Camán
A shinty game in progress
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| Highest governing body | Camanachd Association |
|---|---|
| First played | Pre-historic Scotland and Ireland |
| Characteristics | |
| Contact | Contact |
| Team members | 12 players per side substitutes are permitted |
| Mixed gender | No (there are no rules to prevent women from playing in men's teams; this happens occasionally in the lower leagues) |
| Equipment | Shinty ball |
| Pronunciation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Scots Gaelic: | cam | |
| Pronunciation: |
[ˈkʰaum] ( listen)
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| Scots Gaelic: | camag | |
| Pronunciation: |
[ˈkʰamak] ( listen)
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| Scots Gaelic: | caman | |
| Pronunciation: |
[ˈkʰaman] ( listen)
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| Scots Gaelic: | camanachd | |
| Pronunciation: |
[ˈkʰamanəxk] ( listen)
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| Scots Gaelic: | cluich-bhall | |
| Pronunciation: |
[ˈkʰlˠ̪ɯçvalˠ̪] ( listen)
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| Scots Gaelic: | cnapag | |
| Pronunciation: |
[ˈkɾãʰpak] ( listen)
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| Scots Gaelic: | Comann na Camanachd | |
| Pronunciation: |
[ˈkʰomən̪ˠ nə ˈkʰamanəxk] ( listen)
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| Scots Gaelic: | iomain | |
| Pronunciation: |
[ˈjumɛɲ] ( listen)
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| Scots Gaelic: | sìnteag | |
| Pronunciation: |
[ˈʃiːɲtʲak] ( listen)
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| Scots Gaelic: | Spòrs | |
| Pronunciation: |
[ˈs̪pɔːrˠs̪] ( listen)
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Shinty (Scottish Gaelic: camanachd, iomain) is a team game played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played mainly in the Scottish Highlands, and amongst Highland migrants to the big cities of Scotland, but it was formerly more widespread in Scotland, and was even played for a considerable time in England and other areas in the world where Scottish Highlanders migrated.
While comparisons are often made with field hockey, the two games have several important differences. In shinty, a player is allowed to play the ball in the air and is allowed to use both sides of the stick, called a caman, which is wooden and slanted on both sides. The stick may also be used to block and to tackle, although a player may not come down on an opponent's stick, a practice called hacking. Players may also tackle using the body as long as it is shoulder-to-shoulder.
The game was derived from the same root as the Irish game of hurling and the Welsh game of bando, but has developed unique rules and features. These rules are governed by the Camanachd Association. A composite rules shinty–hurling game has been developed, which allows Scotland and Ireland to play annual international matches.
Another sport with common ancestry is bandy, which is played on ice. In fact, in Scottish Gaelic the name for bandy is "ice shinty" (camanachd-deighe) and once upon a time bandy and shinty (and shinney) could be used interchangeably in the English language.
Shinty is older than the recorded history of Scotland and is thought to predate Christianity.Hurling, an Irish pastime for at least 2,000 years similar to shinty, is derived from the historic game common to both peoples. Shinty/Hurling appears prominently in the legend of Cúchulainn, the Celtic mythology hero. A similar game was played on the Isle of Man known as cammag, a name cognate with camanachd. The old form of hurling played in the northern half of Ireland, called "commons", resembled shinty more closely than the standardised form of hurling of today. Like shinty, it was commonly known as camánacht and was traditionally played in winter.
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Wikipedia