The game of shinty goes back to the roots of Gaelic Scotland and the even earlier heritage of the Celtic race. Its demands of skill, speed, stamina and courage make camanachd “the sport of the curved stick” the perfect exercise of a warrior people. Within the rivalries of the game, clan against clan, parish against parish and brae against strath, there developed a social comradeship in the world of camanachd and this continues to the present day.
In common with other sports, shinty moved out of a long previous history of unwritten rules and widely differing local variations in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. In October, 1893 The Camanachd Association was formed with the then Lord Lovat as President, and for a long period he remained a very influential leader in the game. The Camanachd Cup Trophy competition was instituted in 1895 and the first final was contested at Inverness on 5 April 1896 when Kingussie beat Glasgow Cowal by two hails to nil. Over the long intervening years this has remained the overall championship competition for all Scotland and the Camanachd Cup Final, at a cycle of venues, is the outstanding occasion in the annual shinty calendar.
Today’s game is now played 12 a side in two periods of 45 minutes. The field of play is 140 to 170 yards long by 70 to 80 yards wide. The goals are 12 feet wide by 10 feet high. There is a penalty area, 10 yards from the centre of the goal, 4 yards broad, with quarter circle extensions to the bye-line. An attacking player inside this area before the ball is off-side. A defending player who commits an infringement inside this area concedes a penalty against his side. This is struck from a point at midfield, 20 yards from the goal.
The playing stick - the caman - is now usually made of laminated hickory or ash, and the head, which is of triangular section, must be able to pass through a ring two and a half inches in diameter. The ball has a seamed leather cover, with a permitted circumference between seven and a half and eight inches and weight between two and a half and three ounces.
Only the goalkeeper is allowed to handle the ball, by slapping or stopping it with his open hand. The ball may not be kicked nor, of course, may an opponent. A strike can be blocked or 'cleeked' within normal swinging distance. There is no restriction in the height or direction of hitting with the caman apart, again, from striking an opponent, or overhead swinging in a dangerous manner (when close to other players).
The referee begins a match, and restarts after a goal and at half time, by throwing the ball up, over a height of twelve feet, between the opposing centre players, who hold their camans crossed above their heads ready to play the ball as it descends. Where a ball has gone out of play on the sidelines, a player of the opposing team takes a hit-in by throwing the ball directly above his head and striking it, as it descends, with the heel of his caman, whilst the ball is still overhead. When the ball crosses the bye-line from an attacker, a goal-hit is taken, as in soccer. When it goes over the bye-line from a defending player, a hit-in is taken from the corner. Infringements outside the penalty area incur a free-hit, with all other players more than 5 yards distant when it is taken. A goal may not be scored directly from a free hit.
