Motto | More Than A Game |
---|---|
Formation | 1893 |
Type | Sports federation |
Headquarters | Inverness, Scotland |
Membership
|
Shinty clubs and associations |
Official language
|
English, Scots Gaelic |
Jim Barr | |
Website | http://www.shinty.com |
The Camanachd Association (in Scottish Gaelic, Comann na Camanachd) 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 Camanachd Association Challenge Cup and the Scottish Hydro Premier Division.
The Camanachd Association was founded in 1893 after a meeting in Kingussie in order to formalize a set of rules for the many shinty clubs across the British Isles.
The Camanachd Association maintained its initial structure for much of its first century but the ‘Future of Shinty' Report published in 1981 led to a compete restructuring of the way in which shinty was organised and managed. That, in turn, led to the move away from a dependence on volunteers to govern the sport, to the Association's first salaried employees being employed. This also resulted in the other myriad associations which organised shinty coming under the Association. Other associations which still have a strong role in organising shinty are the Glasgow Celtic Society, the Macaulay Association and the Schools Camanachd Association.
In 2005, the Camanachd Association took the decision to change its structure again and moved to being a company limited by guarantee with no share capital. The company is overseen by a board of directors, most of whom are volunteers who are chosen by the members at the AGM.
The membership of the association consists of shinty clubs and related associations, such as the Glasgow Celtic Society. The membership appoints non-salaried office-bearers through the Annual General Meeting, which is also the only medium through which the playing rules of shinty can be altered.
In 2006 the association appointed its first Chief Executive, Richard Tulloch. He resigned within three months. The Board of Directors appointed Gill McDonald, the first woman CEO in the sport - in April 2009 she resigned from the position mere weeks before the association's AGM, having been criticised for much of the poor running of the association in that timeframe.