Newtonmore Camanachd Club

A brief introduction to the sport of Shinty.

Shinty - or Camanachd as it is known in Gaelic-speaking areas, is an ancient game, introduced along with Christianity and the Gaelic language over two thousand years ago by Irish missionaries. The game can undoubtedly lay claim to being Scotland's true national sport - it is even claimed, with some justification, that golf was born out of players practising the art of driving the ball with the caman - the curved stick used by shinty players.

In the latter part of the nineteenth century, efforts were made to bring together shinty teams from around Scotland, many playing different rules, or variations of the sport under a common set of rules. This led to a meeting from which the current Camanachd Association was formed, on Tuesday 10th October 1893.

The game itself is played between two teams of twelve players on a field between 140 and 170 yards long and 70 to 80 yards wide. The goals are 12 feet wide and 10 feet high. The ball, with an interior of cork or worsted and an outer of leather, is between 8 and 7.5 inches in circumference, weighing between 3 and 2.5 ounces. The stick - the caman - is somewhat like a hockey stick, with a curved end, but the head of the caman may not be larger than can pass through a ring of 2.5 inches diameter, and is shaped with an angled surface on each side rather like a bi-directional golf seven iron - thus, the cross section of the end of the caman is triangular. The angled faces give the ball lift when struck. Although many people liken Shinty to Hockey, in fact, the two games have very little in common - the nearest equivalent to Shinty is the Irish game of Hurling - international matches between Scotland and Ireland under a compromise set of rules are held annually. The game is played in two halves of 45 minutes each. The game is much more of a physical contact sport than hockey - players may block the swing of their opponent's caman. Although the ball is often played in the air, the true skills of the shinty player are very much on the ground - shinty is a very fast and open passing game.

The game is started when two opposing players cross camans above their heads and the referee throws the ball into the air above their camans. When the ball goes out of play at the sidelines, it is hit back into play by a player throwing the ball in the air above his head and striking it with the back of his caman - above his head - with both feet on the ground and parallel to the sideline. Only the goalkeeper is allowed to handle the ball - and even he may only slap the ball with the flat of his hand - he may not catch or grasp it in any way. The other principal difference between shinty and many other ball sports is in its off-side rule. In shinty, a player is off-side if he enters the ten-yard area around the goal (marked on the pitch) before the ball enters the area - either on the ground or in the air - it is irrelevant how many defending players may be in the vicinity, or goal side of the ball.