Ruari Davidson – Chief Executive Officer

Ruari is a senior sports development professional with 21 years’ experience in the sport and physical activity sector, with the last 11 years as a Partnership Manager at sportscotland, the national agency for sport in Scotland. He has previously held roles with Scottish Disability Sport and Glasgow 2014 and has experience in developing strategic partnerships with Scottish Governing Bodies of sport, Local Authorities/Leisure Trusts and, a range of third sector agencies.

Notable examples include influencing and managing change in the development of a new Scottish coaching qualification’s framework, establishment of a programme of inclusive leadership support for CEOs of Scottish Governing Bodies of sport and leading the selection and recruitment process of technical officials and sport specific volunteers for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. He is currently Chairperson of Perth and Kinross Disability Sport and is committed to ensuring opportunities for all individuals and communities are inclusive, affordable, and accessible. He believes passionately that sport and physical activity can have a positive impact on people’s lives. He is married with two children, both of whom are active and keen sports enthusiasts. His son is a member of Aberdour Shinty Club where he trains and plays with the P4 team and he therefore has first hand experience of the positive impact that shinty has on its members, families and communities.

Astie Cameron – Operations & Events Manager

Astie is responsible for coordinating the Senior Fixtures and allocating Match Referees to these matches.

In addition Astie is in charge of the Misconduct Process, which includes dealing with the Yellow and Red Cards issued by the Referees and advising clubs of Misconduct Points and Player Suspensions. He also assists with the administration during the Disciplinary Process when Special Reports are received and cases are referred to the Disciplinary or Behaviour in Sport Committees.

As Events Manager, Astie organises the Cup Finals and other Events organised by the Camanachd Association.

Astie played for Fort William Shinty Club for nearly 25 years and was Full Back when they won the Camanachd Cup for the First time in 1992, a match that saw the fastest goal in a Camanachd Cup Final.

Hui Ouyang (Vega) – Finance & Administration Officer

Vega comes with an International Finance major. She has worked as an accountant for many years and been an editor for a major Chinese newspaper and website. She also owns an Irish pub and restaurant in Guangzhou China.

Vega captained the China Women’s Open team at the Federation of International Touch World Cup in Malaysia 2019, and volunteers regularly for several local sports teams including both Rugby and Football as well as the annual Nairnshire Highland Games.

Vega was first exposed to Shinty through a taster session at her sons’ primary school. She was instantly attracted to the sport and encourages and supports her son to continue playing. Vega is looking forward to putting her knowledge and experiences into practice, especially trying to help promote the sport to both girls and women.

Ronald Ross – National Development Manager & Child Protection Manager

Ronald has been with CA for over 10 years and has held various roles from Highland Development Officer to National Development Officer. “Sport has been a passion of mine since a young age and to work in shinty is my dream job – there is not a day that goes past that I take my job for granted and I still have the same drive and passion as when I joined the Association.

One of the aspects I love about working in sport is meeting and working with all the wonderful volunteers who’s contribution to their clubs and communities is remarkable; they truly are the heartbeat of our sport.”

Katie Drain– Regional Development Officer – North

Katie joined the CA as North Development Officer in late 2015. She made the move to Inverness from Glasgow where she worked as a Programme Manager for an Education through Sport charity after graduating with a BA Honours Degree in Sports Management.

Katie played shinty for GMA until 2018 picking up a number of League and Valarie Fraser Winners medals, as well as 10 Scotland Caps in her time as a player. In her ‘spare time’ Katie is a volunteer coach at Highland Bears Basketball Club.

Roddy Young – Regional Development Officer – Central

Roddy Young has been hired to the role of Regional Development Officer (Central) which will be based mostly across the central belt. The post has the focus of supporting clubs in the area to become stronger, creating new opportunities to engage the wider community and, importantly, to provide organised and high-quality experiences in shinty for new communities. Roddy said: “It’s been a whirlwind first year at the Camanachd Association, until you join it’s hard to grasp the magnitude of work that is undertaken to ensure that games and competitions happen across Scotland! I have really enjoyed my first year and I must thank the dedicated volunteers I work with across the central region who enable our sport to thrive.”

Will Cowie – Regional Development Officer – West

Will grew up on the Isle of Skye where he played shinty from primary school to senior level. At the beginning 2023 season he began playing for Kyles Athletic. Will is a former Scotland under 17 and under 21 cap and holds a degree in Sports Studies from the University of Stirling.

Will said: “I am delighted to have started in this role with the Camanachd Association. Shinty is a huge part of my life and I hope to bring my enthusiasm to the role. I am really looking forward to working with clubs and local organisations to help boost participation at all levels of shinty in the area.”

Alaina MacLennan – Regional Development Officer – East

After completing a degree in BA(Hons) Sports Coaching and Development at the University of the West of Scotland, Alaina MacLennan has joined the Camanachd Association as Regional Development and Welfare Officer for the East of Scotland.

Alaina said, “I am really excited to work with the Camanachd Association in my new role. I have a passion for shinty and creating opportunities for people to be involved! I look forward to working with and supporting the clubs to develop shinty.”

Aarron Duncan-MacLeod – Marketing & Communications Manager

Before joining the Camanachd Association, Aarron studied Politics, International Relations & Geography at Aberdeen University.

Living in Beauly, Aarron has spent much of his life in and around shinty and is keen to help grow our presence both on social media and on the ground across our varied communities.

If you have any questions regarding how to grow the social presence of your club, require any support with marketing, communications or just want to know how you can get more involved with the Camanachd Association then please make contact with Aarron. If you are ever struggling to sleep, Aarron’s Half-Swing Shinty Podcast could be the perfect remedy.

Jaime Robayna Gortazar – Graduate Digital Officer

Jaime has recently completed a degree in Media at Robert Gordon University. Based in Inverness, he has joined the association in a new role created to help further the digital content offerings of the association. This will include collaborating with clubs to aid the development of their presence on social media platforms.

Jaime said: “I am delighted to join the association. As a keen follower of football, I will look to translate my knowledge of the football media landscape to shinty to aid the continued growth of the sport, and develop innovative content to engage shinty fans and attract new participants, both new and old.

Burton Morrison – President

A chartered civil engineer, now retired, Burton is a native of Glenurquhart and was part of the successful Aberdeen University team of the early 70s which he captained to Sutherland Cup success in 1973.

After moving to Glasgow, he played for Glasgow Mid Argyll for over twenty years, managed the first team and became Club President in the early nineties.

Burton gained representative honours playing for Scotland in each of the shinty-hurling matches which took place between 1976 and 1979. Later on, he assisted Kingussie legend, the late Donnie Grant in managing the Scotland U21 team in 1991and 1992, taking over as manager for the period 1993-96. In 1996, he returned to coaching, and was a founder member and first chairman of Milngavie and Bearsden Junior Shinty Club.

Lyndsay Bradley  – Equality

She has coached the South U14 girls for the past few years and was selected to coach the Scotland U18 Ladies team for both the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Additionally, she was recognised by the WCA on three occasions in the last few years being awarded Development Coach of the Year, South 2 Coach of the Year and Volunteer of the Year at the annual awards. In 2019 she received the Donella Crawford Award.

In her role as a Cluster Headteacher, she continues to develop shinty within the curriculum and will also be assisting Ardnamurchan High School as they move to become a School of Shinty.

Since joining the Board, she has already taken steps to improve the links between the CA, WCA and CRA and also brought her knowledge of the Education system to help take forward initiatives to further develop school and Youth Shinty.

Roddy McCuish – Communications and Facilities (South)

Roddy is a great friend to shinty in Oban and brings to the Association a wealth of experience gained over many years in Local Government. He is an independent member of the Argyll and Bute Council, having formerly been the leader of the council twice and at present he is Deputy Provost of Argyll and Bute. His knowledge of the workings of the Council and his membership of various committees and his position as President of Argyll Community Housing Association (ACHA) fits him well for his role as Comms & Facilities South Director with a special remit on the Argyll & Bute Focus Group with the Camanachd Association.

Shinty-wise, Roddy is a member of the Macaulay Association and takes a keen interest in the sport and is always eager to protect the interests of his home town clubs and Oban’s strategically important Mossfield Stadium. In this role he presented the Macaulay Cup and the silver mounted caman to 2019’s winning captain, Robert Mabon (Kingussie).

John MacRitchie – Officials

John has already shown a desire to grow and improve the game with a focus on ensuring that young people stick with shinty as they grow older and encouraging as many as possible to take up the sport and progress through the pathway to senior level. Professionally, John has worked with the public for 38 years as a Business Relationship manager for the Royal Bank of Scotland. From a shinty perspective, John has played since his youth, having first played at Tomnacross and then Lovat for 30 years of first team shinty. He was treasurer when Lovat had their centenary year and John also filled other major roles at the club including Secretary and more recently was elected President in 2014. Further engagement with shinty has come through an active role with the Camanachd Association Competitions Committee and as a regular match official.

Kevin Thain – Competitions

Kevin had a very successful shinty career since childhood with Kingussie, GMA and Scotland. Upon his retirement from 2nd team shinty, aged 51, the Press & Journal reported that Kevin had won “12 Camanachd Cups, more than 20 Premiership titles, 14 MacTavish Cups and 14 Macaulay Cups” – making him one of the most decorated players in the games modern history.

Professionally, Kevin has been the Managing Director of The Thain Group for over 25 years and has history with the Association having served on the Camanachd Association Competitions Committee.

Alister MacKinnon – Finance

Alister is of Harris/Skye parentage brought up speaking Gaelic and lived in Skye, Ness and Kyle where his father was a Church of Scotland minister. His home is in Conon Bridge; he is married to Catherine and they have three daughters.

His career in finance started in the Royal Bank of Scotland and for many years he has been a financial and insurance adviser. He is a keen follower of shinty and has been very actively involved with Beauly Shinty Club for whom his son-in-law David MacLean plays.

Alister is a high profile figure in the Highlands who served as a councillor for 10 years including being budget leader.

He looks forward to using his broad financial experience to the benefit of the Camanachd Association and the promotion of our great Gaelic sport.

Graeme MacDiarmid – Youth/Child Protection

Graeme has been involved in shinty for over 50 years, starting out his journey with Inverlochy Primary before winning MacPherson, McBean and Wade Cups at Lochaber High. At club level, Graeme started out with Fort William, picking up North Division 2 and Sutherland Cup medals as well as receiving representative honours for the North U21s. However, he would soon move south and played for Strathclyde Police in Glasgow as well as starting his coaching career once his family came along. He helped form and develop the Glagow Gaels for 17 years holding down a number of volunteer positions during this time. Most recently, Graeme led Glasgow Mid Argyll women to the Mowi Valerie Fraser Cup Final in 2023.

Alan Clark – Development

Alan educated in Aberdeen moved to Ross shire in 1990 to take up the post of Principal Teacher of Physical Education at Inverness Royal Academy where he taught for 13 years. Moving on professionally in 2003 to take up Active Schools Manager he was responsible for establishing and developing the first 5 years of Active Schools and the development of out of hours sport and physical activity. Joined up sport delivery in communities from schools to clubs was the priority and is as important today as it was then to develop the sporting pathway.

Alan moved to sportscotland in 2009 as Head of Partnerships Management and latterly Regional Development Manager for Highlands and Islands and Grampian .From 2013-2017 Alan was the sportscotland Partnership Manager for Shinty supporting and assisting the Camanachd Association with funding and governance.

Alan is a lover of shinty, not affiliated to any club ,and will act in the best interests of shinty using his professional expertise in sports development to enhance and develop the shinty pathway and support CA staff in their job working with clubs.

Willie MacDonald – Coaching & Volunteering

Willie has been involved in Shinty for most of his life.

A native of Ballachulish he played for the Primary School  before  eventually progressing to the Ballachulish senior team at the age of 13.At the age of 24 Willie moved to play for Fort William, who had just been promoted to North Division 1 in the days before the Premier league had been established.

During this time he enjoyed great  success winning all Senior trophies available – his finest moment being the 1992 Camanachd Final in Glasgow when Fort William defeated Kingussie 1-0 to win the ‘Camanachd’ for the first time in their history, he also won the Albert Smith medal that day.

International honours arrived in 1993 when he was in the winning team against Ireland at the Bught  Park, a few years later he captained Scotland against Ireland in Fort William. When his playing days were over he started coaching at all levels from School kids from Inverlochy School  through to Senior level with Fort William. He spent eight years coaching at Inverlochy school in where he took an almost complete team through from P1 to P7 –  in 2017/18 the school won all before them including the MacKay Cup – this along with some of the older kids he coached in the school making the breakthrough to Fort William senior team gave  him great satisfaction.