External links
   | This biographical article relating to sport in Scotland is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
William Cowie, more commonly known as Willie Cowie, (born 1962) is an ex-shinty player from Portree, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Throughout his career he played for Skye Camanachd and was a prolific forward. He is now a coach for the club.
Cowie was an iconic and instrumental part of the famous Skye Camanachd Camanachd Cup winning team of 1990, scoring in the final. He also played in four Camanachd Cup semi-finals for Skye and was an instrumental in Skye's promotion to the Premier Division in 2000. Cowie was capped for Scotland at shinty/hurling but during much of his career there was no international series. He was also a national player of the year.
His father, also called Willie, played for Lovat and Skye and Cowie's son, also called William, plays at youth level for the club and made his competitive debut for Skye at Lovat in September 2010. His brother, Ross was his manager when Skye won the Camanachd Cup.
Cowie was also a good football player and had a trial for St. Mirren, missing Skye's 17-0 capitulation to Kingussie the year before Skye won the Camanachd Cup. He is also a useful golfer.
| | This biographical article relating to sport in Scotland is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
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.
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.
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.
Beauly Shinty Club is a shinty club from Beauly, Scotland. The club was founded in 1892. The club has two sides, the first team competing in Marine Harvest National Division One and the second team in North Division One.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Kinlochshiel Shinty Club is a shinty club based in Balmacara, near Kyle of Lochalsh, Lochalsh, Scotland. The club has two sides, a senior team which competes in the Marine Harvest Premiership and a reserve team in North Division One.
Ronald Ross, MBE is a retired Scottish shinty player who played for Kingussie Camanachd. He is a forward, the only man to have ever scored more than 1000 goals in the sport and who has broken several other records as an individual and as part of Kingussie's record-breaking first team.
Ross Cowie is a charity-worker and former shinty player and manager, from Portree, Isle of Skye, Scotland. He is affectionately known as The Colonel.
The Mod Cup, also known as the Aviemore Cup 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 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.
The Strathdearn Cup is a knock-out competition in the sport of shinty. The present holders are Lovat Shinty Club.
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.
The Albert Smith Memorial Medal is the award given to the Man of the Match in the final of the Camanachd Cup, the blue riband trophy of the sport of shinty. It has been presented every year since 1972 by the Smith family of Fort William in honour of Albert Smith Sr. The widow of his only son, John Victor Smith, currently presents the medal. Albert Sr.'s grandson, Victor Smith is a former player for Fort William Shinty Club but never won the medal despite featuring as a key player in several Fort William wins. Victor Smith currently coaches Fort William Shinty Club along with his cousin Adi Robertson. Victor's son, John Victor Smith, plays full forward for the Fort.
Drew McNeil is a former shinty player and current manager of the Scotland national shinty team. He was appointed Glenurquhart manager in October 2011.
Archie Robertson is an ex-shinty player and internationalist and current President of the Camanachd Association.
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.