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Straths Athletic 1952, prior to the
Strathdearn Cup Final against Beauly.
Straths Athletic were formed in 1947 as
an amalgamation of Stratherrick and Strathnairn due to the
sacrifice of lives during the Second World War. Strathnairn
had not been active since the early thirties but still had players in the
area with aspirations of playing at the highest level including the
three MacDairmid brothers along with there half brother Bobby Maclean at
Abersky .
Stratherrick had always been predominantly Junior in status
but had an uncanny knack of producing success in the senior
ranks in their early days, in fact they were the first
winners of the MacGillivray Senior League in it's inaugural
year, 1925.
The rivalry between Foyers and
Stratherrick was, as they say, healthy, the village had
everything, a small community by today's standards, it was,
in it's time one of Scotland's most important Industrial
areas, producing Aluminium of a standard that was the envy
of the modern age. Good wages were to be made at the Smelter
and The British Aluminium Company cultivated social well
being and corporate trust, but one thing was common between
Stratherrick and Foyers-Shinty.
The Smelter provided work for many folk
in the community and lads from the 'Strath' were not adverse
to earning a Bob or Two working shifts at the factory.
However, when it came to a Saturday, the gloves were off and
they were determined to prove they were the best the area
had to offer on the field of play. It didn't matter if you
were work mates during the shift, your fitness for life was
determined by your favorite team's performance on the
following Saturday.
As you can imagine the players themselves
were put under intense pressure to perform well, or badly,
depending on the determination of the foreman in charge of
the shift.
The rivalry was indeed intense. The Local
Priest Father Thain, pictured above, with the team, was by
all accounts a mild mannered man . As well as being a man of
the cloth, he enjoyed the Shinty to the point of total
involvement, stopping short of actually playing himself.
There is a super story of Father Thain and 'Birch' MacDonald
(respective managers) coming to the point of physical
violence at a match held at Foyers in the late
Forties;
The game had ebbed and flowed without
either team gaining the upper hand. The focus of the
managers then switched from the field of play to the field
of abuse! each accusing each other of heinous crimes towards
the development of the game of shinty and the pathetic
performance of each other's teams. The tension proved too
much and the pair had to be calmed down and restrained by
supporters for fear of physical injury!
Many of the faces pictured above are no
longer with us but they have left behind some enduring
memories and their place in local history is ensured.
John MacLean was the local policeman in
Foyers, previously playing for Inverness, he went on to play
for KIngussie and was very active in Shinty circles up to
his death. He was known as The Shadow.
Jock Cameron, standing at the extreme
right was one of the survivors from the Camanachd Cup Final
Team in 1928.
Ian Cumming, the referee for the match
was a former Caberfeidh player and along with his two
brothers,Tommy and Simon were famous players in their heyday
at Castle Leod. (Caberfeidh's park in Strathpeffer).
Despite the rivalry between Foyers and
Stratherrick, getting the best team on the park was still
the main priority as is proved by this photograph. Six of
the team were ex Foyers players, the Batchen brothers, Teep
MacDonald, Peter Grant and John Maclean.
Willie Cooper, the goalkeeper on the day
was taken prisoner during the Second World war but still
managed a game of Shinty or two using sticks hewn from tree
branches, no doubt introducing the noble game to a few
Sassanachs in the process. (I will try to find out more
details and update this interesting story)
This picture was, taken at the Strathdearn Cup Final of 1952, played against Beauly at Inverness . The score line was not in the Strath's favour, Beauly winning by Seven goals to one. One of the successfully Beauly team was Foyers man Anga Macgruer who is featured in the 1948 Foyers photo. However they did all receive an official team photograph as the runners up, which must have been painful reminder of the experience over the following few months!
This photograph is possibly the last taken of Straths Athletic as the club was disbanded in 1953. Amalgamating with Foyers again took place reforming as Boleskine in season 1953-54. We have continued to play under this name up to the present day.
© D M D 2000
