A-Z Of Great Scots
Eddie Tembo is Scotland’s shinty star and the sport’s first ever Zambian player
MOVING to a foreign country when you’re little can be tough. For Eddie Tembo, there wasn’t just unfamiliar food and questionable weather to get to grips with when he found himself in Scotland, he also had to master a new sport.
When he was 12 years old, Eddie moved from his native Zambia to Drumnadrochit, where his mum had grown up and his grandfather had been a policeman. The lure of the shinty pitch near his house was too much to resist; he arrived in the village on a Wednesday, and by that weekend, he’d already picked up a caman, or shinty stick, and joined a training session.
Shinty is, of course, a peculiarly Scottish sport. It’s not a million miles away from field hockey, but it was nothing like anything Eddie had played before. Now very much a Highland pursuit, at one time it was popular across Scotland and in parts of northern England. It even made it all the way to Canada, where it’s sometimes credited as being the “grandfather of ice hockey”.
Zambia had never been introduced to the charms of this rowdy stick-and-ball game, but it nevertheless managed to produce one of its biggest stars.
At shinty’s heart, there’s a sense of community, and it didn’t take young Eddie long to learn it’s an excellent way to make pals. He also quickly realised that he was very good at it.
After playing on local side Glenurquhart’s junior teams, Eddie joined the main squad when he was 16, making a name for himself at matches across the Highlands. He does suffer from a chronic case of itchy feet, however, and his teammates had to get used to him disappearing for months at a time. In 2000, he embarked on a round-the-world trip as a travel photographer, but he was back on the pitch three years later.
The best was still to come for
“There’s a sense of community at shinty’s heart”
Eddie, and in 2008, not only did he play for Glenurquhart’s North Division One Championship-winning side, but he also became the first Black player to represent Scotland in an international shinty match, when he was selected to play against Ireland’s hurlers. He even scored a point on his debut.
When Eddie’s mum Kathleen died in 2010, he faced a big decision, to put down roots in the village, or return to Zambia. Fortunately for Glenurquhart, their star player’s heart is in the Highlands and though he’ll always be gripped by wanderlust, he and his young family call Drumnadrochit home.