Cammag

Cammag (Manx pronunciation: [kʰamaɡ]) is a team sport originating on the Isle of Man. It is closely related to the Scottish game of shinty and is similar to the Irish game of hurling. Once the most widespread sport on Man, it ceased to be played around 1900 after the introduction of association football, though it has experienced a revival in the 21st century.

Equipment involves a stick (Manx: camman, meaning "little curved thing") and a ball (crick or crig) with anything between four and two hundred players. Sometimes whole towns and villages took part, or even played each other. The camman can be any stick with a bent end, and is similar in design to the caman in shinty, both unlike the Irish camán, having no blade. A gorse wood camman, if of suitable size and shape, was a very much treasured possession. The crick can be made from cork or wood, and varied from circular to egg-shaped, sized from approximately two inches in circumference to the size of a fist. Old accounts tell that the crick was sometimes covered in cloth or leather.

The Manx word Cammag, as in modern Scottish Gaelic and Irish camán, is derived from the Gaelic root word cam, meaning bent.

Cammag season started on Hunt the Wren Day (26 December) and was only played by men (of all ages) during the winter. Corris's Close (now Athol Street) was the chief playing-ground in the town of Peel.

In modern times, an annual match of cammag is played in St John's.

An open Cammag match is played on Boxing Day/Hunt the Wren Day (26 December) on the Tynwald field at St John's. Matches are held between the North and the South of the island. Research by David Fisher in the archives of Manx National Heritage clarified that the Northern line historically ran from the Grand Island Hotel to Niarbyl, south of Peel. The game usually starts at 2 p.m., and is played over three 20-minute periods.

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