Highest governing body |
Camanachd Association Gaelic Athletic Association |
---|---|
First played | 19th century |
Clubs | none |
Characteristics | |
Contact | Yes |
Team members | 14 |
Mixed gender | Yes, though women's form known as shinty/camogie |
Type | Hybrid sport, team sport |
Equipment |
Hurley Caman Sliotar/Shinty ball |
Venue | Anywhere |
Presence | |
Country or region | Worldwide |
Composite rules shinty–hurling (Irish: Rialacha chomhréiteach sinteag-iomáint)—sometimes known simply as shinty–hurling—is a hybrid sport which was developed to facilitate international matches between shinty players and hurling players.
Shinty–hurling is one of few team sports in the world without any dedicated clubs or leagues. It is currently played by both men's and women's teams only in tournaments or once-off internationals. The women's form of the game is called shinty/camogie.
Ireland are the leading team in the sport, having won six of the past seven international series titles against Scotland.
The rules of the composite sport are designed to allow for neither side to gain an advantage, eliminating or imposing certain restrictions. The goals are those used in hurling, with 3 points for a goal (in the net under the crossbar) and 1 point for a shot over the crossbar. A stationary ball taken straight from the ground and shot over the crossbar scores 2 points. For the 2012 International Series, a goal became worth 5 points in an effort to increase the number of goals. This was rule was abandoned for the 2013 series, in favour of the traditional model of 3 points for a goal.
Players may not catch the ball unless they are the goalkeeper (or a defender on the line for a penalty) and this must be released within three steps. Players may not kick the ball, but can drag the ball with their foot.
Although there is a statutory size for the ball to be used in the games, there is often a custom of using a sliotar in one half and a shinty ball in the other. Each half lasts 35 minutes.
The first games played were challenge matches between London Camanachd and London GAA in 1896 and Glasgow Cowal and Dublin Celtic in 1897 and 1898, with the first game played at Celtic Park. However, there was then a hiatus until Scottish representative teams and Irish sides took place in the 1920s. Following intermittent international games between Scotland and an all-Ireland team before the Second World War, controversy arose as the British Government put pressure upon the Camanachd Association to cease from co-operating with the Gaelic Athletic Association, disapproving of their perceived anti-British viewpoint