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In two weeks two Gaidhlig speaking teams of shinty players will play matches against Michael Breathnach CLG and a gaelige Uladh select in a series of internationals conducted entirely in gaidhlig and gaelige. Michael Breathnach have traditionally provided the opponents in this fixture as they are a club who've conducted all their business in gaelige.  This year, the competition has been opened up to the Uladh players, and the Alba squad has been split into Sgitheanachs (players from Skye) and other gaels.

The Alba team is named below:-
http://www.shinty.com/news/alba-name-squad-for-gaelic-shintyhurling-international-in-skye/

We caught the Turk, leading by 6 now!!!

Internet polls: Britiain's Greatest Foe

Plus I am presently reading "The Great Game", a history of Anglo-Russian rivalry over India, which makes a good case for another from the list, Akhbar Khan.

Is that the Peter Hopkirk book?

I presume you can see why a central Asian leader wouldn't be the National Army Museum's choice right now.  The list will have been chosen to elicit the least controversy possible.

Still think it should be Napoleon. Only he and Hitler and Philip II ever threatened to invade Britain itself. The rest were more colonial rebellions.

Or Charles Stewart, who invaded with an army of 7.  Luckily, there was already one waiting for him in the Highlands, otherwise it would've all been a bit embarrassing.

Or the Dutch Navy, who didn't threaten to invade, they just got on with it, and managed to sink the Royal Navy at anchor.  (that may have been post Union of the crowns but pre-Acts of Union)

Philip II also sailed against England, rather than Britain.

I just scored the equalising point!! 1692 each. Is your man Attaturk the fella the stadium in Istanbul is named after?

Yes.

Ataturk's an assumed name of the Turkish Army officer Kemal Mustafa who led a coup of young officers against the Ottoman regime and also defeated the Greek Army on the Anatolian peninsula.  And defeated the British Army as well.  I think that Britian might have been allied to Greece in the Balkan conflicts that followed the World War 1, I'm not sure, Balkan history is a bit murky in that period.

[if]

Maradona 

Speaking of their enemies if it had been a poll of England's greatest foes then you would imagine William Wallace might have got a mention but i think he was plying his trade a good bit before the Acts of Union brought about GB.  But also I'm well aware there are a few porkies told to make the film the great show that it is. ... but even if you don't believe that he could shoot fire balls from his eyes and bolts of lightning from his arse  he is still a good foe !

Well yep, it's quite hard to be Britain's greatest foe when Britian doesn't exist yet.

Hitler would be a bit of a dodgy one, it would be pretty bad political capital if Hitler was seen to be voted as "the greatest xyz".

Michael Collins is a politcally safe choice in the UK, led a small army against a colonial power, led a nation that's now an EU partner of the UK, and the IRA will get the blame for his death.  Plus there was a big budget Hollywood biopic about him.

Hence the bit highlighted in bold ...

Agree with you on Adolf they wouldn't want to be announcing him as the winner.

I see they've gone with Rommel - just to give his lads a bit of representation.

And "suicided" in 1944 so it can be claimed he wasn't really a Nazi.  And not an insurgent leader, which might lead to awkward questions about the UK's current foreign policy.

Maradona 

Speaking of their enemies if it had been a poll of England's greatest foes then you would imagine William Wallace might have got a mention but i think he was plying his trade a good bit before the Acts of Union brought about GB.  But also I'm well aware there are a few porkies told to make the film the great show that it is. ... but even if you don't believe that he could shoot fire balls from his eyes and bolts of lightning from his arse  he is still a good foe !

Well yep, it's quite hard to be Britain's greatest foe when Britian doesn't exist yet.

Hitler would be a bit of a dodgy one, it would be pretty bad political capital if Hitler was seen to be voted as "the greatest xyz".

Michael Collins is a politcally safe choice in the UK, led a small army against a colonial power, led a nation that's now an EU partner of the UK, and the IRA will get the blame for his death.  Plus there was a big budget Hollywood biopic about him.

Just out of interest, why did the league highlights programme from the weekend only show the Dublin vs Cork game, and not any of the other Div 1 hurling?

Q. If Rangers win the big tax case does it suddenly become solvent?

MH. IR have indicated that they would appeal to the High Court if they lose, and the High Court tend not to favour aggressive tax avoidance/evasion schemes.
Rangers winning at the first hurdle does not mean they are free of the liability.
It could drag on for years, it could end up in the Supreme Court

Ignoring the big tax case and wee tax case, rangers are currently running at a £10 million/year deficit.  That cannot be sustainable, even if the debt disappeared overnight.

Rangers' green cousins ?? 
Shall we call Rangers,  'Aberdeeen's better half' 

Nah, judging by the average Ibrox crowd, ranger's cousins would also be their better halfs.

[Kingussie meant Ceann Gaoitheach or windy mountain]

LondonCamanachd

I ended up ordering that map and it arrived yesterday. I never new that Kingussie meant Ceann Gaoitheach or windy mountain.  Kirkintilloch is the Gaidhlig equivalent of Ceathar Ceann Tulach .  The Scottish names are fascinating.  There seems to be an original  Gaidhlig name for at least 75%  of the towns on the map. The English names are just like colonial overlays.

It doesn't! Kingussie is Ceann a' Ghiuthsaich - the head of the pine forest. The spread of Gaelic placenames in Scotland is certainly very interesting with names appearing in places where some people now claim Gaelic was never spoken. The irony is, as pointed out by London Camanachd earlier on, that in the islands where Gaelic is now at it's strongest  the majority of the placenames are of Norse origin.

Gaidhlig was spoken by the court in Edinburgh until the reign of James IV (1473-1513)
Looking at the placenames it must have been spoken as far south as Galloway although in the south and the far north on the east coast they spoke either Norse or some kind of English.   
Basically the Scots were Gaels  but it is hard to admit this even today.

Not 'basically', so much as 100% correct.  The Scots were Gaels who came from Ireland.

[Isn't it a bit strange that a rogue chairman has to prove himself unfit by his actions with the club before the SFA will consider the merits of his character in the first place to run a club?]

The SFA are today making charges against Rangers, some of which relate to Craig Whyte not being a fit and proper person to run a club.
Isn't it a bit strange that a rogue chairman has to prove himself unfit by his actions with the club before the SFA will consider the merits of his character in the first place to run a club? It's almost as if the SFA just took Ranger's word for it, that this conman/chancer was in fact a bona fide businessman and simply turned off the tv when those journalist investigations were raising serious questions about Whyte that deserved a serious inquiry by the SFA.

When it comes to reviewing the conduct of the SFA one can be both rational and paranoid at the same time.

It's because the SFA has no defined Fit and Proper Person test, in the manner that the English FA does.

[it surely is regarded as a lower form of humankind to be Irish]

The clear accountable fact of history in Scotland, is that Celtic fc has been there as a focal point for Irish and Irish/Scottish ethnic groups and has had a immeasurable positive effect in raising the dignity of the diaspora. It may not be a crime to be Irish in Scotland, neither is discrimination a significant social factor these days, however it surely is regarded as a lower form of humankind to be Irish, it's something to taunt, to mock. Go to Aberdeen, the natives taunt the Celts with 'you're in the wrong country'.
Football is just another place where that hatred/ mocking ignorance from Scots towards Irish ethnicity, manifests itself.

In the mainstream of Scottish media opinion, this is what passes for intelligent comment,
"The problem with a large section of the Celtic support is that they do not think of themselves as Scots. They will tell you that they are Irish or Scots-Irish, whatever that's supposed to be."
'this fixation with Ireland which so many Scots have, makes my blood boil.'

When Scotland played Ireland 7 or 8 years ago at Hamden pk, how the redkneck Scottish bumpkins were outraged by the sight/sound of thousands of native Scots supporting Ireland.

Quite simply it boils down to one main prejudice held by the more primitive Scots
against those who have  Irish ethnicity in Scotland  or a Scots/Irish identity.
When that Celtic fan accepted that UEFA award for the supporters, he said  something to the effect that 'all over Europe we are welcomed, yet at home everywhere we go its hostile,  every expression/ celebration of our culture, our identity, is seen as a threat, even a sectarian threat.'

Yeah, maybe those all those Celts should keep quiet about their Irishness. How dare they sing old rebel folk songs, sing the 'soldiers song', wave the tricolour  
Even in Lisbon 1967, those Celtic hordes were waving the tricolour, a perceived blight on many a scottish tv screen 

irony?

@MS Been away from the world with the Norovirus, wouldn't wish it on Nacho Novo.

I don't think we'll agree or see eye to eye, but I should reiterate, there is no widespread hate or dislike of irish people in Scotland.

Celtic supporters are not told in Aberdeen "they're in the wrong f**king country", the inference, if you're not looking for bigotry, is that they appear to be lost, as Athenry is not in Scotland - it's not an expression of anti-Irish hatred in any way shape or form.  It also gets opened up when rangers indulge in their songs, and - more tongue-in-cheek, when Dundee Utd fans start singing about Barcelona.

also what point are you making or trying to make by saying this 'Kevin Lynch players' - is there any particular reason why you point this out?

The two posters identiying themselves as Kevin Lynch players have shown themselves to be ignorant on Scottish football, and Scotland in general.