Glenurquhart Shinty Club

Last updated

Glenurquhart
Glenshinty.png
Full nameGlenurqhuart Shinty Club
Gaelic nameComann Camanachd Ghleann Urchadain
NicknameThe Glen
Founded1885
GroundBlairbeg Park, Drumnadrochit
ManagerIain MacLeod
League Marine Harvest Premiership
201810th
League North Division One
20188th
Kit left arm black hoops.png
Kit left arm.svg
Kit body blackhoops.png
Kit body.svg
Kit right arm black hoops.png
Kit right arm.svg
Kit shorts.svg
Kit socks long.svg
Home
Kit left arm.svg
Kit body.svg
Kit right arm.svg
Kit shorts.svg
Kit socks long.svg
Away

Glenurquhart Shinty Club is a shinty team which plays in Drumnadrochit on the banks of Loch Ness, Scotland. It draws its players from the part of the Great Glen which encompasses Drumnadrochit, Lewiston and Glenurquhart. The club has been existence since 1885. They won their first senior trophy, the MacAulay Cup in 2012. After 2013 and 2014 saw them lose two successive MacTavish Cups, they are currently the holders as of 2015.

Contents

The club presently has two teams, with Glenurquhart currently playing in the Marine Harvest Premiership and the Glenurquhart 2nd's playing in the North Division One.

History

Glenurquhart played a match against Strathglass on 12 February 1887 at the Bught Park, Inverness and in a landmark game concerning the establishment of the first official rules of Shinty. Glen Urquhart lost a game, played with 22 players on each side 2–0. This fixture was to be repeated on 12 January 2007 in Inverness as the opening centrepiece of the Highland 2007 celebrations in Scotland. This game was cancelled as was a replay the next year in 2008. The two teams play each other every year in a challenge match.

The club has had very poor historic success with purple patches in the 1960s and early 1990s. The club participated in the Fairytale Final of the Camanachd Cup in 1988, succumbing 4–2 to Kingussie Camanachd. The Glen were relegated from the National Premier in 1999. Archived 20 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine

In 2007, the club reached the Balliemore Cup Final but lost 1–0 to Kinlochshiel.

In 2008 the Glen have reached the Mactavish Cup Final for the first time in 26 years and won North Division One, winning promotion to the Premier Division. The second team also added to the success of the club in 2008 when it won North Division Three and was promoted to North Division Two in 2009. The club were named Marine Harvest Club of the Year for 2008 on 20 June 2009, the same day that the club won the inaugural Marine Harvest Clash of the Camans Archived 6 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine . The Glenurquhart second team won the North Division Two title on 10 October 2009, which would have seen the team promoted to North Division One in 2010 but the club committee turned this down.

Hugely successful management duo Billy MacLean and Dave Menzies stood down at the end of the 2009 season to be replaced by Jim Barr. Archived 16 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Glenurquhart's excellent fourth-place finish for 2009 was downgraded to 5th place after Kyles Athletic won their appeal against a two-point penalty for failing to fulfil a fixture.[ permanent dead link ]

The club's reserves won the North Division Two in 2009 and 2010 having won the North Division Three in 2008. The club refused promotion to North Division One. The club's reserves also featured in the 2010 Sutherland Cup Final and won the Strathdearn Cup.

2011 saw the second team struggle to maintain the standards of recent years but the first team continued to consolidate its Premier Division status. Jim Barr stepped down from his management role at the end of the season to be replaced by ex-Fort William manager Drew MacNeil.

With the addition of Fraser MacKenzie, the club had a shaky start to season 2012, but picked up some fine momentum, this peaked with the Glen winning their first ever senior trophy in almost 130 years when they won the MacAulay Cup with a comprehensive 6–0 win over Oban Camanachd in August 2012. Archived 1 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine

In 2013, they reached the MacTavish Cup Final but lost on penalties to Lovat. In 2014, they again reached the MacTavish Final but lost heavily to Lovat yet again. They also reached the Camanachd Cup final but the 2014 side could only match the result of their 1988 predecessors when they lost 4–0 to Kingussie.

2015 saw the heartbreak of the MacTavish swept away with a triumphant 3–1 win over Newtonmore at the Bught Park on 13 June 2015. Archived 15 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine

Glenurquhart Shinty Club House & Enclosure GlenUrquhartShintyClubhouse.jpg
Glenurquhart Shinty Club House & Enclosure

Players of Note

Former Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Ross County and Motherwell goalkeeper Michael Fraser currently plays for the club, after having retired from professional football.

Midfielder Eddie Tembo was the first black person to play for Scotland at full international level, coming on as a substitute in the combined rules international with Ireland in 2008. Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine He was joined by John Barr in 2009. Another player who has gained international recognition and holds a record number of under-21 caps is present goalkeeper, Stuart MacKintosh. Andrew Corrigan and David Smart have also been capped by Scotland in the cross code series.

January 2009 saw the club afflicted by tragedy with the death of shinty historian Professor Peter English, who was intrinsically linked with the club as a player and an official.[ permanent dead link ]

Shinty journalist Fraser MacKenzie played for the club and writes the Glen-based "Keeping Out Of The D" blog. The club also signed former Scotland and Lochcarron manager, Fraser MacKenzie in 2011.

There is also an under 14 team and under 17 team at the moment.

Blairbeg, home of Glenurquhart Shinty Club GlenurquhartShintyClubBlairbeg.JPG
Blairbeg, home of Glenurquhart Shinty Club

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shinty</span> Team sport with ball and sticks

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 major 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camanachd Association</span> World governing body of the Scottish sport of shinty

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.

Skye Camanachd is a shinty team from the Isle of Skye, Highland, Scotland. It plays in the Premier Division and has a reserve team in North Division One, as well as a Ladies team in the WCA National Division One and a Ladies reserve team in the WCA Development League. The club is based at Pairc nan Laoch, Portree.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingussie Camanachd</span>

Kingussie Camanachd is a shinty team from Kingussie, Scotland and according to the Guinness Book of Records 2005, is the world sport's most successful sporting team of all time, winning 20 consecutive leagues and going 4 years unbeaten at one stage in the early 1990s. The club is currently holder of the Camanachd Cup, the MacAulay Cup, and the MacTavish Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newtonmore Camanachd Club</span> Shinty club from Newtonmore, Badenoch, Scotland

Newtonmore Camanachd Club is a shinty club from Newtonmore, Badenoch, Scotland. It is historically the most successful side in the history of Shinty, having won the Camanachd Cup a record 34 times. They won the Marine Harvest Premier Division seven years in a row beginning in 2010.

The Camanachd Association Challenge Cup known as the Camanachd Cup is the premier competition in the sport of shinty. It is one of the five trophies considered to be part of the Grand Slam in the sport of shinty.

Strathglass Shinty Club or "Comunn Camanachd Straghlais" in Scottish Gaelic is a shinty club from Cannich, Inverness-shire. The club was founded in 1879, and played a major role in the development of the rules of the sport. The first team plays in National Division One but played in the Marine Harvest Premier Division after two successive promotions from the old North Division One from 2006 to 2008. The club restarted its second team in 2017, and there is a successful women's team, started in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inverness Shinty Club</span>

Inverness Shinty Club is a shinty club from Inverness, Scotland. The first team competes in North Division One and the second team in North Division Three. Founded in 1887 as Inverness Town and County Shinty Club to distinguish from other clubs in Inverness such as Clachnacuddin, Inverness moved to the Bught Park in 1934. Inverness won the Camanachd Cup in 1952. The club struggles to compete for players with the wide proliferation of football clubs in Inverness, in particular Inverness Caledonian Thistle but still manages to put out two teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lovat Shinty Club</span>

Lovat Shinty Club is a shinty club from Kiltarlity, Inverness-shire, Scotland. The club was formed in 1888 and has a healthy rivalry with near neighbours Beauly. The club takes its name from the area within which it plays in and shared this name with the late Second World War hero, Lord Lovat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kinlochshiel</span>

Kinlochshiel Shinty Club is a shinty club based in Rèaraig, Balmacara, near Kyle of Lochalsh, Lochalsh, Scotland. The club has two sides, a senior team which competes in the Mowi Premiership and a reserve team in North Division One.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macaulay Cup</span>

The Macaulay Association Camanachd Cup is a trophy in the Scottish sport of shinty. It is competed for by the eight highest-placed league teams from the north and south areas of Scotland at the end of the previous season. The first winner of the cup, in 1947, was Newtonmore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mod Cup</span>

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)

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir William Sutherland Cup</span>

The Sir William Sutherland Cup, more commonly known simply as the Sutherland Cup, is a trophy in the sport of shinty. It is the national cup competition for junior sides, the equivalent of the Camanachd Cup for those sides in lower league competition. The current (2022) holders are Newtonmore 2nd team, the "junior" level reserves of the successful "senior" club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balliemore Cup</span>

The Balliemore Cup is a knock-out cup in the sport of shinty. It is the Intermediate Championship run under the auspices of the Camanachd Association and only first teams competing in the National, North Division One and South Division One are eligible for entry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MacTavish Cup</span>

The MacTavish Cup is a knock-out cup competition in the sport of shinty. It is competed for by senior teams from the North of Scotland district. It is one of the five trophies considered to be part of the Grand Slam in the sport of shinty. The current holders are Newtonmore. The competition is currently sponsored by cottages.com.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valerie Fraser Trophy</span> Award for womens shinty in Scotland

The Valerie Fraser Camanachd Cup also known as the Valerie Fraser Trophy or the Women's Camanachd Cup is the premier trophy in Women's shinty and is currently sponsored by Peter Gow. It is played on a knock-out basis by the teams in the National Division 1 League and is administered by the Women's Camanachd Association. The current holders are Skye Camanachd.

The Premier Division is the premier division in shinty. Based in Scotland and formed in 1996, the league is the top tier of the Shinty league system. Set-up in order to create a Scotland-wide league for the first time, it constitutes as one of the five trophies considered to be part of the Grand Slam of shinty.

Drew McNeil is a former shinty player and current manager of the Scotland national shinty team. He was appointed Glenurquhart manager in October 2011.

Fraser MacKenzie is a shinty player and manager from Lochcarron, Scotland. He originally played for Lochcarron Camanachd and was also Scotland manager. He is currently co manager of Glenurquhart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's Camanachd Association Challenge Cup</span>

The Women's Camanachd Association (WCA) Challenge Cup is the second-tier trophy in women's shinty. It is currently sponsored by Mowi who have sponsored the cup since 2014. It is played on a knock-out basis by the teams in the National Division 2 Leagues and is administered by the Women's Camanachd Association. The current holders are Lovat.