The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Kings to get the ball rolling
Shinty: Gibson’ s men are first to confirm some post-lockdown fixtures
Kingussie have arranged four games for next month, the game’s first confirmed fixtures since shinty entered lockdown on March 13.
The Mowi Premiership champions will play Fort William at An Aird on October 3, a week after the Camanachd Association’s provisional deadline for senior matches to restart. The same teams will play a reverse fixture at The Dell on October 17.
In another doubleheader, Beauly, who have been training for a month, will face Kingussie on October 10 and 24.
“We’re delighted to have a programme arranged, it gives us something to aim for,” said Kingussie manager John Gibson.
“Fort and Beauly have also agreed that we’ll play them at second team, under-17 and under-14 level in the same month, to get players some action while staying in a threeclub ‘bubble’.
“We’re doing fitness training on Tuesday evenings and match practice on Saturdays and the lads are relishing it.”
Gibson added: “Second team manager Chris Donald is doing an excellent job as the club’s Covid co-ordinator and we also have ‘Covid volunteers’ to take details of who’s training and ensure the sanitising measures.
“This takes the onus off the coaches. Whether we arrange further fixtures in November is very much a ‘wait and see’ situation, including what the Scottish Government say.”
Fort William co-manager Addie Robertson said: “It’s a breakthrough to get our first games scheduled and we’re waiting to hear back from a couple of interested clubs with a view to confirming another couple of fixtures.
“We’ve been back training for two weeks and everything seems to be working nicely.”
Meanwhile, the Camanachd Association have issued a survey to clubs asking their views and preparations for the return of senior matches.
Next Wednesday is the deadline for responses and clubs are asked whether they wish to play friendlies or localised leagues which would run until the end of November.
The association is also asking teams to vote if they want to take part in six-a-side or 12-a-side tournaments. Several clubs, including Newtonmore and Kilmallie, have already indicated they will not be training or playing until next year.