Shinty

[Lamh Dhearg Alba]

Cheers folks. As Rossfan said at the start of the thread the senior game at the weekend is indeed live on bbc scotland (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/7038625.stm)  which can be picked up on some sky packages.

As for the cost of a caman skull I think about 25/30 quid or thereabouts is about standard and you would hope not to break too many over a season. Ive noticed in the internationals that the Irish tend to get through a fair few sticks through the course of the game due to the shinty caman being a bit heavier.

There is mention of shinty in this months 4 4 2 soccer magazine, they call it a "stupid sport, an Irish sport which is a mix between Hurling and Hockey"

[Rossfan]

An é sin BBC 1 nó BBC 2 a Láimh??

[saffron sam2]

There is mention of shinty in this months 4 4 2 soccer magazine, they call it a "stupid sport, an Irish sport which is a mix between Hurling and Hockey"

That is interesting, LDA.  I've always been of the opinion that the (relatively) crude version of hurling played in north Antrim owes its origins to shinty, rather than hurling.  What do you think?

[Gnevin]

http://www.uscamanachd.org/documents/MacLennan_Shintysplace.pdf

Good read for a slow Friday

[AZOffaly]

I was looking at a few of them Shinty games there on Bounci. They look like a decent game to be honest. Is the caman shaped in such a way as to make the long ground strokes easier, i.e. is there some sort of curve on the bás?

The sideline 'cuts' and the initial throw in are a bit mad though, and what's the story with the goalies? They seem to have the same caman as the rest of the players, i..e not a big saucepan head like the hurling goalkeepers have. Seems like it would be very hard to save a shot with that. Do they have any special rules like can they handle the ball?

Also, is the ball very light? or is it similar to a sliothar?

[Rossfan]

I saw a bit of this on Saturday - Ireland well bet. Only Comerford of Kilkenny showed any threat in the bits i saw.
However the Irish were at a major disadvantage as you cant use hands while the Scots lads were in effect playing their own game with the added bonus of getting scores from hitting the ball over the bar.
Thier ground play -their natural game - was mmuch better than the Irish but their camáns were more suited to it.
I think it finished 4-10 to 1-6 with most of the Irish scores coming from frees.One Scots goal came from a free about 40 metres out and it was lucky nobody got in the way of it as they'd still be in Hospital. Talk about a bullet !!.
Didnt hear anything about the U21s as ther was no Irish media coverage at all.

[Lamh Dhearg Alba]

Just back from holiday and didnt see any of the games but got the scores on the shinty website. They just have the totals ie no goals and points but these were the final scores, senior Scotland 22 Ireland 11. U-21 Ireland 12 Scotland 1. Womens Scotland 6 Ireland 4. I heard the senior game wasnt much of a match at all and the crowd wasnt great either, think a lot of folk will have watched the Scotland - Ukraine soccer given it was a pretty important match.

Also saw this link on the shinty site, blog of a recent boys shinty team to Ireland, might be of interest to some posters http://keepingoutofthed.blogspot.com/2007/10/glenurquhart-high-school-in-dublin-and.html bit controversial at the start I suppose

saffron sam - I wouldnt say the hurling of Antrim owes its roots to shinty rather than hurling but it does seem that the old winter hurling which was most prevalent in the North of Ireland was closer to shinty than it it was to hurling in its modern day form.

AZ Offaly, the caman is different for each area of the field. You can see it on this site which is selling camans.. http://www.scotland.on.ca/shinty.shtml
Ball would be similar to a sliothar.

[tayto]

"he has long been comfortable with the thought that shinty ,with its emphasis on the stick and only the stick, shorn of the catching and kicking that dominates the modern game of hurling-is the superior sport in every way."

Kicking dominates modern hurling? Thats news to me.
Ah Hurling has so much more to it then just ground hurling.
Thank god!   
Why is it some people are obsessed with trying to prove that their preferred sport is 'better' then another sport? When in fact it's just different, they may prefer the differences in their chosen sport but to say shinty is a better sport hen hurling is clearly nonsense.

[Lamh Dhearg Alba]

Why is it some people are obsessed with trying to prove that their preferred sport is 'better' then another sport? When in fact it's just different, they may prefer the differences in their chosen sport but to say shinty is a better sport hen hurling is clearly nonsense.

Fair point tayto and I agree with you but in fairness to the guy he's hardly alone, even on the different sections of this site you'll see people claiming Gaelic Football is better than soccer/rugby or rugby union is better than rugby league. You cant really make comparisons IMO (beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all and I personally get a lot of tlachd watching shinty, hurling and Gaelic Football (and soccer)) so its not a surprise if some, rightly or wrongly, claim their sport is supreme. And as well as that I thought the guy had good points to make as regards the shinty/hurling link too.

My main point is for anybody who has played the new Gaelic Games: Hurling PS2 game.....worth getting? I know a few shinty folk who are tempted just cos its as close as they'll get to a Camanachd game - so is it worth buying?

[tayto]

Yea true enough i suppose, just feel it's written in quite an abrasive way, sher dosen't hockey concentrate on the stick as well and sher it's a bloody awful sport ...ops! there i go contradicting myself! 

havent played the game but the gaelic football version they brought out a couple of years ago got awful reviews so i'd imagine the hurling will be bad.

[thejuice]

One of my friends form college was a shinty player when he used to live in the highlands. The bas is way heavier than even the hurling goalkeepers equivilent. You can get some distance and power from the ground if you get it right. Wouldnt want ot get in the way of a wild swing. We used to have our own compromise rules games out the back of the college, he made bits of me caman one time not leaving a scratch on the shinty stick.

PS I have the Hurling PS2 game, its pretty good, way better than the football, the players are too slow when they are running with the ball on the hurl and the goalkeepers are useless, but its great craic for a two player game, still lots of room for improvment.

PS a do, Nothin pisses me off more than people who feel the need to compare sports, I play american football and live in the town of Rugby in the UK, you can only imagine the amount of times i have to hear the same tired arguement "pussy's game, wearing pads, play rugby like a real man, blah blah blah...". My responce is always the same, " you think your so hard come down and play the game", and they never take me up on it, pack of wankers. i think rugby players have an inferiority complex or something. you never hear an american football player put down rugby, but i nearly always hear the opposite form rugby players. (sorry for going of topic )

[Lamh Dhearg Alba]

Just in case anybody is interested the Camanachd Cup Final is this Saturday and will be live on BBC2 Scotland which can be picked up through Sky. Fort William v. Kyles Athletic and a 1.45 throw up. Has the potential to be a good match. Fort going for 3 in a row but a few of their key men are getting on a bit now. Kyles one of the most succesful teams in the history of the sport but been in a low period for the past decade or so. Now got a good young team and will have a decent chance on Saturday.

[Whitehair]

Would there be anywhere on the net you could watch it? A fella i know from my University days in Glasgow, Grant Irvine plays for Kyles. They must have came on well then in the last few years as he'd always said they weren't that hot. Does Ronald Ross play for Fortwilliam?

[Lamh Dhearg Alba]

Would there be anywhere on the net you could watch it? A fella i know from my University days in Glasgow, Grant Irvine plays for Kyles. They must have came on well then in the last few years as he'd always said they weren't that hot. Does Ronald Ross play for Fortwilliam?

You wont get it live online but the game will be on the iplayer afterwards, I will post up a link on Sunday if you want. Grant Irvine is a good player. Kyles have really kicked on over the past couple of years. They have a couple of old lads from their last Camanachd Cup team in 94 and a load of younger boys who have now got a bit of experience and are doing well. Ronald Ross plays for Kingussie, Kyles put them out 4-3 in the semi. Kingussie werent happy as they were ahead 4-1 over Kyles with 25 minutes to go and the game was abandoned because of the weather, then Kyles did them in the replayed match.

[the colonel]

Would there be anywhere on the net you could watch it? A fella i know from my University days in Glasgow, Grant Irvine plays for Kyles. They must have came on well then in the last few years as he'd always said they weren't that hot. Does Ronald Ross play for Fortwilliam?

Whitehair, Grant also a friend of mine, he's the captain of the Kyles team this year. Only got promoted to the Premier Division this year and they are way over achieving with a very young squad this year (and a crowd of their players were on that bus of Rangers supporters who got swine flu at the last game of the SPL season!!)