As we draw ever closer to the start of the season, from 17th May for youths & 5th June for seniors, we at the CA would like to celebrate the contribution of the often unsung hero, the shinty referee. The below profile is of Ross Brown one of our top officials.
Ross is 36 years old and his shinty roots began in Lochcarron Primary and then Plockton High School. Having enjoyed a number of years playing with Lochcarron in North Division 1, National League and Premier League, Ross headed overseas for a number of years before returning to Lochcarron for another spell of playing and coaching.
Now based in South Lanarkshire and working as Head of Quality and Clinical Practice for Marie Curie, Ross is loving the refereeing experience after deciding that the commitment of playing was too much after starting a family. 2021 will be his 5th season refereeing and has now reached Grade 1 and officiated the 2019 Camanachd Cup semi-final.
Ross enjoys the traveling aspect of refereeing, getting to visit some of the most picturesque parts of Scotland, with his favourite venues being Kyles Athletic (great road to drive on a nice day) and Bute (always well fed in Bute!). His style of refereeing is developed from his experiences working in the ambulance service in dealing with conflict along with watching endless hours of rugby referees on tv and YouTube. The performances of Nigel Owens and Wayne Barnes are great to watch and there are little nuggets that can be picked up and introduced into shinty refereeing.
After the break in 2020, Ross is looking forward to getting back on the field again and seeing shinty restarting.
