Shinty – Spirit & Sport of the Highlands

by Mairi MacRae · Published April 30, 2018 · Updated March 28, 2019

Shinty. Exciting, brutal, cherished and dangerous. A traditional Highland sport like no other.

Shinty is a sport which has often been compared to hockey… but under no circumstances should you say this to a Highlander – ESPECIALLY if they play it themselves. The sport is played with 12 hardy players per side, using Camans (long, curved wooden sticks) and a small leather ball (which leaves a ripe bruise and sting when bit by it). Shinty has been around for many years, and in Gaelic is called ‘Camanachd’. The sport comes from the same roots as the Irish game of Hurling, and the two counties have formed their own tradition of playing Shinty-Hurly which is a combination of both sports but on the same pitch at the same time. Yes, it is as complicated as it sounds. In short, the match is played with one team of Irish and another of Scottish. The Irish play their traditional game of hurling – with their own unique sticks and rules, while the Scottish play shinty – with their own Camans and rules. This seems ridiculous but is absolutely fantastic to watch, but a right bother to play.

Most young people in the Highlands, particularly in the West, have grown up playing shinty. Its introduced from a young age (in some families, as soon as they can walk). This is at the dismay of some people and is often the subject of controversy in the community. This is because the sport is very physical and dangerous, and therefore fear of injuries amongst children is taken into account. However, most families that have lived in the Highlands for generations don’t think twice about their children taking part. It’s tradition and that’s that. No questions asked. This is a very similar mentality to learning instruments, particularly the bagpipes.

So of course, I was no exception to the rule and played shinty for many years. I started in primary school, age 5, and was part of the school team. Despite having to wear THE most hideous strips in the world (Seriously though. Whose idea was it to wear orange and blue?!) it was an amazing experience and great fun. Of course, I had my injuries along the way, as every clumsy child does, the most spectacular being a Caman to the forehead which resulted in excessive amounts of blood and drama, topped with a speedy drive over the Skye bridge to get stitches in the hospital. However, that didn’t put me off and I was back at training in no time. I played shinty throughout primary school however I was always in the shadow of my older brother. Literally and metaphorically. He was well known for being a good shinty goalie but even more famous for his stick. My brother is and always has been a pretty big lad, and this resulted in him having a Caman hand-made for him by a local wood-craftsman that specialised in shinty sticks. I am not exaggerating when I say this caman was nearly the size of me. It was the biggest stick the man had ever made and became somewhat of a legend in our shinty community. To this day, after a few chats in a pub, I still meet people who can identify me through the ‘boy who had the huge stick’. Total strangers can make the link between me and my brother, through playing shinty against him years ago. I love it how West Highland communities can make links between each-other through as small a thing as a stick.

Thankfully, when I moved onto high school and started playing shinty for the school team, my brother had left school and I no longer had to lurk in the background. I played for the Plockton girls for nearly 5 years and had lots of excitement along the way. The best of which was when we had a school Shinty trip to Ireland for the annual Shinty-Hurly union. It has become a tradition at Plockton High School to uphold the historic game of shinty-hurly and share the Celtic history between Scotland and Ireland. Therefore, many years ago they formed ties with other high schools in Ireland. On alternate years, the high schools visit each-other and host a game of Shinty-Hurly. 2016 was the first year in which a girls team would also be taken by Plockton and be introduced as part of this tradition between the schools. Therefore, there were two games of shinty-hurly…. which meant double the fun! The trip was an amazing experience. We visited and played games in both Dublin and Belfast, as well as cram in sight-seeing and tours. The youth hostels we stayed in were a sight for sore eyes but we tried our best to make them homely. I distinctly remember some girls from the team sprayed our dorm every 30 minutes exactly, with a terribly cheap perfume in a desperate attempt to cover the smell of walker’s feet and urine-stained showers. Sorry for the detail but imagine what it was like for us! All of that aside, it added to the experience and only fuelled our laughter and anecdotes. I wouldn’t of changed it for the world. I bonded with all the girls in our team, and I loved learning about Hurling and how it is played. Unfortunately, we lost against the Dublin girls but nothing could rain on our parade at that point. As a souvenir, many of us bought our own hurleys (the Irish stick) and continue to have a hit-about with them at home. The bonds between these celtic countries are clearly still very strong and I believe that reinforcing it through sport and young people is a brilliant way forward.

The effort to keep young people involved in Shinty and specifically Highland traditions has let the sport thrive. There is still very active involvement and development of the National teams, with Scottish women’s becoming as successful and well-known as the men’s. One of the ways to keep involved in Shinty as a young person, especially once you’ve left school, is to either join a club or join a society at university. There are a huge number of clubs across Scotland, and some of which mix with university teams. There are currently 7 main universities that take part in Shinty. Unfortunately, Edinburgh Napier University (where I will start studying in September) does not have a shinty team however there are independent clubs in and around the city which I could join.

Due to my current commitment and extreme devotion of time to rugby, I do not play for a shinty club at the moment. Although, many of my friends (male and female) play for our local club – Kinlochshiel. Kinlochshiel is undoubtabley the greatest club in the world…but I guess that’s my biased opinion. My brother, his friends and my friends have all played for Kinlochshiel at some point or other. And I believe every true Highland girl’s dream is to be whisked away by a handsome shinty player. Our version of a knight in shining armour. However, this works both ways. Shinty women are also very popular amongst the lads. And after Kinlochshiel Ladie’s tremendous 5-1 win over Inverness, there was much ooing-and-arring to be had.

Shinty is a fantastic sport, and one of few traditions that I believe will stay alive for a long time to come. There’s nothing like the adrenaline, team spirit and fabulous bruises you get from taking part in shinty. Every player is proud and honoured to pick up their Caman (and dented helmet) and continue the cultural legacy that is Shinty.

I shall leave you with a link to a wonderful song, written by a famous Shinty and accordion player – Garry Innes. This song describes how it feels to play shinty and the pride we take in our sport. And the cherry on top is that it’s sung by our favourite man, Robert Robertson.