“On Sunday the 23rd of June there were 20 teams taking part in the Fraser MacPhee Primary Schools Shinty Tournament. 200 young shinty players in total plus more than 100 spectators and supporters on the sidelines, including many pre-school siblings trying out shinty for the first time. This bodes well for the next generation of shinty stars.
Games were held over three pitches at Fort William Shinty Club’s home ground at An Aird, including Fraser’s Field. A brilliant day had by all – the weather held and broke out into sunshine by the trophy presentations.
Teams came from all over – Fife, Inverness, Ardnamurchan, Lochaber, Kingussie and Argyll. The FWSC tea bar did a roaring trade – thanks to the ladies who ran it, Alison Stephens and Anne McIntyre. Special thanks to Aberdour Primary School who made the six-hour round trip to attend.
Kingussie were strong in the P5 competition and ended up winning the final 5-0 versus against a spirited Hilton side with four of the five goals being scored by Mason Paxton.
The Caol v Alvie P7 final was a nail-biting finale and went into extra time with Caol clinching it in the dying minutes thanks to a goal from Josh Luxton. The win was the final title in a spectacular season for Caol, which saw them taking every youth title they competed in.
The tournament made a donation to disability shinty and organiser Rosemary MacPhee was delighted to announce that plans are now under way for a Lochaber Disability Shinty event to take place for the first time in Autumn. This event comes on the back of the successful and long-running Disability Shinty Festival held in Aviemore every year by the Camanachd Association.
The MacPhee family, who have run the tournament since 2004, said: “Thanks to all the volunteers who made the day such a success – the referees, first aiders, all the team coaches, Fort William Shinty Club for hosting, the skills competition and speed hitting judges, Iain Ferguson for taking the team pictures and especially to all the children for giving it their all and putting on a fantastic display of Shinty for all to watch.
“Over the years of running this competition it’s been wonderful to see the rise in popularity of youth shinty and especially to see more and more girls taking part every year. We’re really pleased that’s going to be made more inclusive with the staging of a Disability Shinty event in Lochaber later this year in conjuction with the Camanachd Association, Lochaber High School and Fort William Shinty Club.”
We’re delighted to made donation on behalf of the Fraser MacPhee tournament to take that forward.
A full summary of the tournament is below:
P5 Winners – Kingussie
P5 Runners Up – Hilton
P5 Player of the Tournament – Mason Paxton (Kingussie)
P5 Speed Hitting – Finlay Cameron Bun-Sgoil Ghaidhlig Loch Abar – 95 km/hr
P5 Skills – Brodie Kirkland & Archie Macaulay (Kingussie)
P7 Winners – Caol
P7 Runners Up – Alvie
P7 Player of the Tournament – Donald Macleod (Alvie)
P7 Speed Hitting – Donald Macleod (Alvie) 102 km/hr
P7 Skills – Maisie Ewing (Banavie)
Fair Play Award – Alvie P5 and P7 teams. Each player shook the hand of the referee in every game they played in demonstrating high values and standards of fair play. Well done to every player.”
Rosie MacPhee presents the P7 Winners – Caol
Primary 5 Winners – Kingussie
