A twelve-a-side stick-and-ball game originating in Ireland more than 1500 years ago, taken to Scotland, and now popular in the Scottish Highlands. The playing field is up to 155 m/170 yd long and 73 m/80 yd wide with two goals, known as hails, at each end. The object is to score goals by using the caman (stick) to propel the ball.
Shinty, (Scottish Gaelic camanachd or iomain), is a team sport played with sticks and a ball.
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 the Scottish Lowlands, it was formerly referred to as common/cammon (caman), cammock (from Scottish Gaelic camag), knotty and various other names.
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.
A team consists of 12 players, including one goalkeeper.
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.
A player may only stop the ball with the stick, two feet together or one foot planted on the ground.
Fouls result in a free-hit, which is indirect unless the foul is committed in the penalty area, commonly referred to as "The D".
The Field of PlayHistory
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).
Competitions
Shinty is traditionally divided into two administrative and playing areas, the North and the South.
These clubs compete in various competitions, both cup and league, on a national and also North/South basis. Whilst the top two leagues are played on a national basis, the premier competition is the Scottish Cup or the Camanachd Association Challenge Cup, (the Camanachd Cup for short) which has been totally dominated by Kingussie in the last twenty years.
The 2006 final was played, for the first time, in Dunoon between holders Fort William and Kingussie.
In League Shinty, Kingussie has been dominant for the past 20 years and, according to the Guinness Book of Records 2005, is World sport's most successful sporting team of all time, winning 20 consecutive league championships and going 4 years without losing a single fixture in the early 1990s.
Summer Shinty
In 2003, Shinty clubs voted for a trial period of two years of a Summer Season starting in March until October, with a view to moving permanently to Summer Shinty if the experiment was adjudged to be a success.
Predominantly a Highland game, there are also clubs to found in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth and even London. It is also played in the Army with The Highlanders Shinty Club keeping alive the tradition of the game being played in the Forces.
In recognition of Shinty's shared roots with hurling, an annual international between the two codes from Scotland and Ireland is played on a home and away basis using compromise rules.
Although Camanachd Cup finals and internationals have been shown over the years, 2006 marked the first ever regular TV deal for shinty with matches being shown on the BBC Sports show Spòrs.
In August 2006, the Camanachd Association decided to move its main offices to Inverness from Banavie near Fort William.
Shinty Abroad
London Camanachd is the only shinty club in England. They played the first officially recognised Shinty match outside Scotland in 80 years on Saturday 22nd July 2006 against the Highlanders. Shinty was previosuly widely played in England in the 19th Century and Nottingham Forest F.C. was established by Shinty Players.
Shinty is also spreading to North America, though originally played in the 18th and 19th century by Scottish immigrants, the sport died out. Two teams, Northern California Camanachd Club (NCCC) and Morro Bay Shinty Club, play on the Highland Games circuit in California.
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