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How do you pronounce 'Camanachd'?

In English, as its written, with the ch pronounced in the Scots or German way (or a heavily aspirated h).

I think the Gaidhlig pronounciation is a bit more like "camanach-ck".

It's also quite hard to define what it means, it's somewhere between "shinty" and "shinty organisation", some teams call themselves Placename Camanachd and some Placename Camanachd Club.

The sport itself is normally referred to as "iomain" in Gaidhlig media.

why do so many Irishmen follow a Scottish one?

There's a strong link between Donegal and Scotland isn't there ?

More traditionally between Antrim and Scotland - hence Antrim being an isolted hurling county, where the tradition was to play with the longer, leaner hurl.

Then the Celtic tricolour stuff must have set off a feedback loop with the rest of the country.  And the 1967 european cup could have been in the mix at some stage.

Ahh, gloryhunting essentially.  Suppose that explains why Lochee Harp never got the big support from over the water...

didn't a lot of Donegal men go working in glasgow ? The  Antrim thing is a bit older I think.
Do you know this map ?  All placenames as Gaeilge agus Gaidhlig
http://www.colmcille.net/en/projects/project.php?ID=24

the angle is a bit different - the countries are fairly close if you look at it sideways

Placenames are an interesting one.

For example, the Western Isles, the main Gaidhlig speaking region, has mostly Germanic/Nordic placenames (every island ending in an -ey sound for example). 

Meanwhile, you'll find Gaidhlig place names in the North East, where the original language was more related to Welsh than Gaidhlig, and the modern dialect heavily influenced with Germanicsms picked up through trade with Scandinavia and the low countries - you'll still hear people prounounce what? as "fit?" or "white" as "fite", and the local word for girl, "quine" is almost exactly the same as the Norwegian.  Yet our shinty pitch was called Balgownie, I'd be very surprised of there wasn't a Ballygowan, Smithstown, somewhere in Ireland.

Sort of.  There are lots of football teams in Ireland, why do so many Irishmen follow a Scottish one?

Speaking as someone who devotes a frightening chunk of my time to an English soccer team, the answer to that one is . . . I don't know. People used support League of Ireland teams. I wonder whether it's the GAA's fault. Wait, hear me out! We've always been ones for the big event, thousands going to one-off (for most people) events in high summer. Then when English soccer became more accessible, whether through cheaper travel or television exposure, the domestic version of the game looked paltry by comparison and it became a vicious cycle of paltryness. I started going to watch the Blues a few years back and if it weren't for the fact that I bumped into an old school friend there I doubt I would have kept going. You're sitting in the ground wondering whether everyone is judging you for not going more often or not singing in the right place or (as I found to my cost for writing about it on my blog) harbouring sympathies for the pure evil that is the GAA. I don't see things getting better for domestic soccer any time soon.

Interesting argument. I find one of the greatest things about the GAA being the pride in local club and county. Following a soccer club from another country can surely never replicate that. Following your local soccer team might not have the same obvious attraction of the big crowds, stadium etc of a bigger club somewhere else, but any success you experience through it will be all the sweeter.

When I see Hibs fans belting out Sunshine on Leith or Aberden supporters singing the Nothern Lights, I reckon OF supproters must feel they're missing out by not following a team with that intimiate connection to its community.  Possibly why they so readily adopt the symbols of violence from another island.

why do so many Irishmen follow a Scottish one?

There's a strong link between Donegal and Scotland isn't there ?

More traditionally between Antrim and Scotland - hence Antrim being an isolted hurling county, where the tradition was to play with the longer, leaner hurl.

Then the Celtic tricolour stuff must have set off a feedback loop with the rest of the country.  And the 1967 european cup could have been in the mix at some stage.

Ahh, gloryhunting essentially.  Suppose that explains why Lochee Harp never got the big support from over the water...

[Post ww1 has nothing to do with it.]

Germany had the 30 years war in the 1600s to come to a peace between Catholics and Protestants. Post ww1 has nothing to do with it.

so as long as it's not christian vs christian it doesn't matter?  I mean, it's not like any religion was persecuted in Germany between 1932 and 1945, aye?

1890

The rest of the Scottish fans  are just hurting,  jealous to the point of lunatic madness of the quality and successes of the fenian club, the impeccable record of their travelling fans wherever they travel around Europe and the praise heaped upon  the Celtic Park atmosphere by a lengthy list of the who's who in European football.

I don't think so. I think the rest of the Scottish fans despise the Old Firm for the fact that they have exploited sectarianism for mutual gain - carving up the spoils in Scottish football as a result - for over a century. The vast majority of the fans of other clubs couldn't give a shit about Irish politics yet since time immemorial have been subjected to morons brandishing red hand flags/tricolours and singing about being up to their knees in blood or blowing people up. And in the case of Celtic the bleating about how everybody is against them when in reality they have always been very much part of the establishment is tiresome.  Really they are both just horrible football clubs, and that's why the rest of Scottish football don't like them.
[/quote]
Maybe Scotland is also the mother source of spite. [/quote]

rangers fans using flags and emblems from a conflict in Ireland to wind up celtic supporters, and celtic supporters using flags and emblems to wind up rangers supporters...and this is a Scottish problem?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/rangers

Somebody at BBC Scotland's going to have an "interview without tea and biscuits" tomorrow 

Fair enough, but the Irish connection does grate.
I'm satisfied  to have to your agreement on the rest

Sort of.  There are lots of football teams in Ireland, why do so many Irishmen follow a Scottish one?

I also find people like Phil Mac Giolla Bhian very strange. 

Nor are celtic the only Scottish team to be lauded for their supporters abroad.
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/sport/uefa-cup-stimmungsvolle-schafzuechter-1.261923

1890

The rest of the Scottish fans  are just hurting,  jealous to the point of lunatic madness of the quality and successes of the fenian club, the impeccable record of their travelling fans wherever they travel around Europe and the praise heaped upon  the Celtic Park atmosphere by a lengthy list of the who's who in European football.

Fenian club?  I'll stick with a Football Club...

[It wasn't just the Hearts fans who were the problem.]

No I haven't.

Although my earlier statement's probably overstating it over a bit, as there's a NF element to the jam tarts support so it doesn't surprise.

Hibs, Aberdeen and Dundee thugs are most definitely equal opportunities c*nts tho'.

It wasn't just the Hearts fans who were the problem.  Also, not convinced that there is not a sectarian element to Hibbees support.

Of course not - but the other lot are from West Central Scotland, which I'd already said was the heartland of the problem.

Hibs have had their problems with violence, but like Aberdeen and the two Dundee clubs, its been the football casuals rather than Grand Theft Ulster.  If anything, Hibees hate celtic more than they hate rangers, as celtic bribed the Hibs squad to switch teams back in the 1890s.

No I haven't.

Although my earlier statement's probably overstating it over a bit, as there's a NF element to the jam tarts support so it doesn't surprise.

Hibs, Aberdeen and Dundee thugs are most definitely equal opportunities c*nts tho'.

[but the extent to which the meeja have rowed in behind the idea that a piece of Scotland will die if Rangers are not saved is a real eye-opener]

It's 99% certain that Rangers will be liquidated at this stage. The money simply isn't there, and that's even before you consider the results of the tax case. The next question is what becomes of the new entity that will rise out of the ashes. I've been scornful of Celtic fans and their conspiracy theories regarding Rangers over the years, but the extent to which the meeja have rowed in behind the idea that a piece of Scotland will die if Rangers are not saved is a real eye-opener. These, after all, are the same people who were merciless when Celtic were on the brink back in the early 90's. The upcoming battle between them and the revolting masses who are luxuriating in the demise of Rangers is going to be fascinating.

Is it really that surprising?  Rangers is as Scottish as religious bigotry and heart attacks.

Come again?

In what way is religious bigotry typically scottish?

In the sense that religion still marks people out in Scotland. The whole celtic/rangers thing and the orange order nonsense.  Even the celtic conspiracy theories that I only heard of today. What is the point? 

Search me, but your sentence essentially reads "The whole pretendy irish/pretendy british thing and the irish organisation formed to combat the Society of United Irishmen nonsense".  Its a problem isolated to parts of West Central Scotland - those that suffered/benefitted from massive Irish immigration.  It simply does not exist in Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, the Borders or the Highlands.

It's all way past its sell by date.  Nobody gives a sh*t about religion in Germany or Switzerland.
It's not as bad in Scotland as in Norn Irn but it's still more important than in Germany or even the 26 counties.

I don't know about Switzerland, but the Bundesrepublik is a great example of a tolerant modern european state.  Was it worth what their society went through to get there?  Who knows, it's too early to say...

The RoI is a very religiously homogeneous place, bigots need an "other" to hate.  There's even less anti-Protestant bigotry in Poland, because there's even less protestants.

[Must be plenty more strife around the world that the Scots are to blame for.]

It kinda is, most of the religious bigotry in Ireland seems to have been imported from Scotland (rather than the far more recent reverse). Even in the United States of America alot of the bible belt religious fruitcakes are of Scots or Scotch-Irish heritage. Came across one or two relgiously intollerent Aussies and they were of Scottish stock.

So Scotland is to blame for religious bigotry in Ireland, America and Australia? I believe the Bush family claims some kind of Scottish heritage too so you can pin the current problems in Iraq and Afghanistan on us too. Must be plenty more strife around the world that the Scots are to blame for.

Yaass!!  Get it up ye Elders of Zion - we run the world now!

[liquidise]

Looks like the Administrators are looking to hold onto some of their more valuable assets until they can liquidise them into cold hard cash!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/mar/08/rangers-players-redundant-folly?newsfeed=true

The administrators have a number of options open to them.  Sadly, sticking the b*stards in a blender isn't one of them... 

[but the extent to which the meeja have rowed in behind the idea that a piece of Scotland will die if Rangers are not saved is a real eye-opener]

It's 99% certain that Rangers will be liquidated at this stage. The money simply isn't there, and that's even before you consider the results of the tax case. The next question is what becomes of the new entity that will rise out of the ashes. I've been scornful of Celtic fans and their conspiracy theories regarding Rangers over the years, but the extent to which the meeja have rowed in behind the idea that a piece of Scotland will die if Rangers are not saved is a real eye-opener. These, after all, are the same people who were merciless when Celtic were on the brink back in the early 90's. The upcoming battle between them and the revolting masses who are luxuriating in the demise of Rangers is going to be fascinating.

Is it really that surprising?  Rangers is as Scottish as religious bigotry and heart attacks.

Come again?

In what way is religious bigotry typically scottish?