Ballachulish | |
Full name | Ballachulish Camanachd Club |
Gaelic name | Comann Camanachd Bhaile a' Chaolais |
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Nickname | Balla or The Quarrymen |
Founded | 1893 |
Ground | Jubilee Park, Ballachulish |
Manager | Craig Munro |
League | National Division One |
2016 | 8th |
Reserve Manager | In Abeyance (2016) |
League | South Division Two |
2015 | 7th |
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.[1]
Founded in 1893, and built on the strength of the men who worked the Ballachulish Slate quarry, the club won the Scottish Cup in 1899, 1901, 1911 and 1912. The outbreak of war was to put an end to this run of success and the club has never quite achieved these heights again. The club regained some modicum of strength by winning the Mactavish Cup in 1938, the only South team to ever do so, before war intervened again. The last Camanachd Cup Final appearance to date was in 1948 when they lost to Newtonmore. Although the Ballachulish quarry is now closed, Balla's red strips continue to represent the trade union socialism in the quarry.
The club has never recovered the Camanachd Cup, but has several Celtic, Sutherland and Dunn Cups to its name and enjoyed a great spell in the 1960s. The club's second team restarted in 2007 and competed in the Bullough Cup and the Sutherland Cup, did not enter competition in 2008 but be competed in 2009 in South Division Two. The second team was removed from all competition in March 2010.[2]. It re-entered in 2011.[3]
The return of Dugald Rankin from Skye Camanachd saw an upsurge in the team's fortunes. However, Ballachulish has also exported David Campbell to Newtonmore and John MacDonald to Fort William, and is often losing players to other clubs. This has seriously affected the club's ability to return to the top level of the sport.