WILL CLARK: Shinty shining as big crowds shows it has bright future
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Shinty is not a sport that existed where I grew up in West Aberdeenshire.
My only awareness of its existence in the 90’s, when there was only four channels on terrestrial, five if you were lucky enough to have a transmitter strong enough for a Channel 5 signal, was the Camanachd Cup final on BBC One.
But since relocating to the Highlands over a decade go, and in particular since I have worked at the Inverness Courier for over five years now, the passion for the sport in the north is far stronger than any outsider would give it credit for.
Once again, this is the time of year that I am able to divert my attention to other sports apart from football on a Saturday, and I had the pleasure of covering MacTavish Cup finals day at Bught Park.
On a day where the thermometer, and my sunburn, indicated it was 26 degrees, Kingussie and Skye walked on to the field in front of at least 1500 fans.
There was no official attendance figure, and I didn’t count everyone’s head, but fellow journalist Charles Bannerman, using his powers of trigonometry and Pythagoras theorem, appeared convinced he had worked out the size of the crowd, allowing an error margin of ‘give or take a couple.’
Fuelled by enthusiasm, expectation and plastic cups of alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages, the atmosphere was electric, with a huge crowd from Skye travelling to Inverness hoping their team could end a 125-year wait to lift the cup. The main final itself wasn’t a classic as Kingussie edged Skye in a 1-0 victory.
It was little surprise given the heat, especially for those players wearing helmets, with Kingussie manager Iain Borthwick saying it added an extra few degrees to the players’ heads in the hot conditions.
I also covered the other two finals earlier in the day, with Fort William beating Skye 4-3 in extra time to lift the under-17 title in what was undoubtedly the best match of the event.
But the game that should give shinty most optimism about its future was the first game of the day in the primary school Mackay Cup final.
Kiltarlity school Tomnacross beat Rockfield Primary School from Oban 4-2 to lift the trophy for the first time in two decades.
Both teams had boys and girls playing, which shows how shinty appeals to both genders and its inclusiveness which is vital for growing the sport.
Tomnacross only reintroduced shinty back into the school last year, after a gap of 14 years.
With the support of Lovat Shinty Club, one of the sport’s big names, along with the work of volunteers at the school, Kiltarlity looks to be in a strong position to produce top players who could one day be on the big stage at Bught Park in the MacTavish Cup final.
Tomnacross, whose players also represent Lovat, are just one example of how clubs in the area are introducing shinty to the next generation.
Beauly are seeing the benefit in their senior team right now, after years of arguably having one of the best youth set-ups in the country.
And of course, the Inverness Shinty Academy, whose work to bring the sport to primary schools in the city has been incredible in the last few years.
The last figures we reported, the academy had around 350 players from 15 primary schools playing the game.
With the work put into growing the sport, that number will only get bigger.
