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Stratherrick Camanachd pictured in 1908
Stratherrick had been at the fore front of shinty throughout the Highlands from their formation in 1890. They were the first official team from this area to be recognized by the newly formed Camanachd
Association. At this time Foyers was a mere hamlet with a few low lying crofts, close to the shores of Loch Ness where pleasure boats arrived during the summer to view the spectacular Falls of Foyers and as such, did not have a populous to raise a shinty team.
The crofting areas to the south of Foyers offered more opportunity for the budding crofter of the time. land was plentiful with reasonable rent from the landlord, Lord Lovat. Thus the population of Stratherrick far out numbered that of Foyers. The latest craze amongst the Scots was the game of Soccer. The Scottish Football Association had recently been formed to administer organization within the sport but this game was built on a professional basis rather than Amateur. The game of soccer had been developing rapidly over the latter part of the last century and Scots from the mining villages in the south of Scotland had began to play the sport on a professional basis, plying their trade south of the Scottish border, in the north of England.
Football for those in the north of Scotland had been concentrated in the major townships, such as Inverness and Elgin on the Moray coast and Aberdeen and Dundee on the east coast. The remoteness of these places when compared with the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh meant that professional football was a non starter, at least for the time being.
No doubt, it was in response to the popularity of soccer that the Camanachd Association were formed, with the remit to consolidate a traditional game, unique to the Highlands of Scotland. They were immediately required to satisfy the shortfall in basic rules and regulations of play. The Association was formed in 1893. This was three years after the formation of Stratherrick shinty club but by this time competitions had become untenable due to a lack of common ground over rules and regulations of play!
This is the earliest photograph of Stratherrick Shinty Club, taken in 1908
approx , some faces and stars of the future are recognizable all the
same. Their names are accurate as far as we know, the picture must have been
taken at Foyers because the original has electric power lines shown .
Electricity was at Foyers then because of the British Aluminium factory
there, but it did not come to Stratherrick till the mid nineteen fifty's.
Of all the team members in the photograph, the only one that I had any faint recollections of was a near neighbour of ours, Hugh Goldie, who ran a blacksmith's
shop at Bunchegovie. I remember visiting his
sister when I was very young! No running water no electricity but an overwhelming sense of comfort and peace was apparent as soon as you were greeted and welcomed in.
Two of the players in the group fell in World War one , Simon Cameron (Culintyre) and Josie Fraser. Both Simon Cameron (the Glebe) ,Hugh Goldie & Tommy Fraser (Lochbran) were still playing in the twenty's for Stratherrick. There are three sets of brothers in the team, the Cameron's of Culintyre, the Fraser's of Lochgarthside Willie emigrated to Australia whilst Archie remained and was secretary to the Stratherrick team in the twenty's. The Cameron's at the Glebe, their younger brother Jock went on to play in the Camanachd final with Boleskine in 1928. Alex Chisholm (Lochgarthside) ( Whub) was the secretary of the club around this period up to the First World War. Bob Macdonald (Birchfield) was a brother of Duncan MacDonald (Birch) who captained Foyers to the Strathdearn Cup in 1912 & 13.
In the Boleskine team of the late seventy's there were two grandchildren of Archie Fraser and Alex Chisholm playing, Andy Fraser and Jim Chisholm respectively, Jim was still playing at the start of last season. Bob Macdonald (Birchfield) grand nephew Duncan Macdonald has only recently retired from playing due to injury whilst Kevin Stewart a great grand nephew of Tommy Fraser (Lochbran), has returned to play for Boleskine this interim season 2003, after being away for the game for several years. So the players of 1908 have direct descendants still involved in local shinty nearly a Hundred years later.
© D M D & A J C 2003
