’More win Sir Tommy Macpherson Trophy
A BIG shinty night out in Badenoch last Friday saw Newtonmore win the Marine Harvest Premiership derby match 1- 0 against Kingussie and lift the inaugural Sir Tommy Macpherson Memorial Trophy.
Friday night’s match also celebrated the 125th anniversary of the two most successful clubs in the game. The fact these clubs are both from Badenoch and come from communities only three miles apart and with populations numbering less than 1200 each, makes this all the more remarkable.
In 1889 a Badenoch Shinty team was raised to play Brae Lochaber in a challenge match. Following the interest in this game, Badenoch Camanachd Club was formed in early 1890. Less than six weeks later, Badenoch Camanachd Club was disbanded without ever having played a match, as the Kingussie and Newtonmore men in the team could not agree. In the following weeks at separate meetings in the two communities, Newtonmore and Kingussie Camanachd Clubs were formed and so would begin one of the greatest rivalries in Scottish sporting history.
Fifty three Camanachd Cups and numerous MacTavish Cups, Macaulay Cups and League titles later, the Kingussie and Newtonmore clubs celebrated 125 years of happily living apart by playing Friday night’s Marine Harvest Premiership fixture as a ‘double header’; not only were vital league points at stake, but also the inaugural Sir Tommy Macpherson Cup. Sir Tommy, who died recently, was an honorary Vice-president of Newtonmore Camanachd Club, Chieftain of the Clan Macpherson and had an outstanding military record in World War 2.
His family home was at Glentruim, near Newtonmore.