CAMAN HAVE A GO

Ancient warrior game of finesse, control and brute force is looking for new blood

Auchterarder’s James MacLean would love to see shinty’s popularity rise again in Perthshire.

Live Active Leisure has been drawing up pl ans to get more people picking up a caman, the traditional name for a shinty stick.

Through the years the sport’s presence in the region has faded and senior side Tayforth Camanachd, who used to be based in Perth, now play their matches out of Edinburgh.

Despite a lack of action across the region these days, great hopes remain that shinty can make a comeback after the coronavirus pandemic.

MacLean, a former Tayforth player who also proudly captained Kingussie’s cup-winning side of 2014, will be keeping a close eye on developments.

He was hooked from a young age and believes targeting schools will be the way forward if the sport is to increase its uptake in the Perth area.

Live Active has been in discussion with governing body the Camanachd Association, which has agreed to provide the support of legendary shinty player Ronald Ross – known to many as the ‘Ronaldo of the Glens’.

The target audience will be the younger generation but hopes are high that a youth and adult pathway can be formed.

Region- wide charity PKAVS and Perth and Kinross Council’s Gaelic development officer are also on board.

McLean explained: “It’s trying to set things up so it is sustainable.

“You need a good body of volunteers, ideally people who know the sport or are willing to get trained up and coached on it.

“There are a lot of great schools within Perthshire. I live in Auchterarder and we have both the primary school and the high school.

“They have probably never really been exposed to shinty or approached to get it into the curriculum.

“Getting teachers involved within schools would be a good approach to help get things going at grassroots level.

“There is a lot of competition for so many different sports and activities. It’s definitely one of Scotland’s traditional sports.

“Regardless of what sport you might end up getting into more seriously later in life, to me shinty provides

good foundational skills for any sport.”

MacLean would encourage anyone to get involved in the fast, physical, contact sport, saying it has given him memories to last a lifetime.

“For me shinty goes back to my roots in Kingussie,” the 44 year-old said.

“You are growing up with a stick in your hand from a very young age.

“You aspire, like many sportsmen and women do, to reach great heights. I was fortunate that you can do that from a small town in the Highlands.

“Shinty is a great way to see Scotland. I used to really enjoy going to away matches like Lochcarron and Ballachulish.

“It’s funny because as soon as you get into it at a young age it does tend to grip you.

“I lived away from Kingussie for a fair bit – others in the team didn’t live locally either – but still made the effort to come back for training midweek.

“The amount of miles some of us put in, outwith going to away matches, was pretty intense.

“It’s definitely full-contact and you need to know what you’re doing but there is a lot of finesse to shinty as well.

“Even to tackle properly takes a lot of coordination, timing and skill. I think a lot of people see shinty as a bit of a mental sport but it’s far from it.”

Ideally, in years to come, the region would once again play host to some of shinty’s most prestigious matches.

“I think it would be brilliant to get blue ribbon finals like the Camanachd Cup back in Perth,” said MacLean. “It is really central in terms of location.

“And there always has to be a focus on getting new blood into the game. That has to be one of the key objectives.”