Shinty
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shinty, (Scottish Gaelic camanachd or iomain), is a team sport played with sticks and a ball. Now played almost exclusively in the Scottish Highlands, but formerly more widespread, especially in England.
The sport was derived from the same root as the Irish game hurling, and is similar to bandy.
Shinty is one of the forebears of ice hockey, Scottish immigrants to Nova Scotia playing a game on ice in 1800 at Windsor. In Canada, informal hockey games are still called shinny.
In the Scottish Lowlands, it was formerly referred to as common/cammon (caman), cammock (from Scottish Gaelic camag), knotty and various other names.
Shinty Abroad
London Camanachd is the only shinty club in England. They do not play league matches but do compete at present in the Bullough Cup. They have historically been attached to the South District. They went into abeyance in 1992 but were reconstituted in 2005. They played the first officially recognised Shinty match outside Scotland in 80 years on Saturday 22nd July 2006 against the Highlanders.
Shinty is also spreading to North America, though originally played in the 18th and 19th century by Scottish immigrants, the sport died out, however it is enjoying a revival. Two teams, Northern California Camanachd Club (NCCC) and Morro Bay Shinty Club, play on the Highland Games circuit in California, The Northern California Camanachd Club also has Regional Challenge matches during the off Highland Games season, both clubs train year round. On 04 September 2005 the first international Shinty match between a team from USA and a team from Scotland on Scottish soil was played. The event was hosted by the Blairgowrie Highland Games where the Northern California Camanachd Club (NCCC) played a series matches against Tayforth. The Cup for the match series was provided by the Pleasanton Blairgowrie Fergus Sister City Organization and the "Player of the Match" award was provided by the Campbell Highland Games Association. The hosts Tayforth took home the cup.
Northern California Camanachd Club also participated in the first Annual Edinburgh East Lothian Levenhall Six a Side Shinty Tournament in Musselburgh on 05 September 2005, other teams were Edinburgh East Lothian,Aberdour Shinty Club and Edinburgh University Women’s team. Edinburgh East Lothian won the tournament with NCCC coming in 3rd out of 4 teams.
June 2006 Gary Innes – Captain for Fort William Shinty Club 2005 and Man of the Match for the 2005 Camanachd Cup came to California to play Shinty and to teach at a workshop hosted by the Northern California Camanachd Club open to all US Shinty Clubs.
The Northern California Camanachd Club returned to Scotland in 2006 to play in the Levenhall Sixes Tournament, 02 September, hosted by the Edinburgh East Lothian Shinty Club. The tournament saw Aberdour, Edinburgh East Lothian (EEL) and Northern California Camanachd Club (NCCC), with Edinburgh East Lothian winning the Tournament. The following day played in another sixes tournament at the Blairgowrie Rattray Highland Games, hosted by the Tayforth Shinty Club, the Cup for the match was provided by the Pleasanton Blairgowrie Fergus Sister City Organization and the "Player of the Match" award was provided by the Campbell Highland Games Association. The teams appearing in this tournament were Tayforth, Aberdour and the Northern California Camanachd Club (NCCC), with Tayforth taking home the cup two years running.
As the teams in Scotland have switched from a winter schedule to a summer schedule more American visitors to Scotland are seeing the sport and returning very interested in it. In addition to the Northern California Camanachd Club other clubs have formed in Houston (Texas), Washington State, Central California (Morro Bay Shinty Club) and there is interest in forming clubs in Portland (Note the Washington State Camanachd Club is the point of contact for Shinty in Oregon), Oregon, Santa Monica and Bakersfield, California, Dunedin (Florida - Tampa Bay area), Utah, Phoenix (Arizona).
History
Gaelic settlers from Ireland brought the sport of hurling to Scotland, where the game was played as such until the 14th century, albeit with a different caman from the Irish one.
The modern sport is governed by the Camanachd Association (Scots Gaelic:Comann na Camanachd). The association came into being in the late victorian era as a means of formulating common rules to unite the various different codes and rules which even differed between neighbouring glens.
Game
The objective of the game is to play a small ball into a goal, or "hail", erected at the ends of a 120 to 160-yard-long pitch. The ball is played using the caman, a stick of about 3 1/2 ft in length. Unlike the Irish camán, it has no blade.
A team consists of 12 players, including one goalkeeper. A match is played over two halves of 45 minutes. With the exception of the keeper, no player is allowed to play the ball with his hands. There are also variants with smaller sides, with some adjustments in the field size and duration of play.
Whilst erroneous comparisons are often made with field hockey, the two sports are very different. In shinty, a player is allowed to play the ball in the air and is allowed to use both sides of the stick. The stick may also be used to block and to tackle, although a player may not come down on an opponent's stick, this is defined as hacking. A player may tackle using the body as long as this is shoulder-to-shoulder as in football.
A player may only stop the ball with the stick, two feet together or one foot planted on the ground. Only the goalkeeper may use his hands and then only with an open palm. He may not catch it. Playing the ball with the head constitutes a foul whether intentional or not.
Fouls result in a free-hit, which is indirect unless the foul is committed in the penalty area, commonly referred to as "The D". This results in a penalty hit from 20 yards.
