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| Abbreviation | ESA |
|---|---|
| Formation | 2013 |
| Type | Sports Association |
Membership | Shinty clubs based in England and Wales |
Chairperson | Craig Holt |
| Website | https://www.facebook.com/englishshintyassociation |
The English Shinty Association (ESA) is the main body for promoting and encouraging the sport of shinty in England and Wales.
Shinty was previously played widely in England in the 19th century and early 20th century, with teams such as London Scots, Bolton Caledonian, Cottonopolis and evidence to suggest it was played in some form in Cumberland, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire, Nottingham, and Lincoln. Nottingham Forest F.C. was established by shinty and bandy players [1] as Nottingham Forest Football and Bandy Club. [2]
There is evidence to support that Old Trafford alongside many other football teams started out as shinty teams. . [1]
Stamford Bridge the home of Chelsea F.C. started out as the london shinty teams playing ground. The blue tops of London Camanachd were given to the Chelsea football team to use as shinty was at the time more popular and just better funded. Football and shinty shared the same grounds for many years in the 19th century Still to this day both London Camanachd and Chelsea F.C. use this same blue as their home colours as a throwback to this bit of history.
Shinty has had an up and down history in England. With the number of Scots always changing depending on the economy of the times. Shinty in London remained strong in the 20th century where it had been reported that there was once eight teams.
London had the Dewar's shield (donated by the Dewar's whisky distillery) this was a very popular tournament with games played weekly in London. With the breakout of WW2 all silverware was put in a central location vault in London and was unfortunately bombed in the blitz. This bit of history was lost. The Dewar's shield league never took off after this point. In 2020 records about what it once was had been re-discovered in old newspapers and the plan to reform this league had started again.
There was a Northallerton Camanachd in the late 60s to early 80s, and interest was maintained by the links to the nearby military base, but they only competed periodically. London Camanachd and Oxford in the 80s were the only teams left. London went to yellow strips given to them by Brian boru GAA team in london. At this time 6s was the popular thing in shinty and with this being easier to form teams then the 12s shinty remained. Having to borrow from others was very much needed and London Camanachd even had to ask the shinty teams in Oxford for funding just to keep them going.
Shinty had been holding on even if in its very small form in England and only London Camanachd was left into the 21st century. In 2005 shinty in England had all but stopped and all teams had no longer able to field a team on their own. The only team left at this point was London Camanachd. The teams all around England and wales that had folded leaving some players just having a hit about by themselves in parks from time to time. Players remained on the ‘if and when list’ when ever London could get a game. One of the last games was in 2006 London Camanachd who were made up of people from all over England and wales who would come together to form the London team on the terms of who ever came on the day got to play.
One of the last games london played was to the Highlanders (the army shinty team) in the Bullough cup. This was the first game in almost 80 years at that time where a Scottish league game had been played outside of Scotland. In the years that followed the numbers would get smaller until 2009 where the London team only went down to a few people who would occasionally hit a ball in the park and whenever possible attempt to enter a 6s tournament. But this eventually stopped.
In 2011 there was effort to restart London Camanachd. With the advent of social media this meant a bigger audience was able to be reached. The revival of the London Club had sparked interest in Cornwall. With word getting around and numbers small in Cornwall they were finally able to offer London some 'local' opposition in March 2012.
London's success grew and the English Capital's side hosted a successful tournament in September 2012 featuring the hosts, Cornwall and the SCOTS Camanachd.[3] (the army team's new name) The influence of the SCOTS and the tradition of English shinty being run by Scottish university graduates saw the resurrection of shinty in Northallerton under the name Northallerton Shinty Club. Many attempts were then put together to try and get this Northern team going but it never took off.
As this point the focus was getting a stable team that could be reintroduced to Scotland to take part in the Bullough cup. The English Shinty Association was then formed and with London and Cornwall who could both offer players who could travel to Scotland the hope was that blending the players would be easier than just relying on a single team to found for all the numbers. In 2013 the English Shinty Association played its first game in Scotland. ESA V Tayforth. ESA lost this game but at the time had not realised the fire that had been started in England when it came to shinty and in the coming years the teams that would be formed as a result of this effort made.
Atkins UK donated Helmets to the association to help provide protection, especially to the youth players, at club and international level.
The English Shinty Association was founded in 2013 by three ex-University Shinty players with a passion for reviving the game in England. The three players in question, Matt Mossop, Graham Love and Alan MacDonald, had already founded/revived teams in their respective areas, Cornwall, London and Northallerton.
With London crowned English Champions at the Shinty Shop Challenge Cup on goal difference over Cornwall at Bristol's expense, ESA organized the historic first shinty international against the US in 2013 (England 2- USA 0), ESA entered the Bullough Cup for the first time in 2013, whilst its constituent teams were represented at St Andrews Sixes in 2013.
Expansion continued in 2014, entering the Bullough Cup, running a tour to Scotland and various festivals being run in London, Cornwall and other locations in England.
The association currently supports five clubs: Bristol Camanachd, Cornwall Shinty Club, Oxford Shinty Club, Devon Shinty Club, and the oldest shinty club in England, London Camanachd.
The distribution of these teams on a map leads to these teams being commonly referred to as belonging to “the English shinty belt”. The distance between London Camanachd and Cornwall Shinty Club is almost the same as that between London and Scotland. It's often remarked that the two most widely separated teams in Scotland have less distance to travel getting to each other then London and Cornwall do, yet year after year the teams in England are doing just that.
The committee was expanded in 2014 to facilitate the development of Women's and University Shinty as well as overseeing the day-to-day running of the association.
The English Shinty Association is an affiliated member of the Camanachd Association, the world's governing body for shinty.
With the expansion of shinty in England teams that are relatively close to each other have formed their own breakaway leagues of 6s, with Cornwall, Bristol and Devon taking part in the South West League. Within these teams there had been a number of university teams and the southwest league gives them the chance to take part on a lower level to showcase skill before being able to be selected for county level.
London and Oxford are reforming the Dewars Shield, giving London Camanachd the ability to split their team down to a number of smaller teams for a similar 6s setup, as with the South West League.
The association has a varied range of teams under its auspices.
There are five major clubs in England who are affiliated as separate members of the Camanachd Association.
The association runs the English Shinty League and the English Shinty Championship, played for the Shinty Shop Challenge Cup. This was first played in 2012 in Flax Bourton. 2013 was played in Bristol.
| Team | Games Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Oxford | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Cornwall | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Bristol | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Devon | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Team | Games Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 19 |
| Cornwall | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 18 |
| English Development | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 13 |
| Oxford | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 9 |
| Devon | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
For more information see English Shinty Team
The association co-ordinates the English Shinty Team. In 2013 The English side competed in the Bullough Cup against Tayforth Camanachd, but were beaten 11–1. [3]
They also participated in an International challenge match against the USA, where England ran out 2-0 winners.
England also played against Alba, the Scottish Gaelic representative side at Kingussie in 2018, Alba won 11–1.
Shinty is a team sport played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played mainly in the Scottish Highlands and among Highland migrants to the big cities of Scotland, but it was formerly more widespread in Scotland, and was even played in Northern England into the second half of the 20th century and other areas in the world where Scottish Highlanders migrated.
The Camanachd Association is the world governing body of the Scottish sport of shinty. The body is based in Inverness, Highland, and is in charge of the rules of the game. Its main competitions are the Tulloch Homes Camanachd Cup and the Mowi Premiership and the Mowi Valerie Fraser Camanachd Cup.
Oban Camanachd are a shinty team based in Oban, Argyll and Bute, Scotland who currently play in the MOWI Premiership. One of the oldest Camanachd clubs they were founded in 1889.
Glenorchy Camanachd is a shinty club from Dalmally, Scotland. In 2022, Glenorchy combined with Taynuilt at senior level to field a team as Cruachanside.
London Camanachd is a shinty club in England. They have historically been attached to the South District. They went into abeyance in 1992 but were reconstituted in 2005. They played the first officially recognised Shinty match outside Scotland in 80 years on Saturday 22 July 2006 against the Highlanders. Currently the club field men's and women's teams in English and Scottish competitions as well as exhibition matches in Europe, most recently in 2018 in Brussels.
Aberdour Shinty Club is a shinty club which plays in Aberdour, Fife, Scotland. It is the only senior Shinty Club in Fife and was founded in 2001. In 2011, the club entered two teams into senior competition. Its first team competing in Marine Harvest National Division, and its second team in South Division Two.
Shinty was played in its original form throughout North and South America by Scottish settlers until the early 1900s when the practice died out. Shinty, and its close Irish relative hurling as well as the English bandy, are recognised as being the progenitors of ice hockey and are an important part of North America's modern sporting heritage.
Tayforth Camanachd is a shinty team originally from Perth, Scotland, but now playing at Levenhall Links, Musselburgh. In 2016, the club finished at the top of South Division 2.
Lewis Camanachd (Scottish Gaelic: Comann Camanachd Leòdhais is the senior shinty team from the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. The club entered North Division Three for the first time in 2011. This was the first time a team from the Western Isles was allowed to compete in league shinty. However, the club was only allowed in on trial and awaited a decision from the Camanachd Association as to whether this was to become a permanent arrangement. Lewis was granted entry on a permanent basis from 2012.
Ballachulish Camanachd Club is a shinty team from Ballachulish, Lochaber, Scotland. The club was founded in 1893 the same year as the Camanachd Association. One of the sport's most famous clubs, they won the Camanachd Cup four times before World War I. The club is also the most northerly of teams playing in the South district, the kyle at Ballachulish being the traditional demarcation point between the two districts. The club has moved to one team playing South Division Two in 2013 but soon gained promotion and re-established two teams, and gained promotion to National Division One for 2015.
Oban Celtic is a shinty team from Oban, Argyll, Scotland. The club won South Division One in 2016.
Kilmory Camanachd is a shinty club from Lochgilphead, Argyll, Scotland. The club was founded in 1977 in its present form. The club plays in South Division One and has a reserve side in the Bullough cup. The club is associated with Dunadd camanachd
Forth Camanachd was a women's shinty club based in Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland. The club was established in 2006 and won both the Valerie Fraser Cup and the Caledonian Canal Challenge Cup in its time in existence.
The Mod Cup, also known as the Aviemore Cup1995 - Royal National Mòd Programmes and fringe events > Royal National Mòd Programmes > [Mod / Mòd Naìseanta Rìoghail - An Comunn Gaidhealach - National Library of Scotland] is a trophy in the sport of shinty first competed for in 1969, traditionally played for by the two teams who are based closest to the host venue of the Royal National Mod. The current holders are Aberdour.(2022)
The Bullough Cup is a knock-out competition in the sport of shinty.
The Shinty league system is a series of interconnected leagues for shinty in Scotland. It is administered by the Camanachd Association.
SCOTS Camanachd is the only shinty team in the British Armed Forces.
Edinburgh East Lothian Shinty Club was a sports club, a shinty club which played in the South Division Shinty League, based in Musselburgh, East Lothian. They were formerly known as Musselburgh Camanachd until 2000. In 2007 they withdrew from the league due to team-raising difficulties. The club is currently dormant.
The Cornwall Shinty Club is a shinty club from Cornwall in the UK. Formed in 2012, it is one of few clubs outside the Scottish Highlands.
The English Shinty Team is the team selected to represent The English Shinty Association and the sport of shinty in England. It has competed at International level against the United States and Alba, and also competes in Scottish cup competitions at club level.
