Shinty league system

The Shinty league system is a series of interconnected leagues for shinty in Scotland. It is administered by the Camanachd Association.

The system consists of a hierarchy of leagues, bound together by the principle of promotion and relegation. Clubs that are successful in their league can rise higher in the system, whilst those that finish at the bottom can find themselves sinking further down. In theory it is possible for any club's first team to rise to the pinnacle of shinty and become champions of the Premier Division. While this may be unlikely in practice (at the very least, not in the short run), there certainly is significant movement within the pyramid. The number of teams promoted between leagues or divisions is usually one, although promotion and relegation sometimes do not occur due to Reserve teams winning leagues or relegation resulting in an imbalanced league.

The top level is a national Premier Division. Below this, the leagues are based on geographic areas. At the lower levels the existence of divisions becomes intermittent. From 2014, the league system will revert to having two national leagues of 8 teams.

The Shinty league system does not include the University leagues or any other leagues.

Traditional shinty was not played on a league basis, with challenge matches and cups taking precedence but over time in different areas, league shinty began to develop. The Southern League was the first of its kind, founded in 1902, and encompassed the Central Belt of Scotland. At that time, there were several clubs in Glasgow itself. In the North region, shinty was organised into the MacGillivray Leagues. This league was one step ahead of the rest of the South district which took sometime after the Second World War to develop the Dunn Leagues, which encompassed, Cowal, Lorn and Argyll.

Eventually the Dunn and Southern Leagues amalgamated and by the early 1980s a national league playoff was established between the winners of the top tiers of the north and south leagues.

In 1996, a national Premier Division was established for the first time and then in 1999, a second national tier was established, National Division One, which was disbanded after 2006.

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