The Camanachd Association AGM took place on Friday 24th September at Highland Cinema in Fort William with a number of clubs joining the proceedings online in a continuation of the Hybrid AGM first trialled in 2022.
Burton Morrison elected as Camanachd Association President
Burton Morrison was elected as the new President of the Camanachd Association, taking over from Steven MacKenzie who held the role from 2020-2023. Following his election, Burton spoke of his pride to be taking up the role and thanked Steven for navigating the Association through some of its hardest days coming out of the pandemic.
Steven presented Burton with the President’s medal, which he in turn received from Keith Loades in 2020, and also with a new President’s Kilt Pin which had been crafted by his wife Deborah MacKenzie, a former silversmith. The kilt pin will be passed from President to President and can be seen below:
Progression on helmets
The Association were pleased that clubs backed their proposal to raise the age below which there is no helmet opt-out to 25 from 21. However, the Association’s position remains that helmets for all is where the sport needs to get to in order to protect our members.
You can see a brief history of helmets in shinty below:
| Rule on Helmets | Detail |
| 2013 Helmet rule for U17s implemented | Helmets made mandatory for U17s |
| 2018 Detail Update | Additional detail on faceguard grid sizes added to byelaw 4.2.
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| 2019 Helmet proposal (Rejected at AGM) | In 2019 The Camanachd Association proposed making helmets compulsory with an opt out to 2025
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| 2019 Helmet proposal (Rejected at AGM) | In 2019 Glenurquhart Shinty Club also proposed helmets be made compulsory with an opt out available until 2030.
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| 2020 Helmet proposal (Rejected at AGM) | In 2020 GMA proposed helmets were made compulsory with an opt out available until 2025.
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| 2020 Helmet proposal (Approved at AGM)
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In 2020 Glenurquhart proposed helmets were made compulsory with an opt out available until 2030. |
| 2022 Helmet proposal (Approved at AGM) | In 2022, the Camanachd Association proposed that helmets were made compulsory for all U21s. |
| 2022 Helmet proposal (Rejected at AGM) | In 2022, the Camanachd Association proposed that helmets were made compulsory for all. (Fell by 2 votes). |
| 2023 Helmet Proposal (Approved at AGM) | In 2023, the Camanachd Association proposed that helmets were made compulsory for all U25s. |
| 2023 Helmet Proposal (Rejected at AGM) | In 2023, the Camanachd Association proposed that helmets were made compulsory for all. |
Four new directors
The Association were delighted to welcome some new and old faces to the Board of Directors on Friday. Willie MacDonald was re-elected after stepping off for a period, while Kevin Thain and Graeme MacDiarmid have bolstered the strength of the board and former sportscotland Regional Development Manager Alan Clark was also formally adopted.
The Association was saddened to lose both Kirsty Deans and Daniel Palombo as their terms came to an end but know that we will be working closely with them both to progress shinty’s development in the future. Kirsty was unable to attend the AGM but Daniel was presented with a token of appreciation for his time on board.
