country in terms of sheer numbers.
It is a far cry from when Calder was growing up, where shinty was not an option for young girls at all.
"At that stage, girls' shinty wasn't as developed," Calder added.
"I was a fearsome hockey player, but I kept getting in trouble for lifting my stick up, so I would have been grand in shinty.
"Teams now have gone from strength to strength in Inverness. It started with just a few mams thinking they could do something, and they have been phenomenally successful.
"It's great to see the work that has been happening with girls' shinty. That's down to having really good coaches and people who are dedicated to making Inverness Shinty Club a better place.
"We've got Drew McNeil, who is kind of the boss. You talk about legends, and he's won it all and done it all.
"What I respect about him most is that he works harder than any other person in the club. He would hate being singled out, because his ethos is about what we're achieving collectively.
"It's all about creating these player pathways into the club, and the rest will follow. Over the last five or six years, our numbers have just kept on increasing, and really you have to start getting into the schools and bringing them up – and have a direction they can go in.
"We're absolutely on the right path, and we've got the largest number of kids playing shinty in Scotland. It will come for us, we just have to be patient and keep doing what we know works.
"There are a lot of folk who are hidden behind the scenes, but they are absolutely vital. I'm part of a whole chain of volunteers who are just trying their best.
"We've got so many coaches as well, and I think there is a role at Inverness Shinty Club for absolutely everyone.
"You meet the best of people. I see the time our older players spend nurturing the younger players, and helping them become the best they can be, and we are absolutely going in the right direction.
"We just have to keep the belief. We see the success with youth teams, and that will come through in a few years' time – it already is coming through now.
"There's nothing better than homegrown talent, so we just have to keep united and I absolutely believe Inverness can get where we want to go."
