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Strathnairn Shinty Club

Shinty in Strathnairn according to an account of the area in” The Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness” was played at least on Christmas and New Year day at a place called “an talamh loisgt”  (the burnt ground) below Grask.

In early March 1911 there is a report of a friendly shinty match at Farr Mains between the Strathdearn and Stratherrick teams referred by Dan Bethune which Stratherrick won by four goals to nil .This match was organised by the Strathdearn club as they entertained their opponents to tea and refreshments after the game.

 The Strathnairn Camanachd club was formed in 1923-24 season, part of the evidence for this is in the form of a trophy called the Strathnairn Camanachd Cup presented by W J Cameron Flichity in 1923.

The club whose colours were red and blue vertical stripes with a black cat badge entered the Camanachd, Mactavish & Strathdearn Cup in season 1923-24 the first time ever they had entered an official competitions, in all competitions they were drawn against the Foyers club. Their first ever competitive match was in the Camanachd cup at Foyers on 24^th Nov 1923, where they went down to their hosts by four goals to two. W J Campbell Stratherrick refereed the contest and W J Cameron Flichity thanked the Foyers club for their hospitality after the meal, following the game.  In the Mactavish cup first round a fortnight later again at Foyers factory field, Strathnairn lost by three goals to one, M J Maclennan Foyers refereed and Grant scored for the visitors. In the Strathdearn cup after a bye in the Central District first round they lost to Foyers away by four goals to one, W J Campbell refereed and the newspaper report of this match recorded that Strathnairn’s play has improved over the season. In season 1924-25 they were one of the contestants in the inaugural Macgillivery league Inverness-shire section, the Strathnairn players were up against first team regulars with Camanachd and Mactavish cup experience players also in this year they fielded a second team in the Strathdearn . In the 25-26 season they reached the semi final the Strathdean cup by beating Grantown three goals to two away and Strathdearn five goals to nil at home in a snowstorm to win the southern district . They lost the semi final to eventual winners Foyers .

The only success the Strathnairn club had was in reaching the final of the Strathdearn cup on 16/4/1927, in the first round they beat Strathdearn by two goals to one at home, The south district final they had a more convincing win against Grantown away, by six goals to two after being four up at half-time. As there were three teams through to the semi final stage of the competition, one team received a bye into the final whilst the other two played off to reach the final. The semi finalist were Strathnairn, Caberfiedh and Fort Augustus, there is no mention in the newspapers of the day of which team received the bye, but the upshot was that Strathnairn and Caberfiedh would meet in the final.  The final match against Caberfiedh was at the Bught park Inverness with an entrance fee of sixpence, Strathnairn had the better of the first half but their opponents came back in the second period to draw the game two all at the close of normal time. In extra time Caberfiedh’s superior fitness told and they lifted the cup by four goals to two .

The photo shows the Strathdearn cup final team, one striking feature is the amount of players outwith the recognised Strathnairn area.

In the front row is Alf Macmillan from Foyers, when in conversation with him in 1987 he remembered being asked to play by Danny Macmillan, but had difficulty remembering his team mates on the day, also was uncertain if he had played in the previous rounds.  

Four Stratherrick players Angus & Rory Macdonald Whitebridge Hotel, Jock Cameron from Lakeview Errogie and Duncan Cameron (Beinn Sgurrach), both Duncan and Angus played for Stratherrick in the Macgillivray final of 1925. Angus Macdonald was in the 1927 Stratherrick Mactavish cup final team a month prior to this match. His brother Rory coincidently was the referee in the previous round against Grantown .  Donald John Macintosh was from Aultnagoir, and Danny Matheson from Glendoe so that left only five  possible Strathnairner's playing in the final.

Danny Macmillan (Dumnaglass) was the grand uncle of Boleskine players of the eighties and nineties  Duncan & Ian Macmillan . Their late father Archie was in the Strath's Athletic Mactavish Juvenile Cup final team in 1948 and was president of Boleskine in the early  eighties, serving also in the committee around that period. Danny Campbell (Danny the trapper) in his later years lived at the Beehive in Errogie, he was a great character and excellent gardener winning the men's trophy at the local Seed & Root show held by the Stratherrick Farmers three times on the trot. George Grant  was a good athlete who won the local sports championship at the Strathnairn Games in 1928, he lived for a long time in Smithton outside Inverness.   Paddy Macnaughton was a keeper at Flichity estate and the unknown in the back row ,could also possible from Strathnairn.
 

Back L-R:- George Grant, Unknown , Duncan Cameron , Donald John Macintosh, Peter Brown, Paddy Macnaughton , Danny Campbell, Danny Matheson , Rory Macdonald. Front L-R :-  Angus Macdonald, Jock Cameron, Danny Macmillan, Alf Macmillan

The Strathnairn club entered no competitions for the next two seasons but in 1929-30 they entered only the Strathdearn cup where they lost to Strathdearn in the first round For the next couple of seasons their cup entry was the same and their first round results against Strathdearn club were identical. In season 32-33 they did not enter any competition and the club ceased to exist at that point. One can only surmise that from then the Second World War in 1939 players from the area joined Stratherrick or Foyers to get a game. The Club played its matches at Tomintoul near Flichity, the exact field is unknown as are the location of changing facilities and refreshments after games . Following the cessation of hostilities in 1947 Stratherrick and Strathnairn clubs formally amalgamated to become Strath's Athletic.

Returning to the Strathnairn Challenge Cup there is no record of the cup winners or what format the competition took, whether they played against neighbouring teams like Stratherrick or Strathdearn, or perhaps an inter area competition the east end of the Strath against the west end.  Only three photos of shinty in the Strathnairn area have come to light to date. Two reproduced by courtesy of Grace Macgillivray (Danny Macmillans neice) are of very early in the clubs formation, whichever is the earliest is open to conjecture. The photograph titled the rivals Strathnairn & Stratherrick on the rear, shows two distinct team colours; the hoops are synonymous with Stratherrick, whilst the vertical stripes are that of Strathnairn. The Stratherrick team seems to feature only Tavish Cameron from Lakeview Errogie all the rest are from Dumnaglass eastwards to Croachy one of the people in the back row Willie John Campbell of Garthbeg a Stratherrick player of note he is un-stripped perhaps he officiated as referee that day . Were these two teams from the Strathnairn area, one with borrowed Stratherrick strip, only the title leads us to believe this was a competitive match between the two clubs, if this was so surely Stratherrick would have had more recognisable players within their team.

The second photo features a team with the cup was taken in a different year from the first one as some of the players don’t feature in that one .This team is in Stratherrick colours, but one of the players making up the twelve and un-striped also with a club, is a young Roddy Macintosh of Lyne of Gorthleck. He could well have been working in the area and played in the cup game as he was a player for Stratherrick since 1922. The two photos pose more questions than answers but they still provide a valuable memento of shinty in Strathnairn around that period.

Back L-R :- 1               , 2                , 3 Jock Clark, 4  Cameron (Brinmore) , 5 Alex Fraser, 6 Alister Shaw. Front L-R :- 1      , 2  Dan MacLean, 3 Dan Macmillan ,4 Tavish Cameron , 5 Duncan Macmillan, 6  Roddy Macintosh

The Strathnairn Camanachd cup was presented in 1927 to the best local athlete in the Strathnairn games which the Shinty club had organised from 1925 till about 1929 possibly as a means of raising funds.  In the 1925 games at Farr house grounds a shinty match was featured, in which Stratherrick beat Foyers by one goal to nil .The 1927 games featured a Clay Pigeon Shoot for the first time, local bag piping competitions were also featured, so there was quite a comprehensive programme of events on the day. The Strathnairn Sports games were started around 1924 and continued till up to the Second War commenced in 1939. 

The benefactor of the cup, W J Cameron is remembered in shinty by the cup of the same name which is now the North area U17 league trophy. Previously it was used for the Northern Meeting six a sides which in 1964 was won by Boleskine. 

Foot note :-    Just where was “an talamh loisgt”  (the burnt ground) below Crask could it possibly be where Boleskine plays presently, as the ground in summer is very dry and the grass gets quite burnt in dry weather . 

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