Bute Shinty Club is a

shinty Shinty ( gd, camanachd, iomain) is a team game played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played mainly in the Scottish Highlands and amongst Highland migrants to the big cities of Scotland, but it was formerly more widespread in Scotland, an ...

club from

Rothesay Rothesay ( ; gd, Baile Bhòid ) is the principal town on the Isle of Bute, in the council area of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies along the coast of the Firth of Clyde. It can be reached by ferry from Wemyss Bay, which offers an onward rail ...

Isle of Bute The Isle of Bute ( sco, Buit; gd, Eilean Bhòid or '), known as Bute (), is an island in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, United Kingdom. It is divided into highland and lowland areas by the Highland Boundary Fault. Formerly a constituent isl ...

, Scotland. It has a reserve team which is in South Division Two.

History

The club has been reconstituted on several occasions since its formation in 1906. There was Bute Camanachd and North Bute Shinty Club: North Bute competed in the first ever Sutherland Cup final in 1923. The club has existed in its present form since 1946. The club won the Sutherland Cup in 1972 and has won the reintroduced Balliemore Cup on four occasions, notably in the first final in 1985 as well as in 2006, when they defeated a Beauly team who held home advantage. 2006 was one of the club's most successful seasons of all time winning South Division One thus gaining promotion to the Premier Division, winning the Balliemore Cup and reaching the final of the Celtic Society Cup. In 2008, after several years as a one team club, Bute restarted their second team, which finished fifth in South Division Two in their first season. The club reached the semi-finals of the

Camanachd Cup The Camanachd Association Challenge Cup known as the Camanachd Cup (or less commonly the Scottish Cup) is the premier competition in the sport of shinty. It is one of the five trophies considered to be part of the Grand Slam in the sport of shin ...

for the first time in 2008. In 2009, they were the last club to finish their season on 12 December 2009. They eventually survived relegation, overhauling Lochaber Camanachd with a win against Oban Camanachd. 2010 saw Bute's period in the Premier Division come to an end with a loss against Oban Camanachd, who had been behind the whole season until that last game. Shinty Bute

Bute romped back into the Premier Division in 2011 with a stunning 100% record in the league as well as winning the Balliemore Cup. Bute were relegated in 2012 from a very competitive Premiership. The club's top player during this successful period has been Hector Whitelaw, a full international and a powerful player capable of playing both upfront and at the back. He is a prolific goalscorer. The club was one of the main opponents of the national league setup due to the difficulty of traveling to away games in places such as

Cannich Cannich (Gaelic: ''Canaich'') is a village at the southern end of Strathglass, in the Highlands of Scotland, about west of the city of Inverness. It is at the furthest point of the A831 that loops around the Aird from Beauly to Drumnadrochit. I ...

and

Portree Portree (; gd, Port Rìgh, ) is the largest town on, and capital of, the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Murray, W.H. (1966) ''The Hebrides''. London. Heinemann. Pages 154-155. It is the location for the only secondary school o ...

. (Until the establishment of

Lewis Camanachd Lewis Camanachd ( gd, Comann Camanachd Leòdhais is the senior shinty team from the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. The club entered North Division Three for the first time in 2011. This was the first time a team from the Western Isles ...

, they were the only senior team in Scotland with no fixed link to the mainland.). The stepping back of Whitelaw to the second team and the loss of the Zavaroni brothers to Kyles Athletic saw Bute take a step back but they still made good showings in the cups and also made it into the National Division One setup for 2014 with a second-place finish in Division South One. Several other player changes in 2014 led to a disastrous showing in National Division One, even conceding a game at one point. Bute finished rock bottom and were due for relegation to South Division One, but were given a reprieve due to league reconstruction. However, Bute elected to be relegated to South Division One, feeling that National Division shinty was not feasible for the club at that time. In January 2015, former referee Ted McDonald became their senior team coach. The Buteman Cup

References

External links

Bute Shinty Club WebsiteBute @ Shinty.com
{{Shinty teams Shinty teams Sport in Argyll and Bute Sports clubs established in 1906 1906 establishments in Scotland