The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Shinty rivalry is story of the game
Ashinty rivalry – with the special bonds it creates – is being celebrated in a virtual exhibition as part of the Spirit 360 Project telling stories about the Spirit of the Highlands.
It was from famous 22-a-side matches between Strathglass and Glen Urquhart in 1887 and 1888 at the Bught Park in Inverness that the Camanachd Association came into being in 1893 and the current 12-a-side game was drawn up.
Shinty, also known as Game of the Gael, camanachd, iomain or cluith-bhall, is embedded in the Highlands.
And Strathglass player Eòghan Stewart, 40, has crafted an abundance of written, spoken and visual material to celebrate the long-standing links between these two clubs and communities.
The virtual exhibition, called The Garg Project, mixes Gaelic and English, audio recordings, poetry and imagery.
The main language of the players would have been Gaelic. This is reflected in the number of poems and songs written in Gaelic.
Eòghan has put together part of the project using Gaelic speakers who live in Glen Urquhart and Strathglass and the English translations opens access to many others.
Incredibly, six decades passed before these opponents crossed camans again since those first two meetings in Inverness.
To help revive the sport as well as games between the neighbouring districts, the Macdonald Cup was presented in 1948 by James Macdonald of Strathglass, one of the last surviving players of the 1887 match.
Last weekend’s National Division match at Blairbeg Park, Drumnadrochit, saw Glen post a 4-0 win over Strath as they got their hands on the Macdonald Cup, which the first-teams of these clubs compete for annually.
Eòghan explained why the chance to bring this fascinating story to life was too hard to resist.
He said: “When I saw the opportunity to apply to the project for a commission, I knew I really wanted to tell the story of why shinty is important to the wider Highlands, but through the prism of the Glen-Strath rivalry, both in the past and in the here and now, and how the Macdonald Cup is the unifying strand going back and forward.
“I felt it was very important that shinty could and should be part of any exhibition which tells the story of the Highlands, but through my research into the Gaelic songs I felt strongly that the Gaelic history of both areas was brought to the fore naturally as part of the art, through audio, visual and poetry.
“Within living memory, there were still numbers of
Gaelic speakers native to Strathglass and Glenurquhart going about.
“With the Gaelic Medium Unit going from strength to strength in Drumnadrochit, and other Gaelic speakers having moved to the area, it’s a good enough time as any to bring this important aspect back to the attention of people.”
The men’s reserve sides also chase silverware in the form of the Ali Ban Cup.
Glen’s Ali Ban, who was Alexander or Sandy Macdonald, scored the only goal in the 1888 match.
Also, due to the great development of women’s shinty, Glen and Strath have for the past five years competed for the MacLennan Quaich, which is a tribute to Helen MacLennan, whose support for the sport in the area is well known.
For more information see padlet.com/ gaidhligguleor/garg and also spiritofthehighlands. com/spirit-360/