Camanachd Association and Women's Camanachd Association

The Camanachd Association came into being on 10th October 1893, at a meeting held in the Victoria Hall, Kingussie. The people involved in shinty at that time saw that the sport was growing, more clubs were being formed and there was a need for an overall governing body structure. By the time of the meeting in 1893 there were 33 recognised clubs. The Association has always had the ability to change to meet the developing needs of the sport and keep itself up-to-date with an appropriate organisational and governance structure. The structure put in place in 1893 met the needs of the sport at that time. By the middle of the 20th century needs were different and a major reorganisation of the administrative and managerial structures was implemented.

That served the sport well up until the 1980s. The ‘Future of Shinty’ Report published in 1981 led to a compete restructuring of the way in which shinty was organised and managed. That, in turn, led to the move away from a dependence on volunteers to manage the sport, to the Association’s first salaried employees being engaged.

And then, in 2005, to again meet the developing needs of the sport and after extensive consultations, the constituted Association was voted out of existence by the members and in its place they established a company limited by guarantee, still called The Camanachd Association.
Throughout its history and the different organisational and management structures that have been in place, the Camanachd Association has held one aim above all others – To foster, encourage, promote and develop the sport of shinty. 
http://www.shinty.com/home/

The women's Camanachd was set up in 1998 and has been very successful since it started. It was developed to given the women's game more opportunity to grow and to show that it can be just as successful as the mens game. Since the development of the Women's Camanachd the game has developed further and there is now a positive attitude towards women's shinty. The president of the women's camanachd is Karen Cameron who has been very successful in developing the game perhaps due to her knowledge and committment to the game. However although the two associations would appear to be completely separate both have the same objective to foster, encourage, promote and develop the sport of shinty.     

http://www.womens-shinty.com/ 

 

The rules of Shinty

The objective of the game is to get the ball into the goal at the opposite end of the pitch. The game is traditionally played on grass but as of 2009 the game has been allowed to play on aritficial turf. The ball is a hard solid sphere slightly smaller than a tennis ball, consisting of a cork core covered by two pieces of leather stitched together. The seam is raised. It is very similar to a hurling sliotar in that it resembles an American baseball with more pronounced stitching. The ball is usually white but teams are now buying balls which have their clubs logo and their colours. There is also plastic and soft balls which tend to be used in youth competitions or in indoor tournaments, these balls are called "first shinty balls". The ball is played using the caman a stick of about 3 1/2 ft in length. Unlike the Irish camán, it has no blade. The caman is traditionally made of wood, traditionally ash but now more commonly hickory, and must not have any plate or metal attached to it. The caman would be made from any piece of wood with a hook in it, hence caman, from the Scottish Gaelic, cam meaning bent or crooked. It can also be called a stick or club.As with the balls plastic sticks are available for beginners or for indoor use.

A player may play the ball in the air so long as they are not swinging at head height or deemed to be making a dangerous move. Both sides of the stick are used and are used to block and tackle another player. A player may tackle another player using the body as long as it is shoulder to shoulder. The ball can be stopped with the chest, stick, or when both feet are on the ground. The goalkeeper is however allowed to use their hands to stop the ball but only if it is done with an open palm.
If a foul is committed this will result in a free hit which is indirect, however if the foul is committed within the penalty area the opposition would be awarded with a penalty. The penalty would be taken from 20 yards out. A ball hit over the sideline results in a shy. A shinty shy involves the taker tossing the ball above his head and hitting the ball with the shaft of the caman. The ball must be directly overhead when struck to be legal. A ball played by a team over the opposing bye line results in a goal hit from the edge of the D, a ball played by a team over their own results in a corner.

History of Shinty

Shinty also known as camanachd, iomain in gaelic, is a team sport played with sticks and balls. It was first played in the highlands and dervied from the irish game hurley but was soon widespread throughout scotland and even being played in england. The stick or caman as its known is traditionally made from ash but is more commonly made from hickory.

The game was traditionally played in the winter months but due to the weather it meant many games were unplayed. This has meant that it has know been changed to being played in summer (not that the weather in summer is much better!)

The game is played with 12 players in each team however womans teams play with 10 players. Each team is allowed 4 subs. And it used to be that only 3 substitutions could be made per match but this year the camanachd association has changed this rule and changed it to rolling substitutions.

The organisation which is used today as a way of promoting shinty and giving information about it is the camanachd association or the woman's camanachd association both give full details on how to become more involved and engaged in the sport.

http://www.shinty.com/  http://www.womens-shinty.com/index.html