Keeping out of the D

Glenurquhart 4 Glengarry 0 (North Division 2)

The Wing Centre was elsewhere last Saturday on club business mark you and thus avoided the match against Inveraray at the Winterton- a fate that he was not unhappy about considering that the side which travelled down the A82 was extremely short of personnel. But of that more later.

He also missed the match against Invergarry at Drum not to mention the Strathdearn final at Glengarry Stadium where Beauly, that sleeping giant of North Shinty not so much as woke up but turned over in the shinty bed and pulled the blankets off poor Fort William and actually won the trophy for the first time in 55 years.
The game which did surprise was the 4-1 victory against Glengarry at Drum because with the Hosie brothers absent –Ben in America and Jack in Inveraray- and with both Calum Fraser and Ewan “Boo-Boo” Fraser out, it could have been a sticky afternoon at Blairbeg against a side which have given us trouble in the past. ‘Garry unfortunately had only 11 players on the field which is a pity but these guys are all good players and on the day despite the numerical advantage Glen found them hard to break down.
Glen opted for a mobile front line with James Hurwood and Drew Maclennan pushed up into the front line along with Ewan Menzies and Daniel Mackintosh. In the event, the first half proved rather flat and the Glen forwards did not play as fluently as they should have done. Glen did score a very well worked goal that was finished off by Ewan Menzies and but any thought that would settle the side down to play good shinty soon evaporated and the game produced very scrappy first half and Glen were disappointed to go in at half-time only one goal up.

The second half was much more promising and the side came out in a more determined frame of mind. Everybody worked hard for each other and eventually the side got what it deserved. Drew Maclennan began to revel in his new-found status up-front and bagged two good strong goals while Euan Lloyd nabbed another to bring the total to four.
Elsewhere in parts the performance was reasonably positive. Keeper Cameron Maclennan had a good solid game in goals and posted a shutout. Ross MacDiarmid too played well in defence as he has done for the whole season. Bradley Dixon was used as a free man, almost as an extra mid-fielder as well as a half back and his performance was outstanding. Running non-stop for 90 minutes he read the game superbly. Another success was Ross Macaulay whose great hitting and high work rate were an inspiration to the rest of the side. Ewan Menzies also played well. He has a good first touch which allows him to look up and distribute the ball well and to cap his performance he scored a fine goal.

With the re-organised Sutherland Cup Final coming up on the horizon, it was important that the Glen got through the game with neither injuries nor bookings. Fortunately things worked out well in this department and all the players stayed positive even during spells in the game that saw the side playing well below par. You cannot ask for much more.

Can the guys win the Sutherland Cup? Are Beauly Strathdearn winners? ‘Nuff said.

Inveraray 0 Glenurquhart 1 (Premier League)

But what about the Glen win down in Inveraray?

If you were an Inveraray guy you would be saying to yourself “How did we not score? Russell was playing, Gary was playing, the Twins were playing.”
Two reasons- heavy wet pitch which did not suit the Inveraray style and the Glen boys defended in depth and well. They had no choice : they were so many players short especially up front where the absence of Davie Smart, Ruaraidh Cameron and James Macpherson was a clear handicap. Andrew Corrigan was also not available at the back nor was Dixie Maclennan in midfield- so what is a black and red boy to do? Defend and rely on the elements.
Then, of course, there is always the Smack factor.
About midway through the first half Glen were awarded a penalty after a move which in fact saw Glen’s Neale Reid put the ball in the net. The ref was correct in his decision though because he had blown his whistle before Reid had put away the chance, though it does no favours to the Glen to award them a penalty. At least that used to be the case until Stuart Mackintosh took over that particular poisoned chalice. Up he stepped, placed the ball on the spot and hammered it hard and low past keeper Graham Macpherson.
Now when you go and sneak a lead and you are defending with all your heart and soul, it is very hard for your opponents to score.
That is what happened to Inveraray at Drum earlier in the season when they pinched a goal and kept Glen out. Now Glen did the same but with a cuter game-plan which involved an eight man defence with big Arran Macdonald picking up the defensive clearances from the Glen backs and firing the ball up to scampering forwards Neale Reid, Liam Girvan and debutant Jack Hosie who can all get to the ball first and cause bother. It worked a treat- very much an Inveraray style of play ironically enough and the Inveraray defenders in particular Alan Macdonald at the back found it tough to deal with while Gary and the guys up front saw plenty of the ball but did not really test Smack, though he had to deal with the usual rubbish off his feet.
Now the Glen defenders are good enough one on one for any Premier team even without Andrew Corrigan but what really pleased was the way the front boys performed.
After some Inveraray pressure the referee evened things out by awarding the home side a penalty though from a Glen point of view-there can be no other- it seemed like Russell Mackinlay was holding onto John Barr but Barr was penalised for pushing when he struggled to free himself. Chris Crawford stepped up to take the penalty for Inveraray but he drove the ball low and hard but straight at Smack who saved easily. Perhaps ‘Raray Manager Smylie will ask their goalie to take any penalties they might be awarded in the Camanachd Cup final v Kyles. It is certainly worth a wee thought.
As the game continued both teams had chances, Glen through Liam Girvan and Neale Reid while for Inveraray Gary Macpherson and Russell Mackinlay had opportunities but neither keeper was seriously challenged.
Paul Mackintosh came back for the last ten minutes or so for his first match since breaking his hand against Kyles- he has had a cruel season missing out on the MacAulay final because of a bit of bad luck- but he is the type of guy who will not let you down when you are in a corner- and Glen were certainly in a corner for players this week. Paul actually had a chance to double Glen’s lead but it was not to be. So there it was- a win – and when Mr Corrigan (Coach) texted the Loch Ness Inn where the old boys were trying to contain their incredulity over the fact that Beauly had won the Strathdearn against a Fort William side that had knocked out the Glen… well the mood lifted and they began not to begrudge Beauly their win.
What about Newtonmore? Who knows- but one thing is certain this ‘More team will be desperate to wrap up the title at home. Glen? They will have their eyes firmly fixed on the Bungee Jump due to take place after the match but Glen can usually play a bit so not many of the Newtonmore lads will sleep particularly easily in their beds on Friday night.

Zandra’s Sixes was held the night before the Games: the winners were “Up the Glen”. Player of the tournament was Liam Robertson. The pics are of the winning team, of Finlay Robertson receiving Zandra's trophy and of Liam Robertson being presented with the "Player of the Tournament" trophy from Brian Fraser who gifted the cup.

Thanks to Tina Marshall for the pictures v Glengarry. She very kindly sent these snaps along off her own bat and they are excellent quality.The ones of Zandra's 6s come from the Wing Centre's own camera phone and are sadly not as good as they should be.

The other picture ? Quite simply it is one of the nicest, most genuine shinty pictures the Wing Centre has seen recently-the old Beauly guys reunited with their spoils of yesteryear. If ever a picture could capture what winning a trophy means to a club , this one does. The Wing Centre has often been cheeky about Beauly over the years but he never forgets that his good lady has an ancestry which includes Allt Dearg and Ferry Road- and she never lets him forget it either. Thanks to the Beauly Club for the picture. Its a classic- and they have not had a bad season either. Balliemore Final, Strathdearn Winners and the North Third Division trophy.

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Wow! Shinty-politics….politics–shinty. Sometimes it’s hard to tell which is which and despite having lived in wee villages all his life, the Wing Centre knows that the ups and downs of shinty and life are every bit as convoluted as the realpolitik practised at the UN. In Shintyland however nobody practises anything - the game is for real. Perhaps this will be illuminated later on - perhaps it might be more politic, however, not to do so - we shall see.

So what’s left to come this season? For the Wing Centre the most immediate item is a visit to the Camanachd Cup which is being held at Oban’s Mossfield: for the Glen youngsters there is the little matter of the final of the Sutherland Cup, though for the full back Donald Dunain there is the more pressing question of whether he will get the barley cut before the big day - for sure as fate that will be the only day the rain will stop.

For matters to report on, there is only the game against Newtonmore because the bungee jump never happened.
Let’s just do the game.

Newtonmore 1 Glenurquhart 0 (Premier League)

It has to be said that this result was a disappointment because at the end of it the result means that Newtonmore are guaranteed a third League title in a row. You can’t grudge it to them but on the other hand you kind of do because they have managed to edge out the Glen in both games played this season - and there’s one more to go at Drum which will not mean anything to Glen unless we can beat Newtonmore 7-0 while Inveraray concede an equivalent number to Kyles. Likely? The Wing Centre does not think so either.

Glen did give the match at the Eilean a real go however - and they really went all out to pressure Newtonmore from the off. Playing against the breeze, Glen held territorial advantage for the opening period and forced a run of four corners which, although they worked well did not unfortunately end in a goal. There was a bit of controversy in this period also when Neale Reid forced the ball over the line for a goal but this was overruled by the officials who indicated that it had crossed the by-line before it came to Reid. David Smart then forced keeper Mike Ritchie into a fabulous save from the edge of the D - and at this stage Glen were clearly on top.
Liam Girvan then picked up an injury and he was replaced by Jack Hosie who settled in well enough up front though robust is the best word to describe the blue and white defence when they want to win.
As the half wore on the Glen front four fell away and could not quite find the fluency of passing which would have let them draw the sting from the Newtonmore side. The Glen centreline however did play well in this half and the Newtonmore centres, when they did fire the ball up, found that the Glen defence were pretty solid. Particularly solid - not to say at times inspiring was keeper Stuart Mackintosh but it was a very bruising match and by halftime full centre Arran Macdonald was beginning to suffer with injury.
The second half belonged to Newtonmore. Why? Glen found themselves in a very competitive physical situation and found themselves pulled into a hitting game rather than their own preferred passing game. It is plain to everyone now that this Newtonmore side like to play to their strengths : they play retro shinty from the midfield onwards - they rely on long hitting into central areas and look for defences or individual players to lose a one on one duel with their powerful front men. Glen defenders were mostly switched on but lost a goal to a soft foul which allowed a long ball into the heart of the defence. Newtonmore were fortunate to get the break of the second phase ball and Evan Menzies was on hand to score what will probably be the title winning goal.

Glen did not capitulate however but as the game wore on an equaliser became less and less likely as Glen play deteriorated. Stuart Mackintosh had in the course of the match two top drawer saves and two others of proven worth. Mike Ritchie had that superb save early in the match as already mentioned: he was also fortunate when a ball came back off the inside of his post and came back into play - and then of course there was the Neale Reid attempt about which the Glen still feel a little aggrieved.
if you were summing it up you might say that, on the day, Glenurquhart more or less played Newtonmore in a Cup final on the Eilean and were marginally beaten. The Glen boys to their credit kept going right to the end though by the end of the match the guys in the centreline were unable to resist much more.
Newtonmore are now Premier champions and they deserve their third title in three years: from what the Wing Centre saw of the new Orion Trophy it looks pretty indestructible which should at least be a comfort to the Camanachd Association.
They are believed to be holding a rather important match in Oban this weekend - not that you would know much about it from the Strathspey Herald’s paragraph or two about the match. In the absence of both Kingussie and Newtonmore from the final, the “Strathy” devotes about 68 words to Shinty’s biggest day of the year. Badenoch the Heartland of shinty? Hmmm!
The Courier sadly did not do any better preferring instead to fill the space with a hot news story about the winning team being able to take the Camanachd Cup home and being able to keep it in their bedrooms because they are being trusted not to break it. Apparently once upon a time, a bad club broke a cup but now since other teams are good they would not do that - at least that is the way the Wing Centre read the story through mists of rage.

Maybe it’s time to get back to a look at the all south final. Who will win?

The Sunday Herald guy was on the money as usual last week - he certainly doesn’t sit on the fence.

The omens are looking good for an Inveraray victory in next Saturday’s Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup final at Oban’s Mossfield Park. At least that’s the opinion of Donald Clark, mine host at the town’s George Hotel and chief sponsor of a Royal Burgh side who are making their fourth final appearance of recent times.

“Last time we won the Camanachd in 2004, the final was also at Oban and we’ve mirrored the same build up as we had that time. After training the team comes back to the George for a bite to eat and to talk tactics. It helps the guys bond and the buzz is coming back into the side at the right time.”
It is fair to say that opponents Kyles Athletic –the pair are contesting the first all-South Camanachd Cup final since 1983-don’t see things quite that way. “We respect Inveraray”, says Kyles coach James Perlich. “They are an experienced side and in the cups at least, they have a winning mentality but, we have been more consistent than them in League terms and we feel we have the game to beat them on the day.”
Perlich is correct about Inveraray’s cup pedigree. Despite failing to shine in the Premier League -in contrast to Kyles who have been main challengers to Newtonmore for the Premier League title over the past two years -Inveraray managed to knock Kyles out of both the MacAulay and Celtic Society Cups earlier this season.
They were able to do so because in Gary Macpherson, Euan MacMurdo and Chris Crawford, they possess some of the best forwards in the modern game. Add to the mix sharp-shooter Russell Mackinlay now returning to full action after being a bit player for the last three years and you have a winning combination, especially if, as Kinlochshiel found out in the semi-final, the rest of the side have the experience to take the sting out of the game when the front men have put them ahead. In this latter capacity defender Douglas Dando, man of the match in their Camanachd winning side, will play a key role and if he comes on to a game then Kyle’s veteran playmaker Fraser Macdonald may be in for an interesting afternoon.

Kyles, who have a back-story of 20 cup final successes over the generations to spur them on, are a team who will look to make their own luck. However, the most recent of these wins was in 1994, and the present side over the past year or so has earned a reputation as the coming team which has never quite arrived. Yet where Inveraray have experience, they have youth and pace. Much will depend on whether their midfield trio of Robbie Macleod, Duncan Kerr and David Zavaroni will stand up and be counted. They put in the work against Newtonmore in the semi-final and provided a solid platform for Roddy Macdonald and Thomas Whyte to get them the goals that put them within one game of being legends in Tighnabruaich. On Saturday they will need to do it one more time.( SH 8/9/201200)

Yep - you are right - he thinks it could go either way. He doesn’t have an opinion and he’s sticking to it.

The pictures are courtesy of the Camanachd Associations pre-match publicity plus one of the boys lining up at Mossfield on “that day”. Mr Reid ? Here he is smiling.

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It has taken at least four days for the Wing Centre to get his breath back after another fantastic Cup final at Mossfield. What is it about Oban that brings these big occasions to life? The pitch, large and just a little slidy, was certainly in good nick and the weather, though somewhat breezy, was fine too.

Mostly however it was the crowd who made the match the good humoured enjoyable occasion it was. The Wing Centre found himself a seat in the stand and was surrounded by Kyles fans of a certain vintage who knew the game thoroughly and who suffered mightily the slings and arrows of their teams varying fortunes throughout the course of the afternoon- so that when it came to the last few minutes of the match, even the neutrals felt themselves drawn into the fold and were almost willing Kyles to win.

When Kyles did win it was as if there was an open invitation to everyone in the stand to come back to Tighnabruaich for a wee ceilidh : natural Highland good manners on our part meant that we did not go and impose ourselves though doubtless we would have been given a welcome. Had we sat in the Inveraray section of the stand the welcome would have been just the same, though the mood at the end of this particular game would have had to have been blacker.
You have to feel sorry for Inveraray though-you score five goals in a Cup Final and you lose. You are leading 4-2 at half-time and then 5-3- and then just as you begin to visualise the victory celebrations it’s snatched away forever. That will be hard to forget especially for the guys who will blame themselves for things they might have done better on the day-but for all that we like to think that shinty has become more “professional” players still play with their hearts on their sleeves – and these two sides were still chasing goals at a point when wiser counsel might have suggested to Inveraray to kill off the game, to pull Garry Macpherson deep and choke off the Kyles midfield. Then again, maybe not. It was a marvellous spectacle and made good telly-no wonder Albert Smith medal winner Roddy Macdonald suggested he would have loved to have watched the game himself.

The Wing Centre took lots of notes while he sat in the stand- and though accounts have appeared of the match in a variety of publications, this is what he saw devoid of the heather and whisky overtones that the mainstream guys are tempted to touch on which comes along with every shinty report as part of the casual racism suffered by Highlanders ever since the Statutes of Iona were enacted in the 15^th century. Now that’s a perspective!!

“A 78th minute goal from man of the match Roddy Macdonald was what it took to win Kyles Athletic the Camanachd Cup for the 21^sttime in their history after a contest that turned out to be a classic 11 goal thriller. That strike was MacDonald’s fourth of the afternoon in a game which fully lived up to its pre-match billing as being too tight to call.

The early pressure came from Inveraray who adapted quickly to Mossfield’s blustery conditions and their ability to run with the ball saw them take an early lead when in the ninth minute Chris Crawford evaded his marker and slipped the ball inside to front man Russell Mackinlay who stabbed it past Kyles keeper Kenny Macdonald to put Inveraray 1-0 up.
Kyles equalised almost immediately when a long hit forward from midfield by Dunky Kerr which should have been dealt with by Inveraray keeper Graham Macpherson was tucked home by Macdonald. Macdonald then put Kyles ahead when he ran past Inveraray defenders Scott Robertson and Douglas Dando to slip the ball home.
Kyles at this stage, however, were less than convincing in their lead and Inveraray winger Chris Crawford again escaped his marker and drove the ball forward where it fell to veteran Garry Macpherson to smash home the equaliser. Within a minute Crawford had made it 3-2 when he got on the end of a long shy by David Macpherson and finished with precision.
Inveraray then went 4-2 ahead thanks to a neat Russell Mackinlay finish after Kyles defender Calum Miller had given him too much space at the edge of the box.
Fortified by the wind at their backs Inveraray pressed hard to increase their advantage but veteran keeper Kenny Macdonald managed to stop Russell Mackinlay’s drive and then raised his stick to deflect a fierce shot from Euan MacMurdo- though equally Thomas Whyte was denied by Macpherson at the other end.
Inveraray went in 4-2 at the interval and truthfully they should have been further ahead- and with their front men linking up superbly against a Kyles defence who looked more than a little suspect.
However, soon after the interval Kyles pulled one back when Robbie Macleod, a tireless presence in midfield, scored from the penalty spot after Dunky Kerr had been brought down by clumsy Inveraray defending. The Royal Burgh side however quickly restored the differential when Crawford won yet another tussle with his marker and pushed the ball wide for Garry Macpherson to make it 5-3 for Inveraray.
Then Inveraray simply ran out of steam and the Kyles fight back began. First Fraser Macdonald pounced on a defensive error to make it 5-4 with a fine strike and then Roddy Macdonald fired home the equaliser two minutes later and the stage was set for a thrilling climax.
Inveraray sensed that the match was in the balance and brought on Andrew MacMurdo and Ruaraidh Graham though the latter had to leave the field when he aggravated the groin strain that had kept him out of the starting line-up. By this time Kyles had total command of the midfield with Zavaroni, Kerr and in particular Macleod in total control. Eventually the Inveraray dam was bound to burst and it finally did when a long shy by Kerr came into the Inveraray defence Macdonald found the space to smash the ball home at the near post for the winner , though the excellent Crawford still had suffer the pain of watching a late try at goal come back off the Kyles post and be cleared.”

So there it was –the young guys won in the end probably because they were fitter- and you would have to guess that this is the end of the road for Inveraray’s finest crop of players since the 1930s. The only sadness for them is that their high-water mark coincided with that of an excellent Fort William side and of course Ronald Ross. They can certainly be proud of their involvement in the 2012 Camanachd Cup final.

Back in what some imagine to be the real world tennis player Andy Murray was suggesting that Scotland should use public money to set up a tennis academy in Scotland. The question has to be why?

Funding elite sport so that a talented and lucky few may become millionaires and live abroad in tax havens has never seemed a sensible use of public funds to the Wing Centre.
Scotland has also won more Olympic gold medals than Sweden, Norway or Demark. Is the average Scandinavian worse off than the average Scot? You can certainly bet that he enjoys better community facilities for sport.
In the end, the Camanachd final made the Wing Centre begin to re-assess what sport is for. These guys from Kyles and Inveraray all represent a community and bring it together: professional sports don’t do that. Local sports of all types certainly do.

Anyway our community mourns the loss of one of its all-time stars while preparing for a cup final they did not expect to be in. Iain “The Yank” Macdonald one of the important figures in the re-emergence of Glen Shinty in the 1950s and 1960s passed away on Camanachd Cup final day and a more detailed obituary will be posted here in due course. At the same time Iain Macleod’s youngsters are getting ready for the Sutherland Cup final and posted a 5-1 win over an Inverness side that was good enough to help us out with a practice game. Thanks to Donald Cameron of Inverness for the pictures.The Kyles ones came from their own site. Thanks guys

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Cheeky eh? Suppose so-when you see the headline in the context of the photograph- but it’s still true. Kingussie won the Sutherland Cup in what was a disappointing contest in Beauly last Saturday. They won certainly because they had some good young players but they also won because they had three old heads in the team, helping to form a backbone of a unit that was just good enough to beat the Glen. The emphasis is on the “just”. Kingussie were just good enough to get through – but if they had not been presented with a penalty in the 25th minute then there is every reason to think that the result might have been different.

Normally the Wing Centre keeps a calm and even temperament and so this week the temptation to get the post out of the way early in the week was resisted because truthfully it was hard to know what to make of the game. The impression picked up by this Glen supporter at Beauly was that Kingussie having been deprived of success by Newtonmore –unfairly as we now know- felt they had a moral right to the Cup and harboured some sort of resentment against the Glen. That negative feeling was heightened by the absence of Rory Fraser who missed the match because he had been banned for a sending off which happened sometime after the original final. Glen had been scheduled to play Aberdeen University in their last league match before the final but when Aberdeen University pulled out of that fixture it was tentatively suggested that the Glen play Kingussie in their remaining league match the week before the final. That would of course have given Rory the chance to play in the big game- but having the two teams face up to each other in a league match the week before the final is simply silly for reasons that are too obvious to repeat and the Association sensibly did not schedule the fixture.

Clearly in Kingussie a feeling of resentment against the Glen had been brewing on the back of sympathy for Rory’s plight and you have to say that it was a shame for Rory- and why on earth did the Badenoch club not make an issue to the Camanachd Association of the fact that his ineligibility should have been overlooked because of the timing of the offence. Glenurquhart would have been perfectly happy with that situation. If they felt so strongly about it, Kingussie should have backed their player’s right to play. They clearly didn’t do so strongly enough.
For these reasons the game therefore got off on the wrong foot- and it turned out not to be an advert for shinty and the Association must be happy it did not go out on National TV. Glen did not play particularly well and at times lost their discipline: Kingussie too must take their share of responsibility for the spectacle. As tension rose both sides made it hard for the referee though it has to be said the Glen were at fault particularly in naïvely questioning decisions. Perhaps they don’t feel that in Badenoch but that is how it is seen from a Glen perspective.

In the match itself, Glen started well enough and had much of the pressure in the opening period of the game though it has to be said the park was a little too sticky for free-flowing shinty from either side. A glorious strike by Jack Hosie brought a fine save from Kingussie keeper Russell Menzies and a few minutes later a rasper from Drew Maclennan almost persuaded the Glen support that the red and blacks had gone ahead but the ball had somehow just shaved the crossbar.

The game then began to get bogged down with Kingussie coming back into it but their shooting was wayward and keeper Cameron Maclennan had little to do bar simple housekeeping. Then in an attack Kingussie were awarded a penalty after goal judge Russell Ross spotted an infringement within the D. King’s youngster Savio Genini kept his nerve firm and the ball low and converted the penalty into a one goal advantage.
Shortly afterwards Glen youngster Euan Lloyd was pulled up for careless swinging- and probably went in to the book for his reaction to the whistle. From this strike Kingussie worked the ball out wide on the right and Rory Macgregor knocked it into the path of Michael Clark who finished with consummate skill by tucking the ball up over Maclennan.
The second half was fairly even though the perception seemed to amongst certain Kingussie spectators that the Glen were the undisciplined baddies. Not strictly true: if the Glen were guilty of anything it was of not accepting sensibly and quietly when they had fouled and getting on with the game. It was hard to take therefore when having a cup of tea and a pie on the sidelines at the start of the second half it was suggested to the Wing Centre by one of the ladies from Kingussie – a lady of the sort of vintage that calls a dress a frock-that the Glenurquhart squad were rough, nasty and violent. Rough, nasty and violent- surely not! Cameron, Euan, Drew, Dunc Rory and Jack? Never- these are all lads whom any granny would be pleased to have as grandsons: still it gave the Wing Centre a little idea of what it must be like to come from Newtonmore and spectate at the Dell.
Glen picked up the pace a little in the second half although there were also long periods when Kingussie had the upper hand. Chances were missed at both ends and in particular Glen’s Calum Fraser will feel he ought to have done better at the top end when he was put through midway through the half.

Glen’s chances further diminished when centre Calum Smith was red-carded after a tangle with Kingussie’s Greg Macrae. Both players had not been seeing eye to eye for much of the game and Calum’s inexperience showed when having received a clonk on the head in a tackle he allowed the red mist to descend. He was rightly dismissed, was extremely apologetic after the event and hopefully will have learned from it- because up to that point his contribution had been invaluable.
Glen did have a number of attacks after that point and at the other end Cameron stopped a drive inadvertently with his head but there was to be no way back for the Glen and Kingussie went on to take the Cup.

To sum up: Glen need to hold their discipline, not get involved in back chat with the referee and opponents. That’s two Sutherland Cups Glen have lost within the last three years and they ought to have done better in both. Ross MacDiarmid was excellent at the back for the Glen and though Drew Maclennan, James Hurwood and Jack Hosie had good spells, as a team the Glen did not gel.

For Kingussie clearly the older players did well but two who also caught the eye were wing back Rory Mackeachan and in particular Scott Macintyre who did as much as the sticky ground to blot out the menace of Jack Hosie on the flank. The King’s forwards are lads with lots of promise but they did not quite get going on Saturday. Perhaps not a bad thing.
Glen were supposed to play Kings in the league this Saturday which is why the blog has been delayed. However that game is off because Kingussie were having a struggle to raise a team since there is a wedding in the town. The match will be rescheduled later.

On a cheerier note Glen players were involved in the North Under-14 and Under -17 victories against the south last weekend. Calum Macphail was in the under-14 squad and Euan Lloyd, James Hurwood and Ewan Brady were in the under-17s. Smack and Glen Tonkin of Newtonmore were the coaches

These pictures came from the Camanachd Association. The others all come from Neil Paterson with the exception of the first one which is from Tina Marshall and the last from Donald Cameron. Look closely at Tina's pic and you may see the image of a rainbow on the left. That symbolises a newbeginning –apparently.

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Ok. So it’s a little bit of an exaggeration but it certainly does contain more than a grain of vérité. Glen manager Drew McNeil and three of his first team squad viz John Barr, Stuart Mackintosh and David Smart are due to face up to the Irish hurlers at the Bught this Saturday. What is more two other Glenners-Fraser Heath and Neale Reid- are in the under 21 squad.

Glen might have made a claim for senior captain Norman Campbell also: after all he trained with us all season while he was based in the area for work but in the end that claim cannot be pursued. Firstly and most importantly he is a Newtonmore man through and through and could not be persuaded to change his allegiances; secondly the Glen Committee would not wear it because he is a Campbell and Glen are and always have been a club associated with Macdonalds! Certainly, Mackintoshes, Frasers and various mixed clans (as the Culloden headstone describes them) might be allowed to wear the red and black but Campbells never- and there’s an end to it!
So the Glen are proud of their Scotland connection but is that true everywhere else? The Wing Centre is not so sure since there are certainly lots of superb players out there who have not made it into this year’s player pool. One wonders why. The main reason would appear to be that in the middle of a hard season it is very difficult for players to commit to the extra Sunday training sessions required to make the squad. There are other players out there who don’t feel the compromise game fits their style.
It is this writer’s impression that hurling is more physical and aggressive than shinty when played at top level: modern shinty has become much quicker less physical than its 80s equivalent. Then the two sports have different skill sets which is in some situations don’t allow for equality of challenge. If the Scots get the ball on the ground the Irish who generally have only one hand on their much shorter stick cannot get it back without fouling or pushing usually in the back. If the Irish get the ball up on the stick and run with it the Scots are inclined to foul to get it back by either hacking or blocking off the man. The nature of the sports too puts players at differential risks of injury: Irish players holding a short hurley will find it hard to block a full blooded shinty swing with the longer club. Equally the sudden flick up of the ball in the air has meant that over recent years in particular some of the Scot’s lads-who have a tendency not to wear faceguards –have picked up nasty face injuries.
So does this international dimension deliver anything worth having for shinty? In terms of the actual sport probably not. If you were to think of the last few internationals as spectacles and compared them to the last two Camanachd Cup finals, the last three MacTavish Cup finals, or the MacAulay Cup final this year you have to say the Internationals were not vehicles for the display of high levels of skill nor did they lead to long periods of creative play. There were no fabulous goals simply because too much of the emphasis is on scoring from dead ball situations from distance : much of the rest of the effort from both sides necessarily went on preventing the other team from scoring- and because of the mismatch of skills (and one is not talking here about the relative abilities of players) a lot of the challenges were untidy and in the case of Ireland on Scotland especially, illegal-though the officials aware of the start stop nature of the game were inclined to let play run on.

What does shinty get out of this then?

That is the whole point really. Shinty gets a dimension from this encounter that it gets nowhere else and that makes shinty more credible in its heartland. Without it, the attractiveness of the sport to participants is undermined especially at that younger level when reasonably athletic kids are courted by football, hockey, and rugby and, whisper it, basketball. These sports get credibility and brownie points from their international status. In this crazy world of lottery funding for elite sports, participants if they are half decent can get scholarships, entrance into elite academies and representative honours. Shinty, discriminated against and patronised even in its heartland needs this dimension to survive and ultimately to prosper- and Scotland manager Drew McNeil to be fair to him bangs the drum for the sport when he gets the chance.
That much is clear from last week’s Sunday Herald preview:

With the first leg of the cross code shinty/hurling international due to take place at Inverness’s Bught Park this Saturday, the pain of last year’s defeat courtesy of a late strike by Ireland’s Joe Bergin still irritates Scotland’s shinty boss, Drew McNeil. “We simply got careless just when we were in with a real chance of clinching the series in the second game. This year, indeed for the health of the fixture, we have to do better”

McNeil is correct in his assessment. While he has little time for voices within the shinty community which question the value the two leg series provides for the domestic game in these straitened times, he knows it is imperative that Scotland put on a show for the fans.
“Not everyone agrees but for me these contests are a great vehicle to bring shinty forward. The high tempo of hurling has given shinty a wakeup call as far as fitness is concerned. Awareness of this has spread in the shinty world and has a lot to do with the Premier League success of teams like Kinlochshiel, Lovat and Glenurquhart who all have players in the international squad. It works both ways too. Ireland’s ground skills have dramatically improved. That has come directly from shinty- as has the fact that in their domestic game recent changes show they have come to realise that working a goal is more exciting than popping a long range point over the bar. It’s a compliment to shinty really.”
That sense of Irish indebtedness does not however translate into lying down before their blue shirted opponents. Ever since Scotland memorable win at Croke Park in the first leg of the 2009 series, results have gone Ireland’s way.
A quick glance at the visitor’s squad for the 2012 series indicates that intend to keep it that way. Joe Bergin might not be in the pool but Kilkenny’s high profile all-star Tommy Walsh is in the side along with Offaly’s Shane Dooley who hit five of Ireland’s seven goals in the 2010 series.
For Scotland, the absence of two of the country’s best known players Ronald Ross and Gary Innes is a definite blow but the appearance of new faces like Newtonmore’s Steven Macdonald, and Kingussie Louis Munro alongside proven stick players such as Finlay Macrae and Shaun Nicholson, convinces McNeil that his side possess enough guile and craft to win the series.
“Ireland are playing at a higher level than they were a few years ago but we are clear that to succeed we need to play modern shinty-keeping the ball low, running with it, and aiming to score goals. To do that we need the right conditions of course: we know the grass will be short in Inverness but what we will face on the other side of the Irish Sea is another matter. We also need refereeing that protects my players and allows them the scope to be creative. If we can get all that plus a big home crowd behind us then we can certainly do it”
Ireland generally pretend they are ambivalent about the match. They won’t choose all their top guys because they don’t want to win too easily but confine the return leg to provincial stadiums where the surface of the pitch makes meaningful shinty impossible. Yet this year their selection of goal scorers like Shane Dooley show they really would quite like to win it. Ireland have not chosen 14 All-stars but then again perhaps the mixed code game does not suit all their stars –jusrt as it certainly does not suit all ours. Equally interesting is the fact that they readily agreed that the points for a goal should be increased from 3 to 5 – and it is perhaps a pointer as to what may happen in their domestic game one day.
Shinty has definitely picked up on the fitness aspect- but this writer feels that hurling must more radically adapt to survive. With its kicking , handling and especially with its ability to rack up long distance points without interlinked creative play it is essentially a dull sport redeemed at the top level by player fitness and the atmosphere created by big crowds. At the same time it must be struggling in the Emerald Isle to compete with Gaelic football and rugby. International Shinty has perhaps given them a glimpse of an intrinsically better game. Here’s a further hint for them: make the clubs longer, ban catching and kicking and get rid of points for hitting the ball over the bar. In fact just play shinty- and then as well providing both sports with a necessary international dimension perhaps we would have a more meaningful contest on the field.

Wow ! Did the Wing Centre really write all that opinion stuff-don’t get him started on the structural review.

Whatever……….. May Saturday’s Glenners and Shinty win.

The pictures were taken by Neil Paterson: Visit Scotland should think about using them.Check out his stuff at www.neilgpaterson.com/

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Yep. One down and one to go. Sometimes the headline just has to err on the side of simplicity. Not that the Wing Centre is talking only about the Shinty/Hurling International at this point. No the real subject on the agenda this week is the Glen youngsters who played their penultimate match last Saturday at Blairbeg- and tomorrow if the snow keeps off they are due to head to Aberdeen to play the ‘Varsity in the last match of the 2012 season.

The Wing Centre was away last week and missed out on the Kingussie match which was fixed up pretty late on in the week and actually took place on the morning of the International.

Glenurquhart 1 Kingussie 1 (Marine Harvest North Division 2)

What like of game was it?
It was good enough- and there was no recurrence of the Beauly nonsense. Which just shows you that shinty players on both sides don’t always get their judgements right.
That being said Glen went into the match hoping to put the record straight. Having already finished 4th in the league might appear in some supporters’ eyes as a good result but to Manager Iain Macleod that position is a disappointment, considering that after a desperately poor preseason and weak start, the team had come on well enough to have realistic aspirations for a higher finish in the league table.
The priority might be to rebuild and focus on the future but that is no excuse for failing to live up to the potential that is within the squad. Unfortunately as everyone in the team and on the sidelines knows that is what has happened on at least two occasions this season.
That having been said, Glen started well and really were worth an early goal which would have settled the side but instead lost out when Rory Borthwick was able to tap the ball simply into the net after the Glen defence was unable to clear effectively despite having two chances to get the ball away. That apart the defence played well and was able to hold out against a Kingussie front-line of Thomas and Rory Borthwick, Michael Clark and Rory Macgregor.
Despite going in at half-time 1-0 down, Glen had in fact enjoyed most of the play. More composure up front or a class play-maker up on the dust and the team would have done much better over the season.
Play in the second half saw the same pattern, as predictable as the old Glenurquhart black and white check-lots of pressure and no goals until finally Paul Mackintosh levelled matters near the end with a fine strike on target. Despite further pressure, Glen were simply unable to add to their single strike.
On the positive side, a good number of the lads played well. Top amongst them was James Hurwood whose tackling, timing and hitting were first class on the day. He links well with fellow defender Drew Maclennan: they both share a similar tenacious attitude and when they are both on their game the defence is supremely secure.
Equally secure was Donald Fraser and he dug in against Michael Clark, not giving him anything cheaply and in the end keeping him off the score sheet. The experienced Paul Mackintosh, who suffered a nasty break to his hand in an early season Premier League match against Kyles, slotted in well at full centre and made a huge difference to the side. Tirelessly he drove the team forward for the whole game and got his just reward when he scored a good equaliser when he was eventually pushed forward into the attack.
Front man Daniel Mackintosh also played well, getting to the ball first and moving it early though his finishing deserted him in front of goals- and that was probably the story of the season. Apart from an excellent Newtonmore side Glen were the team that the Wing Centre felt had the greatest potential this season. However potential has to be realised through effort, self-belief and commitment and when it came right down to the crucial matches something wasn’t quite there. Newtonmore deservedly won the League- and congratulations to Glen Tonkin and his lads for doing so but Glen fell short in the Cups which went to Beauly and Kingussie. They are the lads with the medals which matter: Glen are left with hard-luck stories. It does not have to be like that, you know.

Scotland 19 Ireland 25 (The Marine Harvest Shinty - Hurling International)

While Paul Mackintosh was knocking the ball into the net at Blairbeg, his cousin Stuart was picking it out of the net in the annual Shinty/Hurling cross code fixture at Inverness’s Bught Park. Wow- don’t you just love these Blue Peter type links? But truthfully, tomorrow at Ennis if Scotland are to have any hope of winning the series it certainly has to be a case of “And now- for something completely different”

The Wing Centre missed this game- and could not really face watching more than the last 10 minutes on the i-player. However, his old mate David Calder did suffer the match and produced a report for the Sunday Herald which the Wing Centre is happy to include here.

“Scotland’s shinty players struck ten points in the final minute of their double header against the Irish hurlers at Inverness to give themselves a fighting chance in the return leg in Ennis next Saturday.
For most of the match the Irish looked the more committed outfit against a Scotland side which lacked cohesion and frequently chose the wrong option out of defence.
Scotland manager Drew MacNeil was cheered by the late rally but is realistic about his side’s chances in County Clare in a week’s time.
“The first thing to say is that I am mightily relieved. Realistically we got out of jail today. To go to Ennis sixteen points in arrears would have been an impossible situation, but six points that is definitely within our scope - we were well out of it in the first half and even when we had them under pressure after the break our finishing was poor”.
While Scotland’s forwards fired blanks at Irish keeper Bernard Rochford , Ireland possessed in Patrick Horgan one of the most lethal finishers ever seen in the cross codes series.
The stocky Corkman led the Scottish defence a merry dance scoring 23 of his side’s 25 points.That tally included a hat - trick of five pointers , the best kept until last when he produced an outrageous sidestep on Scots defender Mark MacDonald and then showed his power as he held off the remainder of the Scots defence before placing the ball behind substitute keeper Stuart MacDonald.
Horgan gave early notice of his calibre when he fired over the rugby style goal posts for a point to open the scoring in the sixth minute.
Scots fans celebrated minutes later when Kevin Bartlett showed deadly finishing with a thirty -five yard strike for two points but within a minute Horgan stunned the home support with a brilliant individual effort, first losing marker Daniel Cameron before smashing the ball past a helpless Stuart Mackintosh in the Scottish goal.
Steven MacDonald spurned a chance to close the gap but his long range effort drifted beyond the upright.
A single from Horgan extended the Irish lead to 8 - 2 and then in the 21st minute he returned to torment the Scots defence with another surefooted strike after leaving Donald Irvine floundering in what was virtually a carbon copy of his earlier goal.
MacNeil rung the changes with senior debutant Callum Cruden making way for Fort William’s Niall MacPhee.The move improved Scotland’s attacking option and double pointers from Bartlett and Steven MacDonald took the score to 13 - 6 only for Horgan (2) and Shane Dooley to stretch the hurlers’ lead to 16- 6 at half time.
Within minutes of the restart the home crowd held their breath as Dooley found himself in space and with only MacKintosh to beat blasted the ball wide.
A Bartlett two pointer raised Scots hopes but Horgan killed them off with three single points to bring the Irish to 18 - 9. McManus and then Horgan made it 20 - 9 before Horgan hit the score of the match to extend the advantage to 25 - 9.With the Scots fans drifting towards the exits Kevin Bartlett smacked home a brilliant five pointer from close range.
With virtually the last action of the match a long range Neil Macdonald free hit dipped under Rochford’s bar to give Scotland an outside chance of winning the home and away series.
If the Scots are to turn around the series it will be done with the players in MacNeil’s current squad meaning there will be no place for Kyles Athletic’s prolific hit man Roddy MacDonald who pulled out of the original squad.”

So what went wrong and what went right then?

Scotland started slow or Ireland started fast-whatever way you look at it this has not happened before. Scotland usually lead at half time. They cannot let this happen again.Scotland’s skipper Norman Campbell found the game by-passing him in the early part of the game as the Irish played a spare man in front of the back line and fired long balls up to hit man Horgan who made the absolute best of his chances. Scotland did not get to grips with this Irish tactic until the second half.
Guess what? For the first time in the series fitness was not an issue. Scotland were going as well as the Irish at the end.
Scotland dominated possession in the second half but failed to take at least 4 clear two-pointers. That can’t happen again.
When Scotland kept the ball low, played wide and cut it back they did well but …..in the heat of the game they did not always manage that. Shinty’s default setting is not playing low and wide unless you are from Kingussie.

In the arcane point scoring system the Ogham lettering on the Ennis score board will say Ireland 3 Scotland 1 as the match starts but if the guys play well it does not have to stay that way. Personally the Wing Centre would settle for a win in the game and lose the series rather than losing both by going for broke to win the series- but that tells you more about his character than it should.
Are there any variables Scotland cannot do anything about?

Two-The first one is the length of the grass. We can beat anyone on the hyper –surface of Croke Park but out in dairy cattle country who can say on what we’ll play?
And the second?
Ireland will be using the uber-wide Hurley goals with the low bar-not the Bught ones, which makes it easier for their two pointers. Never mind, you get that on big jobs. Keep calm and carry on.

The two pics are courtesy of the GAA Website. http://www.gaa.ie

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Sometimes it’s best to reflect for a while rather than come out with an opinion right away: that of course does not ever guarantee that the resultant response is any better than what would have come out right away but it should have a greater chance of being rational with the provision of a little more perspective. Well then again maybe not.

What actually happened anyway? You’ll know all about it by now: there are reports on the Camanachd website, the Skye website and on the GAA website. There’s a mass of stuff on other sites pointing out that Scotland lost heavily and questions-legitimate ones and mischievous ones -are being asked about the national side. Indeed sometimes the same question can fulfil both functions. The Wing Centre’s old mate, the journo guy from the Sunday Herald also put a piece in about the match though it’s doubtful if he was even there.
This is what he wrote anyway :

2012 Hurling/Shinty International Series Second Test
Scotland v Ireland, Cusack Park, Ennis
Ireland 8-11 (51) Scotland 4-3 (23)
(Ireland win the series 6-2 on points)

Ireland’s hurlers gave Scotland’s shinty players a master class in how to take chances today in the second test of the mixed code game in the process running out easy winners and making them International Series champions for the fourth year in a row.

Having hung on to a respectable score line courtesy of two late goals in Inverness, Scotland came to Ennis full of hope that they could turn the series round. These hopes were dead and buried long before half time as it became clear that the Scotland back line simply could not cope with the deadly finishing of the Irish forwards.
In an attempt to get early points on the board the Scots started off with five front men and the tactic seemed to pay off when Kevin Bartlett popped a point over inside the first minute. Irish keeper Bernard Rochford then made a tremendous save to deny Keith Macrae before the home side struck back to even matters with a break away point from Tipperary’s Seumas Callanan. Two further superb saves at close range by Rochford and some frantic Irish defending denied Scotland the breakthrough goal their bright start merited - and then all of a sudden the sky fell in and the match was finished as a contest.
Brendan Murtagh started the rot in 6 minutes with a single point but when a run from deep from Tipperary’s Patrick Maher in 7 minutes resulted in the first Irish goal of the day the flood gates opened.
Ireland rapidly increased their lead with a goal and a point from Murtagh and a hat trick from Shane Dooley his second goal coming from an unstoppable direct hit and the third after a slip by Scotland defender John Barr.
At the other end Scotland contrived a brief spell of pressure but first John Stewart then Keith Macrae failed to convert further chances while long balls from the centreline were scrambled clear by tenacious Irish defending. Kevin Bartlett did get a point back in 35 and a minute later Finlay Macrae blasted home a free hit for Scotland’s first goal of the afternoon but the tide swung yet again with Callanan scoring single points three times in quick succession to send the home side in at half time with a comfortable 24 point cushion.

Scotland opened the second half brightly and neat play from Kyles Donald Irvine set up a Bartlett strike which brought another fine stop from Rochford. Ireland stretched their lead further with a fine goal from Barry MacFall before Bartlett, Scotland’s best player on the day found space on the left to score his side’s second goal.
Try as they might the Scots could not keep the Irish out and two rapid points from Dooley and another goal from Murtagh kept the pressure on the visitors. Bartlett scored another for Scotland in 61 minutes but a point from Murtagh, another goal from Callanan and two late points for Dooley meant that Keith Macrae’s last minute goal for Scotland could hardly count as consolation.
A humbling score line on the day then - and one which leaves The Camanachd Association and Scotland coach Drew Macneil with much to think about before next year’s Test Series.

Yeah. All very well but what does the result suggest about the future of the International series?

It’s not for the Wing Centre to say-that is a matter for the sport as a whole to have a say upon-but from a Glen point of view the area is proud of the guys who over the years have turned out to play in the International series both at Under 21 and senior level. Going back to Burton Morrison, Ron Fraser, Billy Macleod and Jim Barr back in the 70s right down to this year’s crop of five, participation in the series has given a boost to the profile of shinty in the school and community , not to mention the prestige it gives to the guys who have actually been picked. It’s maybe not the same everywhere but here beside Inverness where Rugby Caps, Boxing Caps, Hockey Caps, Curling Caps and Athletic Caps etc. are not uncommon-especially at under 21 level - the shinty international series sends out a message to kids and parents that Shinty is a sport that has an elite International level too.

Yes we could spend the money- always assuming it was available –in different, purely shinty ways but we will never get the status for the sport any other way.
Of course the game played is neither shinty nor hurling but a compromise sport where the rules have not has yet reached their definitive form. This year the points for goals were increased from 3 to 5- good or bad?
Not good for the Scots in some opinions- the National Manager was consistent saying this well before the first test in Inverness - but for the spectator it made the compromise game infinitely more watchable. In previous encounters the Irish centreline were inclined to fire the ball over for easy points from vast distances without having created anything.

Last weekend, in Ennis they successfully went for goals-though it’s not hard to have doubts about the teamwork aspect of the sport. There were some lovely touches but only one goal, by Dooley, looked like a shinty goal whereby one player knocked the ball through to another who first timed it home. Most of the rest seemed like solo efforts where a player gathers the ball deep and runs flat out balancing it like an egg on a spoon before batting or battering it past the keeper. When it came to one on one in these situations the Irish players were too fast and too strong to be stopped by Scotland’s defenders. It would have helped if the shinty lads were as fast and strong as the hurlers – and maybe in some years that was true but that wasn’t the case on Saturday.
To rub it in, the doubters are always keen to tell us the Irish don’t even play their top guys- and that they use the fixture to reward a range of players from different levels. On the face of it this appears true enough though the vast numbers of hurlers available in Ireland for selection makes the Wing Centre doubt that the best players are always found in the elite counties. It was certainly not true in Shintyland- Keith Loades was one of the most gifted shinty players of his generation; he never won a Camanachd Cup medal because he played for Kinlochshiel and not Kingussie. The same syndrome will also apply in Ireland.
Anyway this time because of availability issues all the best shinty players in Scotland were not on the park in Ennis last weekend, though a fair few were. Some of the guys absent could not commit to the training; others will have decided that the physical ferocity of the encounter does not suit their stick-playing style.

As far as the training issue goes the Manager has given a detailed interview to the Skye Camanachd website which is worth a read. The betting is that the Irish lads have even more taxing regimes at Club and County level though what they do at international level is outwith the Wing Centre’s knowledge. The issue is that should certain Irish players fail to commit then there are hundreds of other players available for selection who can perform at an equally high level - the absence of Patrick Horgan was more than adequately covered by the inclusion of replacement Seumas Callanan. Scotland just does not have that depth of playing resources, so perhaps we have to look at matters again but is that fair to those who are prepared to commit to the programme as it stands?

There are no easy answers but it’s perhaps just as well to spell out the questions.
So what positives did the Wing Centre take out of it all? Cabers’ Kevin Bartlett is some player- so is Newtonmore’s Steven Macdonald and Shiel’s Finlay Macrae: they would all be worth serious money in a professional game. John Barr, Neil Macdonald and in particular Neil Macphee were the guys who had the obvious physique to challenge the Irish guys on their own ground. Norman Campbell is another who has that ability but for much of the game he did not seem to be in a position which allowed him to show that. The game was actually for the first time a half decent TV spectacle – and in the end when you get right down to the bare bones, it was good to see so many Glenners involved: it does the club no harm in the Community. There you go- all straws successfully clutched- and the whole illustrated with some nice action pictures and a snap of Drew from Neil Paterson. Neil has a website at www.neilgpaterson.com/ .
As for the rest they were provided by the Glen’s own Hazel Stewart and though she does not have a website yet, she does have as large an archive of shinty snaps as Hugh Dan. Thanks Hazel. Why two of Jim? We are very proud of him in the Glen, that's all.

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How do we pass our Saturdays?
Good question indeed and one that has been put to the Wing Centre and all his wee pals in the Glen over the past two weekends. In fact it was uttered to him this very day at the entrance to the shop at the bottom of Balmacaan Road- of course the Wing Centre gives the by now well-rehearsed line “I go up to the Chairman’s house and look at the MacAulay Cup.” by way of response. The real answer, however, is that he doesn’t really pass them very well.
Last Saturday for instance he was raking up leaves: next Saturday he may be cutting kindlers- and truthfully the crack about the MacAulay Cup was just that-a crack…… because the Wing Centre has not seen the MacAulay Cup for some considerable time. The rumours are that the actual trophy is back in the Glen but nobody is really sure where it is: the Chairman is most likely keeping it at a safe house, probably up the Glen. It may even be at Shewglie, though if history teaches us anything e.g. The Raid of Inchbrine, it teaches us that keeping things at Shewglie is no guarantee that stuff kept there won’t fall into the hands of Lochabermen.
Outwith Saturdays much of the time is spent thinking about ways of raising money. As all shinty clubs know the real skill in shinty is not how to hit a ball but how to raise money to allow guys to hit a ball in other parts of the Highlands as well as the Glen.

Which is why the Wing Centre’s thoughts switched to fundraising and its importance in keeping the game afloat. It is a subject he had mused about a few weeks back when he cast his mind over Russ Cameron’s prodigious efforts in climbing the Meall and rowing the Loch. Then there was the sponsored swimming, the shinty on every park in the world and of course the ritual of letting the ducks go swim year about in the Coilty and the Enrick. The cycle tour of the Loch was another event which was referred to and illustrated with a photo- and the original was so sharp and clear that in order to balance matters it’s as well to include a couple of gritty homemade ones which turned up in a cupboard. Only it referred to a different and earlier cycle event which, until these grainy pics were unearthed recently, had been almost erased from the collective memory of the Glen

Talking of things which are gritty and homemade Mr Reid and Alan Bell fit that bill perfectly but that is only partly why the snap of that gruesome twosome is included here. The main reason is that they are at the heart of fundraising for the Club via the Lotto draw which takes place every Wednesday at a glamorous location somewhere in uptown Glen or downtown Drum. The Club has depended for the last year or two on just a few sources of funding: sponsorship, community events and of course the Lotto.
Of these the Lotto is probably the most labour intensive - and it is thanks to Mr Reid and Alan in particular that the show is kept on the road. Alan sells large amounts of tickets every week on his round while Mr Reid co-ordinates the uplift of tickets, organises the draws and generally keeps the Treasurer in check since he appears to resent the fact that from time to time someone pulls a winning ticket, as indeed happened this last Wednesday when a lucky punter picked up an early Christmas bonus of £1,500.

Amongst community events the most regular money spinner is the annual Shinty Sale of Work which draws the Drum public in greater numbers than you could imagine- and it is always the biggest earner of the season thanks to the garden produce, cakes and other delights which can be purchased on the night. Cue lots of photos. Surprisingly not. The archives have been ransacked and very little has been found apart from one snap from the 1980s and another from two years ago. The first is of course a nostalgia shot not least for the images of the folk who were in it, but also because of the fact that it shows us the bric-a-brac stall of not so blessed memory. We don’t do bric-a-brac stalls any more - nor do we do sponsored events any more - at least we didn’t until last weekend’s first leg of the Grand Bungee Jump in aid of the Highland Hospice.

Originally scheduled for early September after the Newtonmore away game the event was cancelled because of a power failure in the lifting winch at Highland Fling Bungee who run the Killiecrankie site.
The Highland Hospice has of course a special place in the hearts of local people and it is particularly dear to Glen co-manager Fraser Mackenzie in that it was the death of his mum at the start of the year and his gratitude to those that cared for her in the Hospice that confirmed his intention to initiate a fund–raising campaign. Everything was going very nicely indeed until Glen won the MacAulay- and everyone knows what happened next.

The cup got broken, then the boys got slagged and then after it had all gone viral people felt sorry for them and they also felt bad themselves. First they had a whip round which they sent to the MacAulay Association who passed on the cash to the Oban Hospice - and they then turned their minds to helping Fraser raise money for the Highland Hospice. First a pile of cash was raised at the Highland Games when people queued to have their photos taken with the MacAulay Cup which was on display with the Olympic Torch.

Then it was the day of the High Jump carried out by Drew McNeil, Rory MacLean, Jack Hosie, Euan Lloyd, Ali Mackintosh, Garry Mackintosh, Fraser Heath, Dixie Maclennan, Fraser Mackenzie and youngster Ewan Ward, son of Fraser’s girlfriend Sarah.

A few guys could not make it
Neale Reid- broken arm, Arran MacDonald injured; David Smart unavailable but should make next jump; Liam Girvan bad back; Cameron Maclennan working but has been given the chance to do the next jump.
The follow-up jump which will include all the Aberdeen based players and the fabulous Mr Tembo is scheduled for the 2^nd December- and after that the cash will be totalled. At the moment it is approximately £9,000- but there is every hope that it will creep up to and beyond the £10,000 mark.
You could help that by giving a little something yourself at
http://www.justgiving.com/Glenurquhartshintybungee.
There is no truth in the rumour that when it is Billy’s turn to jump he intends to take the MacAulay Cup with him over the edge. The suspicion is that it is the fear of just such an outcome that has led Mr Chairman to conceal it in a Shewglie haystack.
Check out the Bungee Boys in the pics.Now we know what Drew meant when he said the boys were for the high jump after the MacAulay capers.
Surely the guys have paid their debt to society by now.

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“Ooh, What a night
Late November, back in twenty twelve”
You betcha. That’s the way uh-huh we’d like to remember the annual Glen Dinner Dance if, in fact, we can remember it at all which is not something to take a bet upon. Last Friday night a busload of dedicated Glen revellers sped along the A82 to the Clansman Hotel where they sat down to a delightful repast, according to choice, of :

Scotch Broth/Prawn/Chicken Pate

Beef/Chicken/Haddock;

Toffee Pudding/Pavlova/Dark Choc Truffle.

As per usual the Wing Centre could not quite recall what it was exactly that he had ordered. Doubtless that is a common problem which could easily be solved by either remembering the said order or indeed writing it down and keeping the piece of paper with the info in a safe place. Yes, you can see the problem. A more original solution is to make sure you sit reasonably close to the serving hatch where an eye can be kept on the various serving persons as they leave the kitchen with their plates of scoff. If you fancy say “the beef” as opposed to “the chicken” which you may or may not have actually ordered, it is easy enough to say yes to the passing server who will most likely shout out what is on the plate in the hope of an honest answer. The veracity of the answer is, however, most unlikely to be checked and that way a pleasant evening can be had while the anxiety of worrying about what you might or might not have ordered is therefore removed- as are all feelings of guilt because you may be assured that someone elsewhere will be doing the exact reverse of what you are doing, Thus karma is restored and all is well with the world- or then again perhaps not though, as a tactic, it ranks up at No 5 in the Wing Centre’s samizdat self-help publication “Social Skills for Young Shinty Players.”

All this is of course by way of digression for the real business of the evening was the dishing out of the annual awards and this quickly got underway-once the venue had been checked for the spy from the Skye Camanachd website who appears to be able to infiltrate any shinty gathering throughout the kingdom however remote. It is difficult however to winkle them out because as the Wing Centre has stated in an earlier article, wherever you go in the Glen or indeed the whole Highlands, there is a Skye person to be found. They have intermarried with the natives and remain as “sleepers” within the general population. Indeed the only group in the Glen that may be regarded as Skye-free are those Mackenzies who hail from that part of Wester Ross which stretches from Lochalsh to Lochbroom- and there are one or two in the Club. Why so? The answer lies in the fact that their ancestors spent the greater part of the Middle Ages extirpating Macleods from the western seaboard so successfully that unless they had moved to Nova Scotia the only native Macleods are now confined to Achiltilbuie and Assynt, where it is hoped they may stay.

As soon as the venue was declared, in as much as it could be, free of the Sgiathanaich, the Chairman rose to his feet, commanded the children to be quiet, and paid tribute to retiring Secretary Hazel Stewart who was giving up the privilege of negotiating the Camanachd and other Associations forthwith.
Also honoured were Jan and Alan Bell who after coaching the primary youngsters in the hall, tennis court and field over many years, finally decided to step aside and pass the caman on to a younger generation of coaches.

Young player of the year, for the second year running was Fraser Heath. He has had an excellent season despite a nasty hand injury earlier on. A member of the under 17 London Shield side at the end of last season, he took his place in Ronald Ross’s under-17 squad for Ireland in the summer, moving on to be picked for the under 21s in Ennis in October. Fraser has had an excellent year in Glen colours and has turned out in defence, midfield or attack as required

His performance in the MacAulay Cup final before a nationwide TV audience won him the man of the match award despite several of the goals scored by other players being clear candidates for goal of the season.

Senior team player of the year was David Smart. Dave has had a simply excellent season. Week in week out he has put in the hard graft that is required to win Premier League points and he has shown the vision that sets up chances for others. He always had a fine touch with the club but these last two seasons he has worked hard at his fitness and the effort has paid off with a winner’s medal in the MacAulay and a call up to the International squad.

Second team player of the year was Drew Maclennan. He too has had an excellent season and also showed a great deal of resilience when he received a nasty mouth injury in the league at Kinlochshiel and as a consequence missed out in the semi of the Sutherland against Newtonmore and the semi of the Strathdearn against Fort William. His return to the fold was greatly welcomed in the last few weeks of the season and he put in the effort v Kingussie in the Sutherland final re-run though he was disappointed as the whole club was to have missed out on the win.
Highlight of the evening was the arrival of the MacAulay Cup winning side who came into the dining room just before the meal was served to display the Cup to the fans, and those who were unable to do so on the day accepted their medals. Amongst those recipients were Andrew Macdonald and the two managers Drew MacNeil and Fraser Mackenzie (Official).
The company then rose and toasted the health of Shinty in general and the MacAulay
Association in particular.

The relevant pictures which are included here were taken by the Wing Centre. Suffice to say that he is no Neil G Paterson and he may have indeed missed out on some of the hot snaps because he had a choice of sitting where he might get a good view of the presentees or where he could be near the hatch to be assured of his choice of food. The food won out as it always would do. Sweetest of the pics is Mr Reid with his flowers-Nice innit.
The tug of war pic? Billy who is at the front of the tuggers became the poster boy of Glen shinty for reasons that need little explanation. His image has become ubiquitous and he certainly sells the brand. He walked round the Games with the Cup and Olympic torch along with the poster boy of a previous generation, Alan Bell – and the pic included here came from the front of the Glen Highland Games Programme in 2012. Billy missed the dance because he was off-shore keeping the UK economy afloat, but he has promised to do the bungee jump. Let’s hope he wears the sponsors’ jersey this time.

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They have all finally gone and done it. After an abortive attempt as a result of a broken-down winch and a first run at the void which saw a clutch of the lads jump off the cliff, the rest of the bold boys leapt the good leap on Saturday 2^ndDecember. There was a little bit of extra pressure this time because the tribe were on their way back up the A9 from Andrew Fraser’s wedding and so there were more than a few with fragile heads when it came to the “have I got the bottle to do it “bit.
Leading the lemmings over the side was Captain Smack and as the pics show he was ably backed up by JB, Andrew Corrigan, Player of the Year David “Chips” Smart, Andrew Macdonald, Ruaraidh Cameron, Ross MacAulay and of course Eddie Tembo who dived out into nothingness with a certain panache and style to the extent that the boys now call him “The Birdman of Balmacaan”.

Also there was Billy Urquhart now firmly back onshore. Bill has had a year filled with incidents and he’s been the subject of some seriously good snaps and one particular picture surely destined to become iconic. He has been on the front page of the Games programme; he’s been in the P & J and on the BBC and finally as the final picture reveals, in true Drum fashion, he jamp.

The Cup it can be revealed here, did not go off to accompany him on his bungee jump: all may be reassured that it is now back hidden in the thatch at Shewglie along with the claymores and muskets secreted there after the debacle that was Culloden.

Tuesday’s Courier (5^thDecember) carried the story of the jump pointing out that the “fearless “players of Glenurquhart Shinty Club took the plunge from the 40 metre high Highland Fling bungee platform in Killiecrankie on behalf of the Highland Hospice. It’s comforting to know that the Glen Shinty Team is still full of headers! The very same qualities which took the Glen up to promotion in the Premier, won and broke the MacAulay are the very same ones which raised a huge amount to help those suffering incurable life-limiting diseases who require palliative care.

How much? If all the cash which has been promised comes in then £10,000 is a reasonable estimate so now it is all down to the lads to call in the pledges. It would be nice to think that those newspapers and media outlets including the BBC who used the “broken cup” picture on the assumption that it was out there free to use would feel obliged to fork out a token tenner for the privilege of printing it. The Treasurer had originally come up with the idea of sending out bills to all the papers where the snap appeared offering them the opportunity to pay up but wiser counsels prevailed and so for the moment the matter has been left to lie. It would however be a magnanimous gesture for such organisations to give a little to the Hospice in this connection since, as is the case with Starbucks a moral approach is becoming more fashionable.
With shinty locked away in the cupboard for a while passing the time in a profitable way has become a little more difficult for the Wing Centre. Not being particularly attracted to his good lady’s suggestion that he stop wasting his time on the “D” and instead turn his somewhat dubious talent for penmanship to something useful like writing a few Christmas Cards, he has taken to going out to local ceilidhs and school productions which seem to proliferate at this time of the year.
One of these occasions saw him present at the local High School production of “Narnia” which appeared to describe a frozen land populated by small deer, squirrels, wolves, children and a big cat. He was reminded strongly of Strathglass.
Also interesting was the manner in which the raffle prizes were distributed. Amongst the many goodies on the table were a couple of bottles of wine and one of whisky: yet the winners appeared not to wish to take either the wine or the whisky but instead chose chocolates, cosmetics and jars of jam. The alcohol had almost to be forced upon the last one or two holders of winning tickets as the drawn drew to its conclusion. Strangely enough at shinty raffles you may observe the very opposite in play with the proceedings dragging on interminably as the boys keep putting the jam back to be drawn again while the booze disappears with the first winning ticket… what different Glens we all live in!
The ceilidh that stood out amongst the rest however was up at the Castle on behalf of the Glenurquhart Rural Community Association an independent local group which has outlasted various re-organisations of local government – and is keen to help rescue Blairbeg Park from the clutches of the Highland Council and return it to local ownership where it had originally resided up until 1975. In that year it was gifted gratis to the then Highland Regional Council by the Community Association: now the hope is it will come back though as with all things bureaucratic there will be a financial implication, in anticipation of which and to raise general funds the ceilidh went ahead.
Amongst the pipers and reciters and Smack on the Box was a wonderful recital from three of the Glens finest singers, not the Three Tenors but the Three Glenners. Immaculate in white shirts and bow ties with black and red silk cummerbunds they entertained an entranced company with a range of songs local and international. Amongst those best received were a lively version of “The Rattling Bog” and another specially penned number lamenting the poor state of the A82.

Who could these superstars be? No clue-then the wee one in the middle stepped forward and said “Sorry if you can’t hear too well at the back: it’s because we have only one Mike”. Then the penny dropped- because the entertainers turned out to be, Big Mike Cameron, Big Ron Fraser and ordinary sized Richard Collis. The first two haven’t sang so well since they both scored goals in the ‘88 Camanachd Cup Final and isn’t it good to see that neither the psalmody classes nor the years of singing in the back of the shinty bus have been wasted.
“Fed up without the shinty, Mr Chairman “said the Wing Centre at the back of the hall to the man who pulls the strings and controls the destiny of all that happens in, at, to, by, with and from Glenurquhart Shinty Club,
“Certainly am.”
“You could always go and turn the water off at the pavilion if you are stuck for something shinty related to do”
“Already done,” said the Chairman and off he went leaving the Wing Centre to assess the situation. The pavilion drained and shut down before the shortest day. It was never like this in the days of Alan Bell and Jim Barr. The Wing Centre was impressed by the quiet efficiency of the younger generation but acutely aware at the same time that somehow, something indefinable and peculiarly Highland was also being lost - the joy of a crisis.

Photographs-thanks to Muzza and the guys at http://www.bungeejumpscotland.co.uk for the ones of the jumpers. The pic of the Three Glenners comes from one of their own publicity flyers

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It’s not possible to keep walking with your legs cut off, so how can you write about shinty when there isn’t any? With some difficulty! What happens at this time of the year to the Wing Centre is that he begins to fret, to look at old pictures of shinty teams, make lists of the best players he’s ever seen and at one point he even fell to wondering what the inheritance tracks of Ronald Ross might be. Have to say it was not a topic that detained him much. Nor did the thought that he might run an article in which shinty managers were induced to pose in artistic photos with their favourite clubs and their favourite cats-say James Perlich with his Kyles Caman and Tiddles; Norman Macarthur with a Munro special and Smudge; or more appropriately Drew MacNeil, his old battered Tanera and Tigger. Well, it was an idea. In actual fact, for a little while the concept developed a half-life of its own and plans were even made to contact Neil Paterson to take the snaps though when a call to set up the deal was made to Lovat manager Alan Macrae the matter died on the spot. He insisted that any animal involvement had to be either a working Collie or nothing. Nothing it was-(the Club made out of an old whin bush was also not suitable) but there’s a true Crofter for you, though the thought did occur that, given the dog was probably naturally endowed in the Lovat colours of black and white a little bit of corporate branding could have gone on over the hill.

The very mention of Lovat did depress because of the fact that early in December news came through to the Chairman that the MacAulay Association had made the draw for their cup- and apparently the Glen have been drawn away to Lovat. That short trip will at least save us a bus hire but should Glen get through then they are away again to Kingussie. At first the Wing Centre was suspicious about the draw - it appeared to be very similar to one which he was involved in back in 1982- but when he looked again at the files he found he had not kept any record which implies that the cup run was on that occasion somewhat brief.

This year’s draw he has retained as the screensaver on his i-phone replacing Neil Reid’s Usain Bolt celebration when he almost burst the Mossfield net back on that day. Why so? Well first of all you have to be reassured by an organisation which, in this day and age, posts the draw in the form of a hand written work of art. Beyond that it is a work of art which promises either glory or disaster. Time will tell what the outcome will be for the Glen. For that reason it will remain the screensaver until the Lovat match at least.

Back in the Glen and still on the subject of the MacAulay, last week the Chairman splashed out on a trophy cabinet of the highest quality. Top class wood (mahogany from an old table) toughened, indeed probably bullet proof glass , a lock (of which he alone knows the combination - the Wing Centre’s guess is 6-0-2012-but it’s only a guess based on the season’s most significant figures) There are also three moveable shelves. To be fair in order to fill it we had to find an old fishing trophy and the Cup from the Games Tug o’War but the Camanachd Cup will definitely fit in it. It was formally unveiled on the night of Friday 21^stDecember in the presence of the Chairman, Mr Reid and assorted players and officials including one of the managers. As was appropriate the Chairman spoke warmly on the occasion, recalling the glory of the victory and the many wonderful memories which had been stored up thanks to the countless pictures that had been taken on that incomparable day and afterwards. Then he called for a round of drinks to be served to the company and, as has now become customary in the Glen, toasted the health of the MacAulay Association.

Beyond that little has occurred except in as much as the Wing Centre has come upon a store of old Glen photos and references to games of yore which have helped him pass the tedious hours of perma-darkness and which from time to time might well be worth reminding ourselves about.

The one that particularly caught the eye, particularly now that there is concern about the away match in the cup we hold, occurred in February 1995 when Glen defeated Camanachd Cup holders Kyles Athletic 5-2 at Blairbeg. Everyone in the Glen knows that Kyles got to that final the previous year after squeezing past the Glen at Oban in what was described in the press as “one of their legendary Houdini acts with an extra time win carrying them into the final after Glen had appeared home and dry”

Anyway according to Bill McAllister (Yep-it’s the same guy-no wonder he can write a history column in the Courier: he was probably there))

“Glenurquhart ace Davie MacVicar helped end the grip of his brother Ronnie’s Kyles Athletic team on the Camanachd Cup by firing the Glen ahead in five minutes, though Neil Nicholson levelled a minute later. Matthew Sloggie restored the Glen’s lead but Peter Mobeck (how all the young Glen girls swooned at his blonde locks the year before-N.B. Bill did not write that!!) the hero of last June’s final in Inverness levelled by half-time. But Stuart Morrison and Colin Maclean gave Glen a flying start to the second half and Morrison’s last minute goal set the seal on a stirring performance by Glen.”

And the moral of the tale is? For young Beanz, James and Alexander - the old guys could play. For the rest of us who knew that anyway, let’s cherish the MacAulay while we still have it- and so this piece contains some pics of the great day and its aftermath that have not hit the headlines before. The only surprise was that none of the guys made it into the New Year’s Honours list-wonder why?
The focus however is on pictures of the MacAulay and the pleasure it has brought to the Glen and all who live in it. There are snaps of the Primary kids in both Glen schools, along with their teachers. Dolly Fraser , widow of the late Danny Fraser, Shewglie who was instrumental in the rebirth of Glen Shinty in the late 1940s is featured along with former President/Chairman Alan Bell and the staff of the Glenurquhart Care Centre Care . So does Lally English , sister of the late Prof Peter English who was synonymous for so many years with shinty in the Glen. Mrs Josie Mackenzie retired Deputy Head of Glenurquhart High School is also pictured with the trophy as is Vice-Chieftain Ken Fraser and former Club secretary Hazel Stewart. Happy memories to hold on to-events conspired to make us appreciate the day and the victory. Let whoever wins it next enjoy it as much as the Glen did.

The focus however is on pictures of the MacAulay and the pleasure it has brought to the Glen and all who live in it. There are snaps of the Primary kids in both Glen schools, along with their teachers. Dolly Fraser , widow of the late Danny Fraser, Shewglie who was instrumental in the rebirth of Glen Shinty in the late 1940s is featured along with former President/Chairman Alan Bell and the staff of the Glenurquhart Care Centre Care . So does Lally English , sister of the late Prof Peter English who was synonymous for so many years with shinty in the Glen. Mrs Josie Mackenzie retired Deputy Head of Glenurquhart High School is also pictured with the trophy as is Vice-Chairman Ken Fraser and former Club secretary Hazel Stewart. Happy memories to hold on to-events conspired to make us appreciate the day and the victory. Let whoever wins it next enjoy it as much as the Glen did

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“I always thought that shinty teams bonded after the games,” said the former Chairman “in the bar usually or on the bus - but it seems that nowadays they do it before the season even starts”
“What do you mean?” said the Wing Centre.
“Well that’s the reason for the meeting today up in the conference room at the school. They have all come together to communicate and bond. It’s the latest thing.”

They looked up the road to the bonding building. There was a large group of players and camp followers coming down the road towards the Astro: the bonding was clearly over and soon they would be knocking lumps out of each other in the practice match. There was a thick crust of hoar frost on the artificial surface.
“I wonder what Peter would have made of it?”
“The best. That’s what he made of everything. It’s the only thing to do. Just get on with it.”
“Whatever….. “
“One good thing. At least Terry Butcher is staying with Caley Thistle.”
The Wing Centre looked puzzled. This was unusual. You were not supposed to talk politics in Glen shinty club circles because it only caused disputes. Football was undoubtedly politics and without football why the Glen would have had Ikey and Kelvin and goodness knows how many other players turning out in black and red and doubtless would have won the Camanachd Cup on many occasions. Indeed the possible future growth of football was the strongest reason he could think of to oppose the suggested massive increase in new housing proposed for the village, though a large five figure donation from the developer into Club funds could affect his opinion.
“Why would that be good? “he said hesitantly.
The Chairman eyed him like a housewife who has just found a shredded tissue in a dark washing.
“Because if Caley had lost Butcher, they would undoubtedly have made an offer for Drew MacNeil. Let’s face it; we could not afford to pay what Caley can offer. Probably only Strathglass or at a push Kingussie could match the figures Caley can come up with.
Then if MacNeil went he would want to take his backroom staff, Gemma and Corky and Hendo”

“What about the two Fraser Mackenzies?”
“One would definitely go – if it really comes down to that, perhaps we could ask them to take the second one as well.”
“But it’s not going to happen?”
“No. Though Strathglass are a worry”
“Why is that?”
“They are off on a spending spree. They have an open chequebook and they’re signing players left right and centre. We can’t match that money. You see the toffs on the estates up there who bankroll them regard shinty players as being like stags: they’ll fork out big money for any player that has the shinty equivalent of a ‘good head’. We can’t compete with that.”
"You mean there are actually estate owners up there who fund Strath the same way Abramovich backs Chelsea?”
“Yeah. Don’t you remember when they helicoptered in a guy for a match once? ”
And it was true, though the image of Strath attracting players the way a gamekeeper attracts stags over the march into his estate by scattering bags of pony-nuts in the high corries seemed a bit far-fetched but it does make you think.
“I think ‘Glass have even signed up that journalist guy Kenneth Stephen to do their publicity too”
“What makes you think that?”
“Well, he was on the BBC the other night wearing tweeds and a wax jacket. It’s clear he signed up with them”
“He was on TV as a spokesman on behalf of the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association, that’s all”
“Well if that’s true, then how did ‘Glass’s new manager get on the BBC Alba Hogmanay show? Prove to me that it was not a smart Kenny Stephen stunt. One minute they don’t have a manager-next minute they have two; then they start signing up all sorts of players and next thing the manager is on TV while the journalist guy is wearing the club tweeds. It all makes sense.”
The Wing Centre didn’t quite think it actually did, though he did admit to himself that it took fewer co-incidences to convict al-Megrahi of the Lockerbie bombing.
There were however times when the former Chairman and all Glenners over a certain age became paranoid over the very idea of Strathglass and that could lead at times to them becoming delusional. It was best to move the subject on.
“I see there’s a new Shinty Year Book out”
“What? Already? The old one’s only just come out”
“No. There is definitely a new one.”
“Good grief. You wait all year for a Shinty Year Book and then two come along at once. “What’s it look like?”
“It’s not out till then end of the month but there is a picture of it on the World of Shinty Facebook page”- and the Wing Centre took out his i-phone and googled up the appropriate url.
The former Chairman put on his glasses and had a look. Then he gasped.
“Well would you believe it? They’ve done it again.”
“What? There’s nothing wrong with that. Neale Reid takes a nice photo. That’s him doing the Usain Bolt at the MacAulay final. Good shot. What’s bothering you?”
“Strathglass are on the front cover yet again- same as last year. That’s two years in a row Strath have been on the front of the Yearbook. Last year it was a picture of young George Phimister- and you can see for yourself they are on it again. That Kenny Stephen is smarter than he looks and he’s certainly bringing them into the public eye.”
“It couldn’t just be him.”

“Of course not. They’ve got the whole press thing sewn up. There’s Roy Mackenzie and Steve Harvey as well: they are two of the biggest shots in the world of the media. There's no mistake about it, Strath are making a big push this year.”
The Wing Centre couldn’t quite see it himself but the former Chairman’s words did cause him to pause a little. Then he brightened up. The Macdonald Cup fixture wasn’t far away. Real shinty-as opposed to paranoia- wasn’t far away.
But if you’re not too sure have a look at the two Yearbook Covers for yourself. See what you think. The other pics are of the boys bonding in the frost. There are Chairmen and Vice Chairmen and former Chairmen in one of the shots but not the former, former Chairman.

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(It is appropriate before the start of a new shinty season, and particularly before the annual Macdonald Cup match with Strathglass for whom he also played, to pay tribute to a Glen player of yesteryear who passed away towards the end of last season.)

The death of Iain Macdonald broke one of the few remaining links with the successful Glenurquhart team of the late 1950s and early 60s. It is often forgotten that though Glenurquhart has had a rich shinty tradition in recent times, the position of the sport had been precarious in the Glen throughout the first half of the 20^th century and the renaissance of the ancient sport did not occur until 8^th March 1948 when the Glen club was resurrected at a meeting in the Public Hall at Blairbeg.
One of the early matches played by the newly reformed Glen side was the very first Macdonald Cup encounter between Glenurquhart and Strathglass, the cup having been put up by Mr James Macdonald, Tomich as a reminder of that ancient rivalry between the two neighbouring clubs which came to a climax with the great challenge matches in the 1880s.
Of the 12 players who lost to a more experienced Strathglass side in that first

Macdonald Cup match which took place on the 13^th November 1948 in a field at Borlum farm, the 18 year old Ian Macdonald was the youngest. The team lines indicate he played in the centre-line that day and is remembered as a “fit and skilful player who could pay his way in any of the centre line and half forward positions” His fitness on the field was exceptional in a day when perhaps physical strength was the more obvious mark of the successful shinty player but then Iain had excelled as a teenage competitor at the annual Glenurquhart Highland Games. In the very first post war games, he was successful in the 100, 200 and 440 yard races and in 1951 he won five events. In 1954 he came 4^th in the Achmony Hill race having been persuaded to take part against his better judgement given that his forte was the sprint. He was one of the founder members of the Inverness Harriers when it was established in 1947. By that date of course Iain was living and working in Inverness as an apprentice engineer with AI Welders.

His introduction to working life had of course come some years earlier. Born and brought up at Kilmartin, Glenurquhart, one of the eleven children of John and Christina Macdonald, Iain left school in 1944 at the age of 14 and worked at nearby Shewglie Farm under that great shinty stalwart Danny Fraser. His family had deep roots in the Glen and as such in common with many Highland families they were known throughout out the area by their by-name “the Yanks” to distinguish them from the many other Macdonalds who lived in the Glen. As a result in the Glen throughout his life Iain was always affectionately known as “Iain the Yank.”
It appears that Iain’s grandfather had spent some time in America at the end of the 19^th century and on his return the name was attached to the family for the next two generations. Iain’s father John was known as “Jock the Yank” and it was from him in particular that Iain inherited the technical abilities that set him apart from his contemporaries.
In the 1920s Kilmartin House was a grand place under the ownership of wealthy Yorkshire mill-owner Charlie Tinker and when the private Hydro Electricity Scheme was installed by engineers from England they wanted to take "Jock the Yank" (Iain`s father) to their base in the south to train him as he had a natural flair for engineering and things mechanical. His priorities however lay in the Glen but when young Iain became 16 he entered AI Welders to serve his apprenticeship as an engineer. AI Welders were based at the Rose St Foundry and there some incredible work was done for projects throughout the world. Iain was a key operative who was very highly thought of by his employers and referred to in the works as “Johnny the Glen”

In 1951 having qualified, he joined the Merchant Navy as a Junior Engineer and worked his way up to 3rd Engineer. The company he sailed with was the British India Steam Navigation Company. On joining up he first travelled from Southampton to Bombay, India where he stayed for some time until he was appointed to the SS Karanja. He sailed from Bombay to various ports in India and also to the east coast of Africa putting in at ports like Durban, Zanzibar and Dar-es-Salaam.
After about 5 years at sea Iain left the Merchant Navy in 1957 and moved back to the Glen where he took up employment in the area with the North of Scotland Hydro Board. First he was employed at the construction of the power station at Aigas and when that station was commissioned in 1962 he secured a job as one of the staff who operated it.During that period Iain enjoyed his most successful days as a shinty player with a Glen team that swept all before them in the junior leagues. The reborn Glen side of the immediate post war years had struggled through a lack of players to keep going and they had for a time in the early 1950s ceased to run. In 1956 however they sprang up once more and when Iain came home from the sea the following year he took up the caman once more this time not as a teenager but as a mature player. In 1958 he was part of the side that reached the final of the MacGillivray League final but lost out 2-1 to Kilmallie after a replay. That side had also made it through to the semi-finals of the Strathdearn and the Sutherland Cups. In 1959 the side again made it through to the MacGillivray final but this time lost out at the Bught to Newtonmore after extra time.
The 1959-60 season was the one however when Iain and the Glen finally got their hands on some silverware when they defeated Newtonmore 9-2 at the Bught to win the MacGillivray League Cup at the third time of asking with Iain contributing two goals out of the nine recorded. For the record the other scorers were Eddie McGavin who hit four and Jocky Macdonald who bagged a hat-trick.
A 5-0 win over Kinlochshiel in the final of the Strathdearn a week later rounded off a fine season though some were no doubt disappointed somewhat by the loss at Spean to Lochside Rovers by 2-1 in the final of the Sutherland.

After this successful season the following two years were lean and by 1963 marriage and work took Iain to live in Kilmorack and his Glenurquhart shinty career was over though he continued to play the game on one notable occasion in the mid-60s in the annual Macdonald Cup match taking the field for Strathglass against the Glen. On that occasion at a time when the Glen were the more dominant side, Iain was left unmarked by his former Glen teammates as they pressed up into their opponents half. Eventually, a long desperate Strathglass clearance found him alone up front and he was able to tap the ball past Glen keeper Tommy McKenna for the only goal of the game.

In June 1967 Iain emigrated with his family to Gowrie Park, Northern Tasmania where he was employed as an engineer at the building of the Mersey-Forth Power Development Scheme a huge operation comprising seven dams and seven power stations.
In 1972, he returned to Scotland and for a spell he stayed in Invergordon where he found work in the Distillery. A period in Inverness back working with AI Welders was followed by a return to the Glen in 1975. He then spent a year working at the Flotta Oil Terminal on Orkney before finally getting the post of caretaker at Urquhart Castle where for the last ten years of his working life he was well known to visitors and locals alike as the friendly face of Historic Scotland.
During that period he was also a regular and faithful doorman at the British Legion Club in Drumnadrochit and in keeping with his naval service he was also a keen member of the Not Forgotten Association- a charity which provides entertainment, leisure and recreation for ex-servicemen.
From 1979 Iain lived with his daughters Rosalind and Claire at 19 Balmacaan Road moving to a smaller house at number 41 in 1990.
During that period he also renewed his acquaintanceship with Glenurquhart Shinty Club being over the intervening years until his recent illness a keen spectator at matches and also for a number of years a seller of Lotto tickets on behalf of the Club. To mark his contribution to the Club he was appointed as a Vice-Chieftain of Glenurquhart Shinty Club in 2003.
In April 2012 Iain was hospitalised for three months having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He then moved into Highview House Nursing Home where he was delighted to hear about the Glen’s historic MacAulay Cup Final win on the 18^th August. His illness was aggressive however and the end eventually came on September 15^th2012, Camanachd Cup Final Day. He would have appreciated the co-incidence
The funeral service took place on Friday the 21st September in Urquhart and Glenmoriston Parish Church, Drumnadrochit and as a fitting tribute to a former great of the Club, the crowd stood in respectful silence as the coffin passed a long guard of honour comprised of Glen players past and present on its final journey.
The pictures : the first one shows Iain in the team of the immediate post war years;the second shows the team that lost at the "King George " in Fort William 2-1 to Kilmallie in 1958 ;the next one is the '59-'60 team that won nearly everything. Then there's the boy himself as a Merchant Navy vet. The last two were taken at the veteran's match at the Inverness Centenary - and the last one couldn't be resisted. Iain and the legendary Billac Kennedy capering , trying to balance their clubs on their chins. What were they like ? Irreplacable!

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Quidditch is back – although serious competition for the sports Premier Prize does not commence for a week or two yet. However, on Saturday before a nice crowd of the faithful both Glen sides chalked up wins - of a sort certainly - but wins nevertheless. Personally the gap between the finish of one season and the start of another is just a little long and what a shame that the beginning of the shinty season seems to coincide with the point at which Scottish Rugby reaches its annual anti-climax as the national team endures its predictable losses to England ,Wales and Ireland. Why so? Because over recent years the spread of a unified culture throughout the land has tempted unwary teuchters to travel to Edinburgh believing that they have a stake in a game that ought to be as alien to them as - well Quidditch!
It will never win over the Wing Centre: in his heart he will support any team that defeats Scotland at rugby whether it be from a remote archipelago in the South Pacific or comprises a war-band chosen from amongst the Saxon hordes of the south. But how did the Wing Centre get deflected from discussing Saturday’s matches? No matter.
The main contest was between the Glen and our neighbours from Beauly.
Now Glenners like Beauly: it is hard to think like this but it has over recent decades morphed - one almost said “murphed”- into a bit of a poshac place with coffee-shops, art galleries, antique shops, the tweed shop, an optician and plenty free parking. It is a bit like Dornoch without the golf-course, but unlike Dornoch it has a pretty fair shinty team that should be in the Premier League if only they believed they should be.
Glen squeaked past them thanks to a second half goal from Fraser Heath - a well struck shot that came off a pass inside from Billy Urquhart - and though not even “Murph” himself would have claimed his side should have drawn, nevertheless the Green’s boss man should be happy with his sides defensive performance. Full back Scott Macleod was excellent in that he did what he had to and did not moan at either ref or opponent: Blaine and Ross at the back also kept focus as did Mackay Murray in the goals. Over the course of the afternoon he pulled off about three really fine saves, which might indicate that the Glen forwards were a little over-elaborate , but then stopping the ball from going in the goals is what Mackay is supposed to do.

Beauly were also without Connor Cormack who had sustained a nasty training injury a week or so back and it is a moot point as to what sort of difference he might have made to the game but the fact that they also started without flu-victim Jack Macdonald did not help their cause.
Glen were without both Stuart and Neale Reid while James Macpherson is at present working away and could not participate but if you look at matters in the cold light of day this Glen side is as good a side as the red and blacks have put out on the field in recent times. Of course saying that is giving a bit of a hostage to fortune but with four men up front on Saturday such as Ruaraidh Cameron, Fraser Heath, David Smart and Liam Girvan to be bolstered by James Macpherson, Neale Reid and Ewan Brady then Glen have the potential for some pretty impressive forward play. That’s not even mentioning Andrew Corrigan and Lewis Maclennan who are also stick playing forwards to trade but who have been successfully converted to the defence.

Blairbeg was a little heavy so trying to play free flowing shinty with neat touches was always going to be hard but Glen stuck in and to be fair to Beauly they made the first half an even affair though Glen started to be the more dominant side towards the end of the half. Beauly did have their bacon saved by goalkeeper Mackay Murray on a couple of occasions and as well as that a couple of Ruaraidh Cameron strikes just flew by.
The centre line of Arran Macdonald, Eddie Tembo and Dixie Maclennan have the potential to be as good a midfield as any in the business. They certainly looked very strong and didn't lose many tackles with some decent supply into the forwards. At the half - hour mark Ewan Brady came on at half-forward for Liam Girvan and his full-forward berth went to Fraser Heath. Former Glen under-17 star Brady looked sharp and lively and showed glimpses of the potential Glenners know he has.
Five minutes into the second half Glen replaced Dixie Maclennan with Andrew Macdonald, and soon after Billy Urquhart gave Ruaraidh Cameron a break.

Glen looked much stronger going into the second half and this soon paid off when Fraser Heath gave Glenurquhart the lead with a snap shot into the far corner from 15 yards.
Paul Mackintosh was brought on for Arran Macdonald midway through the half and then he moved to wing back with Lewis Maclennan moving into the centre line.
Glen maintained their dominance in terms of territory though as the forwards continued to create but not to finish, Beauly were allowed to come more into the game. Glen defence remained steady under fire with John Barr very solid at full back and try though they might, Beauly didn't get any shots on target all day. But then you must remember they had to face up to John Barr, Andrew Corrigan, Ali Mackintosh and Lewis Maclennan before they even got to international keeper Smack Mackintosh between the posts.
With the three lads who are missing this Glen side can muster a potentially excellent squad- and provided they can avoid injury they need fear no other Premier side and what is more in the second team there are a number of equally capable players who are also very able and can make the step up if they want to.They seemed to want to against Boleskine who are,let’s face it, not an easy team for a side of youngsters to beat.

Glen started with Calum Miller at full forward with three young players around him, Euan Lloyd, Jack Hosie and Bradley Dickson. This game saw Brad feature at half forward (last season he played buck-shee back) and his pace and fitness will be an asset there in the season to come. For long periods in the first half this worked well particularly when Euan Lloyd fired Glen into the lead with an excellent strike which bent low into the Boleskine net. Lloyd in particular had a very good game and, despite not being at his best because of illness, he showed his ability to get on the ball and strike it well. Jack Hosie also shone getting on the ball and moving it with economy though the sticky conditions did not really favour his touch play.

Unfortunately just when things were looking as if they would turn out well, Glen lost a careless goal though at least it was home made in that former Glen under 17 player Donnie Forbes was on hand to knock it past Cameron Maclennan in the Glen goal. The defence which was without stalwart full back Donald Fraser did manage to improve as the game went on and a pleasing feature was the excellent performances of Drew Maclennan, Ross MacDiarmid, Calum Smith and returning senior player David Girvan. Big Dave has been out of the sport for nearly a season because of a knee problem and he certainly put in a fine shift on Saturday.

Glen were disappointed to go in at half time 1 – 1. Still if you want to go in ahead then you should really have scored more goals.
Calum Miller lifted everyone’s spirits midway through the second half when he scored with a blistering strike to put Glen 2 - 1 ahead. Mind you, given that he cost the Treasurer £75 to pay for the excess on a windscreen he burst in the Co-op car park during the hit around before the match then he certainly had to come good in the game. Manager Iain Macleod rotated players in order to give the subs an opportunity and he was happy with the contribution of the younger players.
Not that any of the above actually foretells how the Glen will do against Strathglass, but deep down the Wing Centre actually believes that it does. Sort of!
Enjoy the pictures the best of which are from Donald Cameron i.e. the three of the players who have returned to the side after absence -Paul Mac, Ewan and Girv. The other two are from the Wing Centre himself-one of the guys sort of listening to Drew before the start and the other.... why that's the backroom staff noting down the stats.
Impressed? Thought not. On the other hand you should check out Donald Cameron's pictures and you can find them here at http://www.photoboxgallery.com/noremacpix

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Thank goodness those confrontations are out of the way for another year- and that Glen came out on top in both games. It’s hard to think that only a few short years ago things were totally different and Strath were the team in the Premier and Glen were pretending that they didn’t care.It always as well to maintain a little humility in all matters pertaining to shinty. Look at Lochcarron-less than ten years ago they had the best most athletic side they ever had: now they have been reduced to a single team in Division 3. Still ‘Glass did not go down that route. Having struggled to keep their dignity last session, they have brought aboard a new management team and re-signed Glen-born Scott Douglas from Inverness. Now they look as if they will be a match for most North Division 1 sides in the months ahead, always provided they can keep all their players fit-though the injuries to Mark Macleod and Donald Fraser in friendlies should remind us how thin player resources are in all rural areas. Worse still Strathglass still have not managed to get Seth Jones back on to the field after his nasty injury last season- and if he had been available along with Robbie Stokes and youngster Josh Fraser, new manager Calum Duff might have had some more options on his bench.

Still the Wing Centre is getting ahead of himself. This piece should properly start with a look at the Ali Ban result and at 6-0 Glen should be happy with the outcome though for a long time despite their superiority they failed to score the goals they ought to have.
Glen did go into this match admittedly with a good number of regular players not available : Dunc Fraser, Brad Dickson and Calum Smith were away on the gallivant while Drew Maclennan was unwell. However, the re-appearance of big Donald Fraser at full-back plus David Girvan and Paul Mackintosh gave the side a rear-guard that most North Division 1 sides would find hard to penetrate especially when you consider that the other back was Ross MacDiarmid, a consistently good hitter whose distance strike is so good that the older guys step aside to allow him take the hit-outs.

Glen opened well and pushed forward and the early play between Calum Fraser, Euan Lloyd, Jack Hosie and James Hurwood was excellent but the early chances were not converted largely due to a mixture of carelessness, bad luck and some uncompromising Strath defending. Arran Redpath at full back had a sound game but the man who did most to defy the Glen front men was Strath’s new goalkeeper Josh Grant who always looked sharp- and truthfully if it were not for a spate of late goals lost, about which admittedly he could do little, he would have been in the frame for the man of the match award.
As it was Glen opened the scoring about 15mins in when Strathglass’s Lewis Douglas deflected the ball into his own net. Glen doubled their advantage with a superb strike from distance from manager Iain Macleod.
Glen should have killed off the game by this stage but they neglected to do so and were a little fortunate that their opponents who got into the game for the first time failed to convert either of the two decent chances they created for themselves.
Glen tightened their grip on the match in the second half particularly in as much as the defence began to break down the Strath attacks with more conviction and the centreline took control. The Strathglass defence held out for a bit with Lucy Macleod in particular winning the ball and moving it forward sensibly, in contrast to some of her fellow defenders who seemed to prefer getting involved in more physical play which ultimately led nowhere.

Glen centre man Ross MacAulay grabbed a good goal by pushing forward and rasping a shot high into the net –then Calum Miller bagged two, one of them an excellent drive from distance and the second fired low into the net from close. Miller has committed to serious training - and worked tirelessly and unselfishly all afternoon: it was good to see him rewarded with two fine goals. Finally Calum Fraser who had also kept the attack going with energy and effort hit number six with an excellent shot from the tightest of angles.
At that point manager Iain Macleod decided to blood some of his young bench players and both Lachie Smith and Liam Robertson got some more experience of the big time under their belts.
A good result, and the Ali Ban retained – and youngster Euan Lloyd picked up the inaugural man of the match trophy which has been presented in memory of the late Russell Cameron, a stalwart of the Glen club as player and manager from the mid-70s until his untimely death in 2002 at the age of 44.
The Macdonald Cup match was, despite the 6-1 score line, a much sterner test than perhaps it should have been. Credit for this must go to the Strathglass management duo of Calum Duff and Innes Simpson and it took a considerable time before the Glen earned the right to feel comfortable in the match.

Glen had most of the play up front in the latter part of the first half and the Glen centreline did not really get a hold on the match in the manner that the home support had probably expected. The main reason for this was that Strathglass full-centre Innes Simpson had an excellent game particularly in the first half and he seemed to have enough time in the middle of the field to direct the two men on either side of him. Glen weren’t helped by an early injury to Arran Macdonald which upset the rhythm but gradually the Glen centres in particular Eddie Tembo came into more prominence and in 31 minutes David Smart put the Glen ahead from close range.

The game continued to be a tight affair and though Scott Douglas caused a bit of bother in the Glen defence Stuart Mackintosh was rarely troubled in the Glen goal. At the other end, though Ruaraidh Cameron and David Smart created lots of space the absence of the injured Neale Reid was obvious to all. Glen rang the changes bringing on Liam Girvan and James Macpherson in an attempt to gee-up matters , while Ewan Brady dropped back to put Simpson under pressure. An injury to Strathglass full back Donald Fraser – he tweaked a hamstring-then deprived Strathglass of a key defender at a crucial time in the game.
However despite that it took the Glen till the 60^th minute to get a second and that came courtesy of Fraser Heath who bravely dribbled the ball through the defence before forcing it over the line.
With that score on the board Glen should have been comfortable but The Glasaich had other ideas and Stuart Mackintosh pulled off a couple of good saves from their determined forwards. Robert Geddes then nicked a ball back and shortly afterwards Gary Reid fired a penalty attempt over the bar.
Eventually Glen edged further ahead after an excellent cross field pass from Ruaraidh Cameron found James Macpherson at the back post and he knocked it home with a precise flick. A poor Strath hit-out then found John Barr free 15 yards from goal and he controlled the ball and turning his wrists to keep the ball low he fired it past the keeper to make it four.
‘Glass were on their knees by now but from a Glen point of view the best was yet to come. Ewan Brady who had put in a shift in the midfield moved into the front line and showed his class with two superb goals within a four minute spell: the first was a superb drive from all of 30 yards high into the net while for the second he juggled the ball over his head and smashed it first time past the demoralised Strath goalie for number six.

Fraser Heath picked up the Shewglie Trophy for man of the match: it was presented to him by former Lovat all-time great, Ally Macrae.
A disappointing final score for the visitors undoubtedly but the match certainly tested the resolve of a Glen squad which possibly approached the match not quite in the right frame of mind deny it though they might. Still a win is a win- and it was a derby game- and they are notoriously hard to call.
Whatever you can be sure that there will be sterner tests just down the road -one of them this Saturday when it would appear Glen are due to play Newtonmore in a friendly. Given that Glen are due to play them again in the Premier League the week after with both matches to be played up on the high moor, you have to ask the question why?

The pictures? The team ones are from the Wing Centre’s own Box Brownie, the snap of Euan Lloyd and Russell’s family with the trophy also comes from the Wing Centre. The other one of Euan walking on air through the Strathglass defence comes courtesy of Tina Marshall (http://tinamarshall.co.uk/shinty_113.html)- and Neil Paterson (www.neilgpaterson.com) provided the others of Fraser and Ally and Smack with Alan.

Big Donald ?He's a farmer:he's not going to sign for any cup unless he's sure its not broken.

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Reporting on what happened in shinty matches is easy stuff; the ball went in the net - it was a goal. Not too much of a mystery there except of course for the fact that occasionally the goal judge mis-reads the situation and takes action. The other stuff - the commentating, opinion stuff is more tricky - not least because the shinty world is a small one and everybody involved in it wants to be there and has the good of the game at heart.
The Wing Centre firmly believes that to be true - and having grown up in and lived in small villages for almost all of his life, he knows that though people occasionally don’t see eye to eye and hold firmly to different opinions about how things should be done, fundamentally they all in the same pro-shinty boat. The thing is that in these days of immediate communication, as was pointed out at the recent EGM in Fort William, what is said stays said - and it can hang like an albatross round the neck of the sayer both in and out of context. In the end the plus point might be that as we become aware of that , in the future we’ll all become more sophisticated in communicating-either that or more careful.
That being the case there are two issues that have popped up in shinty recently which have the potential to cause hassle. The first of these is the impending changes to the league structure. Glen have been unambiguous on this subject. You can check the club website. The Wing Centre was taken by what the Sunday Herald guy said last weekend :
“For the last three years shinty’s top tier has provided an intense level of competition for the sport’s leading clubs with the destination of the trophy not secure until the final Saturday of the season. However an imbalance elsewhere in the sports league structures has prompted shinty’s governing body, the Camanachd Association to ring the changes for next season. Not surprisingly, the Association’s decision to reduce numbers in the present Premier League from 10 clubs to 8 and to introduce a further tier of national league shinty at the level below the elite grade has not met with universal approval. Such is the concern in some quarters that moves are afoot to have the decision challenged at the Camanachd Association’s AGM in April.”
Like everyone else the Wing Centre will have to await developments, if any.

Has this caused the second of these issues - the movement of an undoubtedly class player-Caberfeidh’s Kevin Bartlett- from a regional club to a club in a higher division? Maybe or maybe not. Only the individual affected can tell because ,like it or not, the restructure might mean that the player in question would run the risk of playing in shinty’s third tier next season if his side did not make it up to the new national league.
Generally speaking many people feel that this sort of thing should not happen in shinty- though it has done for some considerable time. Glen lost keeper Tommy Mackenna to Kingussie way back in the dark ages: Glen then profited from Boleskine’s Billy Mackay and “Toots” Fraser and nearly pulled off a major in the process losing out in the MacAulay final of ’77 to a Kyles super team.
Kingussie picked up Fort’s Eck Sutherland: Kincraig players of ability have always been tempted to turn out for both Badenoch big teams. Fort William have profited at the expense of both Lochaber and Ballachulish while Invergarry have provided a range of class players to sides throughout the Great Glen over the years. Why- long before Davie Glass moved, ‘Shiel had picked up boys from Lochbroom.
Before the Bartlett move, the most recent high profile transfer - and this perhaps is the most directly comparable move - was the signing of Fraser Inglis by Kingussie from Oban Camanachd earlier in the decade. You cannot blame any player for wanting to win trophies because that is really what it’s all about. In most cases after a season or two, the lads go back to their former clubs and help in the development of the game but the real problem is not the ambition of an individual no matter how disappointing that is for a club.
It’s down to a lack of players in the heartland which is caused by- who can really tell? If we were talking about a decline in puffins or grey seals, the first thing that would happen would be that we would get some serious research into the decline. Why has shinty not expanded into areas next to its obvious heartland? For the whole of the last century up until present Cabers have been the only shinty side to survive in Easter Ross. Why? The population of the Black Isle and the Alness /Invergordon area has rocketed over the past half century but Shinty has failed to colonise the area? Why?
Everyone knows that as the population of villages changes incoming families with kids over the age of P5 or P6 hardly ever embrace the indigenous sport. What is it about the perception of shinty that makes newcomers shy away from it?
The truth is we don’t know the answer to any of these questions- and unless some social science dept. in a University makes an effort to find out we will never actually know.
We could have a guess though - we might guess that the public and business community have bought into the football con; we might point to the fact that, apart from in a very few places, shinty is given low status in the school curriculum and that fact is regarded with complacency.
We might also guess that at certain times, parents look to encourage their kids into sports out of which they might make a future career however long a shot that might be.
One of the main challenges to shinty is the seemingly unstoppable rise of football which has strengthened in the north just as it has declined elsewhere in the country.
Indeedsuch is the appalling state of Scottish football that within half an hour of where the Wing Centre lives there are two Premier League football clubs (second and third behind Celtic at the moment) pretending to be community friendly, hoovering up youngsters and discarding them at 14, 15 ,16, 17, 18 or occasionally 20. There are to all intents and purposes with one or two exceptions, few genuine Highlanders playing in either first team: nor do many Highlanders have a prospect of playing. These clubs are businesses run for the benefit of shareholders though perhaps for the sake of community relations it is time that Roy Macgregor used some of his cash to give his players some media training. Why so?
Nothing is more irritating than the words “Up here”? These are the guaranteed opening words of any interview given by a Caley or County player. It would help if they could learn to edit them out. Perhaps these guys ought to realise where their employment is coming from and be a little less patronising to their new communities. However, that is by the by.
Where though does all this leave us? As always with too few shinty players at the grass roots level. That has to be true if the movement of one quality player can destabilise a whole club.
How do we fix that?

Perhaps if some community minded businessman could fund three shinty development coaches in Easter Ross for the same buttons that the football coaches get, then things might improve. The Highlands would certainly be a better more authentic place.
In the meantime, though one feels for the predicament of Cabers, good luck to Kevin Bartlett with his shinty career. If he had the guts to make the move - and that would have been the hardest thing - he’ll have the guts to play at the top level. Cabers shouldn’t be too hard on him ; he is a talented fellow and this Glen over here and the Strath beside it are full of guys who were also talented and won next to nothing of note in long shinty careers. Who can blame him? Then when he’s finished his playing career he’ll be able to put something back and help with the kids. Hopefully, back at Cabers.
The pictures of Kevin in his international strip are courtesy of Neil Paterson (http://www.neilgpaterson.com/)

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The Wing Centre likes a good quiz. This was one however in which he was a reluctant contestant.

“Do you know what the speed limit is?” said the question master.
“I do indeed, “said the Wing Centre. “It is a zone, defined by signposts, in which the speed of a vehicle should not exceed the numbers indicated on the aforesaid signs”
The quizmaster held up a hairdryer type of gadget: and peered at what seemed to be a screen on the back of it.
“30 miles per hour: that’s the speed limit, Sir”
The sudden formality of tone should have been a warning- but some adults, like some children, don’t always pick up on the social clues implicit in speech.
“I’ll grant you that 30 miles per hour is generally a speed limit in urban areas, “said the Wing Centre, “but here in the Glen the limit is 50 from beyond Dr Douglas’s house up to and beyond the Milton Road end. It is certainly 30 in the village but if you drive up West Lewiston or in front of Balnain School then twenty ‘s plenty.”
“Do you know what speed you were driving at?”
Now that is a clincher. If you say yes- and give an answer which is not recognised as the one wanted, then you are in trouble.
“Could I have a minute to think about that, constable?”
So then the Wing Centre sat in silence for five minutes or so, then took out his phone to phone a friend to tell him he was held up and would be later than expected.
When he had finished the call he said “Constable, on reflection I was going at 33 maybe at most 34 miles per hour”
This let the quizmaster back into the debate.
“You were going at 42 miles per hour. I cannot ignore that”
“I’ve been at the shinty in Newtonmore, constable, and I’m going round to see some friends. I find it hard to accept your figure.”
Now there was a time when all policemen were Skye supporters and loved shinty - they even had a Gaelic motto on the side of their vehicles. That old Gaelic motto has now been swept away and been replaced by one from a completely dead language. “Semper vigilo”: it must mean “never in the village”. Oh for the happy days when Carl from Kingussie or big Norman from Dunvegan walked the mean streets of Old Balmacaan. Now you cannot even be sure of being stopped by a Leodhasach in a diced cap: the quizmaster sounded to highland ears as if he came from either Inveraray or Dunoon.
“Is this your own car?”
Not wishing to get into the intricacies of vehicle finance and at what point ownership passes from the garage or the hp company to the actual vehicle keeper, it seemed prudent to say yes.
Undergoing an incident debriefing with the Good Lady later, she having found the pink slip in the wallet, the weakness in the Wing Centre’s responses became clear.
“You gave too much information, “said she. “A policeman out working on a Saturday evening wants simple answers – like” yes” or “no”. It means he doesn’t have to write stuff down. Simplicity in all things - especially to do with the law. In your case “Less really is More”

Which is when you think of it is not what happened in the game down on the Eilean between the Champs and the Glen. In life, ‘More really are Mor, especially in defence where Norman Campbell, Steven Macdonald and Rory Kennedy kept a tight hold of matters until the very late stages of the game. By that time in their heads they no doubt thought it was won.
The Glen cause was not helped by the absence of five players, especially with Andrew Corrigan and Ally Mackintosh missing from defence. The absence of Dixie Maclennan from the centreline was a late blow while James Macpherson and Ruaraidh Cameron being out, restricted options up front. That having been said Glen opened smartly enough and had their first shot on target within 5 minutes when Billy Urquhart made keeper Mike Ritchie look lively.
However, Newtonmore soon had the edge after that and though the Glen defence played well enough the centreline found difficulty in getting the ball up to the front guys. No sooner had it gone over the centreline than the big hitting Newtonmore defence fired it back downfield. The key man to the Wing Centre’s mind was Steven Macdonald: he is an excellent competitor and formidable hitter of a ball-always he does the simple stuff well. He can possibly be tested on better pitches by players who move the ball quickly and don’t give him a chance to get into the tackle but then again that really didn’t happen on Saturday. Encouragingly in the early stages keeper Stuart Mackintosh had not much serious stuff to do though there was the usual surfeit of clearing up work on hand: he coped with it extremely well.

The ‘More forwards however were wasteful and a number of shots went wide. Most blatantly, Glen Mackintosh blazed his strike high over the bar when he really had time enough to get it on target. To be fair, he got very little change out of Glen wingback Paul Mackintosh who had been due to play for the Drum seconds until the Friday night when his cousin Ally had to pull out with the flu.
‘More opened the scoring in the 31^st minute in a simple move that Glen might have thwarted had they kept their focus. A shy by Paul MacArthur, who played soundly all afternoon, found Fraser Mackintosh on the goal side of the Glen buckshee back and he powered through more or less unchallenged to fire a low shot into the net.
At the other end Neale Reid got in a strike but defender Rory Kennedy put his body in the way of the shot. Reid worked hard all day but he found it hard to handle not only the pace but the blocking ability of Rory Kennedy who was smart enough to obstruct his runs for space at every opportunity.
By this stage of the first half Newtonmore looked on top but they failed to find the net- and so the story ran on deep into the second half with by that time Glen under sustained pressure from which they conceded a series of corners. The longer the match went on the more the unease grew within the ‘More fans that Glen might just sneak an equaliser in their few forays up to the other end, especially with Stuart Mackintosh in superb shot stopping form as he turned away strikes from Danny Macrae and John Mackenzie.
That hope ebbed away however when with only 13 minutes of the match left to go, a free hit from Eddie Tembo failed to penetrate the home defence and was returned into the Glen backline where it was allowed to run through. A neat interchange between John Mackenzie and Fraser Mackintosh followed which culminated in a second goal for the home side.
Minutes later Tembo made amends when this time his free hit-Glen were beginning to penetrate a little more often -cleared the Newtonmore defence and was blasted home by Lewis Maclennan who had been sent forward to rescue something from set-pieces.
Mackenzie however restored the two goal cushion when he battered home the ball from close in but Glen had the determination to nab another goal from yet another free hit when Neale Reid slipped the ball to Ewan Brady who finished well despite pressure from the ‘More defence.
That was the end of the days scoring. Paul John will want to get onto his defence for losing goals to two set pieces. Otherwise it was a game from which Glen just might have taken a point but truthfully, if they had done so it would not have been a deserved one. On this showing ‘More look formidable, though no more so than last year: but then what does the Wing Centre know. He didn’t even know the speed limit.
In the other game, Glen went down 5-0 with four of the strikes being in the first half. Suffice to say that some of the lads played well and some did not do as well as they might have hoped. Newtonmore though, egged on by Cameron Binnie in the centreline and Calum Stewart up front clearly have strength in depth.
The pictures come courtesy of an old friend of the “D”, Dave Fallows of Newtonmore. If you really want to know what happened in the game, it might be a good idea to checkout his stuff in the Strathspey & Badenoch Herald. He also has a website at
http://www.paintedscotland.co.uk/.
The pictures are illustrative of the pressure ‘More put on the Glen defence in the second half, which is just the sort of thing that mischievous Dave would send to the “D”. The one with Glen, Smack and Paul is just one Mackintosh short- why was big Fraser not in the shot. Shinty gold!
Why did the Wing Centre hold on to the post for so long? Well, it was a bad day for Glenners, and not such a great evening for the Wing Centre. But he’s over it now-more or less.

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This past weekend has been a marginally better one for the Wing Centre and the Glen: the loss of two points to Kyles was an unnecessary self-inflicted wound but at least that was balanced up by two points from the contest against Glengarry. By all accounts that win was a little fortunate. So it all evens out in the end-doesn’t it? Let’s hope so anyway.

The game against Kyles drew a reasonable number of spectators but truth to tell the Treasurer was a little disappointed with the turn out. The thing about some Premier shinty matches is that because of the length of the journey, you don’t really get many visiting spectators. Yes it was cold-yes Lovat were playing Newtonmore over the hill-yes Ross County were playing Celtic over the river after that, but a team like Kyles, Camanachd Cup holders, needs to be a bigger draw in the village. It just wasn’t as big a deal as it should have been. The fault for that doesn’t belong to Kyles :the blame lies in this Glen.

What did the spectators get for their money? Actually a good, competitive game in which both sides more or less nullified each other. It was probably a game for the insider rather than the thrill seeking spectator though a couple of wee flare-ups can probably testify to the closeness of the encounter. Whatever- everything was more or less well handled by ref Innes Wood - and he got the time of the goal right (23 minutes) though the official calculation given implies five minutes more Kyles pressure than there was.

Kyles maintained their traditional 2-2 formation and it served them well in as much as they mounted a series of attacks at the Glen defence who held them at bay reasonably comfortably because each back stuck to his man and went with the runner. Where the difference lay at this early stage was that the Kyles wing –centres, especially Robbie Macleod, picked up the balls in midfield and played a higher percentage through than did their Glen opposite numbers. For all that early energy Kyles had only two strikes at goal-one a drive by Dunky Kerr from a wide angle and the other a superb strike from Ewan Campbell which was saved by Stuart Mackintosh. At the other end there was less energy- and the Kyles defence gave little away though Neale Reid had a couple of attempts but they did not trouble Kenny Macdonald.

The Kyles goal was nicely taken but before Ewan Campbell laid the ball across for Roddy Macdonald to score from there was more than enough time for the Glen to put it by for a corner. They did not-and so it has to go down as preventable as all three of last week’s were (all five- if you count the Glen goals)

After that goal Kyles’ attacks became fewer either as the Glen players picked up their effort in the middle or the Kyles guys lost their initial focus.

The second half saw much more Glen pressure as they pushed for an equaliser down towards the shop end- and, while some passages of play were neat enough at times, there was little end product in the shape of shots on goal. Kyles offered little in the second half though they picked up their ideas when Roddy Macdonald who had suffered a face injury came back on. In the end nothing much changed and Glen lost both points to a single goal. Frustration was the watchword for Glenners going home at the end of match.

Flare-ups? If you had a look at some of the snaps from the day you might think that but the least said soonest mended. Suffice to say both players- hurt in different incidents - came back on to the field after rest and treatment : there was nothing malicious in either, though everyone is protective of their own as is only natural.

On this showing Kyles are a good side- but Newtonmore are still the side to beat, though it is looking as if the Crofter Kids from beyond Glen Convinth are the ones to bet the “round the field” collection on this year.

Glen? They need to start scoring-but no way is this other than a very competitive league. Then it was like that last year and the sides relegated -Bute and Kilmallie – were good sides too.

In the second team outing, Glen picked up two points at Glengarry thanks to goals by Calum Miller and Iain Macleod.

To be truthful the youngsters, trained on the Drum Astro, found the ‘Garry surface hard to adapt to. It was like playing on cobbles and that affected everybody's hitting right from the off and the boys struggled to get themselves into the game. As the match went on Glengarry created the majority of the chances and if it were not for some good defending and excellent shot stopping from keeper Cameron Maclennan Glen would have been at least a couple of goals behind by half time. As it was Glen scored just before half time through Calum Miller who worked hard to create room for himself before hitting the net with a fine shot.

The second half followed much the same pattern as the first with Glengarry creating the better of the chances. The Glenurquhart midfield failed to ignite and the forwards had few shots on target. Eventually Glengarry equalised half way through the second half.

They continued to pressurise the game but Cameron Maclennan pulled off several brilliant saves to keep Glen in it. David Girvan and Stuart Reid both had fine games in defence and were able to use their experience to break down play and clear their lines. James Hurwood also played well as did Ross Macdiarmid and Brad Dickson when they came on in the second half. In the end, victory came through the team’s fighting spirit which brought its reward when Iain MacLeod scored the winner after latching on to a good cross from Ross Macaulay.

The positive aspect of this game is the fact that the spirit of the side is excellent though the absence of the injured Drew Maclennan is a noticeable gap .Three wins from four puts the Glen juniors in a better position than they were last year at the same stage of the season-which cannot be bad.

As the weather improves and the pitches get firmer, performances hopefully will continue to get better. Perhaps this will be the year the Glenners will win that elusive Sutherland Cup. Definitely-maybe!

The pictures here come courtesy of Crofter snapper Neil Paterson whose website can be viewed at http://www.neilgpaterson.com.

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Glenurquhart 4 Kinlochshiel 1 (North Division 2)

A bitterly cold afternoon but a Glen performance to warm up the spectators though you would not have bet that it would turn out that way if you based your judgement on the first 15 minutes of action. In that period visitors Kinlochshiel seemed a smart outfit and they caused no end of panic in the Glen defence and all for no obvious reason. Glen welcomed Garry Mackintosh back between the sticks this week to stand in for the injured Cameron Maclennan who had such a fine game last week – and he was supported by the defensive quartet of Donald Fraser, Calum Smith, David Girvan and Stewart Reid. Yet that group which are as good a back line as a North Division 1 side could muster took a little while to settle on what was admittedly a sticky surface.
A composed finish by Jack Hosie which put Glen into an early lead and then an accurate high dipping attempt by Ewan Lloyd which the ‘Shiel keeper did well to keep an eye on were the only relief for the black and red spectators at that early stage.

Garry Mackintosh then had to work to parry a fierce ‘Shiel drive with his hand before for some strange reason, almost as if someone in the pavilion had thrown the “on” switch ,the Glen sprang to life and began to build up pressure on the ‘Shiel goal.

Key to this success was the unselfish play of full forward Calum Miller who brought the youngsters round him into the game at all times with little flicks and runs off the ball, including one outrageous dummy which caught the visiting full back by surprise.

A fierce drive by James Hurwood flew past the post and the ‘Shiel keeper played well to thwart Jack Hosie as he ran in with the goal at his mercy. Glen pressure continued unabated though with balls coming in from the Ross MacAulay, Arran Macdonald and Ian Macleod in the centreline. Eventually in 30 minutes the breakthrough came when a ball from Hurwood came through to Miller and he glanced it out left to Lloyd who raced inside his marker and kept his head to tuck the ball home with precision into the corner of the net. It was as sweet a piece of shinty science as you could ever see- and at that point it looked as if the Glen would go on to build up a big score. A corner on the left gave Hosie another chance but his shot was smothered at the post and then on 40 minutes some further neat work on the wing saw Miller have a drive at goal from just outside the “D” but his connection was not precise and the ball bounced agonisingly past the post. The first half finished with Lloyd driving narrowly over the bar from about 20 yards and ‘Shiel were grateful to have survived the ordeal without further loss.

‘Shiel are not a team to lie down however, and their energetic running soon had the Glen on the back foot at the start of the second half. Confusion in the defence saw ‘Shiel’s Duncan Macrae get a goal back from a defence which could have cleared its lines simply by putting the ball out of play but fortunately that incident woke up the Red and Blacks – and though the remaining two goals took a little time to come, the tide had definitely turned. Ross MacAulay had come on to an excellent game by this stage and was driving the ball forward and the defenders, in particular Calum Smith, had begun to get their long hitting going.

The third goal came courtesy of Cairn Urquhart– he replaced the injured Calum Miller - whose determination in the tackle and fierce shot had seen him pose several serious threats to the ‘Shiel defence. Finally in 82 minutes, a through ball from Daniel Mackintosh saw him burst past his marker and finish well from just inside the D. Then with just 5 minutes remaining, Ewan Lloyd was on hand to put his seal on a fine performance with an emphatic finish from all of 15 yards. So there you have it, after a troublesome start, Glen have posted their second victory in a row.

And the other game?

The Wing Centre did not see it- but the guys were not happy with the result and the manner it came about. A goal lost in the last minute and that was after having more than enough of the play to have won comfortably. However, that now means that Glen has lost three games by a single goal which seems more than a little careless to say the least. This also tells the Wing Centre that while the defence is solid enough goals are not going in at the other end; Bute were very much the same last season-very hard to beat but not so good at scoring. It’s all down now to a test of character-but then isn’t it always?

The pictures today are back to the bad old days: there are no professional shots ‘cos neither Tina, Neil nor Donald came to the match-so the old camera phone came out for illustrative purposes.

We have Jack and Calum Miller after the win, Cairn is doing his warm-down, Ross and Ewan also at full time while we have back views of the defence keeping the ball from reaching Garry.

What about a pic of Garry? He was moving too fast. We couldn’t keep him in shot.

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You are away for three Saturdays and then when you come back the whole shinty world is in turmoil- and that just applies to the Glen, never mind anywhere else. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that the electronic signboard seems to have decided to stop working. If there were to be an analysis of the good that the shinty club has done for the community two things stand out above anything else: the first is that by providing a pavilion the club has gifted the youngsters of the village an area to call their own on dark evenings. There they may “socialise” as it were without the interference of the passing public – and since we no longer have a local bobby merely highway patrolmen-without reference to the law and its requirements. The second thing is – or rather was- the electronic signboard with its red and black messages of exhortation or encouragement, its occasional birthday greetings and of course the lotto results texted in by yours truly every Wednesday night. It was a symbol of the club in the community and kept Astie in touch with shinty matters as he commuted from the Fort to Alton Towers every morning. Now it does not work: it must be an omen that there is something wrong in the world of shinty

On the face of it- for the moment-things could have been worse. The senior squad having lost their first three games by a single goal have continued to bump along the bottom by drawing 0-0 with Lochaber beating Oban Camanachd 2-1 and last week drawing 2-2 with Fort William. Given that Lochaber and Oban are the two newly promoted sides in the Premier and that Fort William came to the Glen with a crowd of schoolboys, these results are of marginal comfort. The big problem would seem to be that the players are getting thin on the ground. Injury and work commitments has reduced the ranks of the available players at senior level and while Glen might have been expected to get the three points from an under strength Fort William side last week, the reality was that the Glen were equally short. Amongst those missing was full back John Barr: a modern Glen side without John Barr is like a Bute side without Hector Whitelaw or a Newtonmore side without Norman Campbell-simply not as good or as focused a team as it would normally be. Last week David Girvan had to step in for his first senior game in two years while youngster Ewan Lloyd had to be pulled off the bus to Tayforth at the last minute and drafted in to help the cause. Ewan is a fine player and he put in an excellent shift. Glen ought to have nicked a winner but unfortunately they failed to do so- and so an opportunity was lost.

Tomorrow the team or rather a team travels to Inveraray and the way Inveraray are playing ….well…..it defies belief that anything positive can happen. This season things are really tight with little between the Premier sides so anything can happen- and it frequently has. Kyles have lost twice-‘Shiel continue to win somehow. One day Lovat will play to their full potential.

The seconds have also had their trials with injuries and absences-goalie Cameron Maclennan has missed a couple of matches and with Garry Mackintosh not available last week’s custodian against Tayforth in the Sutherland was recent transfer David MacFadyen from Kilmory who has taken up a new job in Inverness.

Best result for the side was a 4-0 win at Fort William. Glen started strong and fast and quickly scored through Cairn Urquhart. This settled the side down well and they took control of the first half with our centre line providing plenty service for the front men. Daniel Mackintosh at half forward had a superb first half and he was next to score with a very good strike from just outside the box from a worked corner. Calum Miller then scored a third and by half time the game was beyond Fort William.

In the second half Glen continued where they had left off and were soon four nil up with a tidy goal from Ewan Lloyd.
With the game comfortably in the bag Glen were able later to use all their subs which gave the youngsters some game time an important consideration especially when so many players are involved-though at the rate injuries are being accrued, it won’t be long before the bottom of the pool is reached.

The second round of the Sutherland has also been reached on penalties. Congratulations to Cairn Urquhart and Daniel Mackintosh for getting the side through. If Glen want to win anything more players will have to seriously commit to the cause. That such a problem is more widespread just might explain the fact that at least three of last weekend’s first round Sutherland ties, a National competition, were called off because clubs could not raise enough players to travel. This is not the place in which to make a comment on the National boorach-there will be another occasion but for Glen residents curious to know why the Wing Centre was absent from his writing desk for the past week or so the answer lies in that he was part of a Glen delegation which was present at the inauguration of a school library in the village of Muththtettuwegama in the country of Sri Lanka.

The building of the library was the retirement project of Mrs Josie Mackenzie who left her post as acting Head at Glenurquhart High School in December 2011.

With the help of the whole community she devoted part of her final few weeks of service to raising a sum of money significant enough to build and equip a school library in a country which has only recently come out of a 25 year civil war.
The shinty pics are from Neil Paterson(www.neilgpaterson.com) -Lochaber game and the Fort game: the Sri Lanka pics show the plaque being unveiled- and the official party after the occasion which took place just before the Sinhalese New Year.
The guy on the left in the front row is former Kinlochshiel player Andrew “Titch”Mackenzie who won Sutherland and Strathdearn medals with ‘Shiel in the mid-1970s.

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That Winning Feeling

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Kyles wear the Smiles while Glen prepare for a surprise Sutherland final

Kingussie Youth Policy Pays Off With Sutherland Victory

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One down and one to go

Fifty Shades of Green?

Glen still paying the price of excess

Dancer!

Leap of Faith

In with the New-but let's hang on to the Old for a wee bit longer.

It’s nearly that time of the shinty year already

Iain Macdonald, Glenurquhart: A Farewell

Glen are back in Shinty Business-at last!

Strath Prove They Are No Duffers

Seemingly, it was ever thus.

More or Less

Testing Times for Glen at Drum.

Glenurquhart too strong for ‘Shiel

A week is a long time in shinty: three weeks an eternity.