Glenurquhart 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 ...

team which plays in

Drumnadrochit Drumnadrochit (; gd, Druim na Drochaid) is a village in the Highland local government council area of Scotland, lying near the west shore of Loch Ness at the foot of Glen Urquhart. The village is close to several neighbouring settlements: the vi ...

on the banks of

Loch Ness Loch Ness (; gd, Loch Nis ) is a large freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately southwest of Inverness. It takes its name from the River Ness, which flows from the northern end. Loch Ness is best known for clai ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It draws its players from the part of the

Great Glen The Great Glen ( gd, An Gleann Mòr ), also known as Glen Albyn (from the Gaelic "Glen of Scotland" ) or Glen More (from the Gaelic ), is a glen in Scotland running for from Inverness on the edge of Moray Firth, in an approximately straight ...

which encompasses Drumnadrochit, Lewiston and

Glenurquhart Glenurquhart or Glen Urquhart ( gd, Gleann Urchadain) is a glen running to the west of the village of Drumnadrochit in the Highland council area of Scotland. Location Glenurquhart runs from Loch Ness at Urquhart Bay in the east to Corrimon ...

. The club has been existence since 1885. They won their first senior trophy, the MacAulay Cup in 2012. After 2013 and 2014 saw them lose two successive

MacTavish Cup The MacTavish Cup is a knock-out cup competition in the sport of shinty. It is competed for by senior teams from the North of Scotland district. It is one of the five trophies considered to be part of the Grand Slam in the sport of shinty. The cu ...

s, they are currently the holders as of 2015. The club presently has two teams, with Glenurquhart currently playing in the Marine Harvest Premiership and the Glenurquhart 2nd's playing in the North Division One.

History

Glenurquhart played a match against

Strathglass Strathglass is a strath or wide and shallow valley in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland down which runs the meandering River Glass from the point at which it starts at the confluence of the River Affric and Abhainn Deabhag to the point where, ...

on 12 February 1887 at the

Bught Park Bught Park ( Gaelic: Pàirc nam Bochd ) is the largest park in the city of Inverness, Scotland, and is situated on the western bank of the River Ness. It is home to the Inverness Highland Games and a small scale outdoor music festival. It is ...

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

and in a landmark game concerning the establishment of the first official rules of Shinty. Glen Urquhart lost a game, played with 22 players on each side 2–0. This fixture was to be repeated on 12 January 2007 in Inverness as the opening centrepiece of the

Highland 2007 Highland 2007 was a year-long celebration of Highland culture which took place from January until December 2007. It involved local communities throughout the Scottish Highlands and Islands as well as people across Scotland, the UK and beyond. Bac ...

celebrations in Scotland. This game was cancelled as was a replay the next year in 2008. The two teams play each other every year in a challenge match. The club has had very poor historic success with purple patches in the 1960s and early 1990s. The club participated in the ''Fairytale Final'' 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 ...

in 1988, succumbing 4–2 to

Kingussie Camanachd Kingussie Camanachd is a shinty team from Kingussie, Scotland and according to the Guinness Book of Records 2005, is world sport's most successful sporting team of all time, winning 20 consecutive leagues and going 4 years unbeaten at one stage in ...

. The Glen were relegated from the National Premier in 1999

In 2007, the club reached the Balliemore Cup Final but lost 1–0 to

Kinlochshiel Kinlochshiel Shinty Club is a shinty club based in Balmacara, near Kyle of Lochalsh, Lochalsh, Scotland. The club has two sides, a senior team which competes in the Marine Harvest Premiership and a reserve team in North Division One. Kinlochs ...

. In 2008 the Glen have reached the Mactavish Cup Final for the first time in 26 years and won North Division One, winning promotion to the Premier Division. The second team also added to the success of the club in 2008 when it won North Division Three and was promoted to North Division Two in 2009. The club were named

Marine Harvest Mowi ASA, formerly known as Marine Harvest ASA (until January 1, 2019), (Pan Fish prior to February 6, 2007), is a Norwegian seafood company with operations in a number of countries around the world. The company's primary interest is fish farmi ...

Club of the Year for 2008 on 20 June 2009, the same day that the club won the inaugural Marine Harvest target="_blank" class="mw-redirect" title="">
The Glenurquhart second team won the North Division Two title on 10 October 2009, which would have seen the team promoted to North Division One in 2010 but the club committee turned this down. Hugely successful management duo Billy MacLean and Dave Menzies stood down at the end of the 2009 season to be replaced by Jim Bar

Glenurquhart's excellent fourth-place finish for 2009 was downgraded to 5th place after Kyles Athletic won their appeal against a two-point penalty for failing to fulfil a fixtur

The club's reserves won the North Division Two in 2009 and 2010 having won the North Division Three in 2008. The club refused promotion to North Division One. The club's reserves also featured in the 2010

Sutherland Cup The Sutherland Cup is the ice hockey Ontario Junior "B" Provincial Championship trophy. The trophy was first awarded in 1934, and named in honour of former OHA and CAHA president, James T. Sutherland. The Sutherland Cup is now the championship t ...

Final and won the

Strathdearn Cup The Strathdearn Cup is a knock-out competition in the sport of shinty. The present holders are Lovat Shinty Club. It is played for by reserve-level teams from the North of Scotland, that is all teams playing in North Division Two and Three as wel ...

. 2011 saw the second team struggle to maintain the standards of recent years but the first team continued to consolidate its Premier Division status. Jim Barr stepped down from his management role at the end of the season to be replaced by ex-Fort William manager Drew MacNeil. With the addition of

Fraser MacKenzie Fraser MacKenzie (born 1973) is a shinty player and manager from Lochcarron, Scotland. He originally played for Lochcarron Camanachd and was also Scotland manager. He is currently co manager of Glenurquhart. Playing career Fraser MacKenzie was ...

, the club had a shaky start to season 2012, but picked up some fine momentum, this peaked with the Glen winning their first ever senior trophy in almost 130 years when they won the MacAulay Cup with a comprehensive 6–0 win over Oban Camanachd in August 201

In 2013, they reached the MacTavish Cup Final but lost on penalties to Lovat. In 2014, they again reached the MacTavish Final but lost heavily to Lovat yet again. They also reached the Camanachd Cup final but the 2014 side could only match the result of their 1988 predecessors when they lost 4–0 to Kingussie. 2015 saw the heartbreak of the MacTavish swept away with a triumphant 3–1 win over Newtonmore at the Bught Park on 13 June 201

GlenUrquhartShintyClubhouse

Players of Note

Former Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C., Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Ross County and

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

goalkeeper

Michael Fraser Michael Fraser may refer to: * Michael Fraser (footballer) (born 1983), Scottish football goalkeeper * Michael Fraser (basketball) (born 1984), Canadian basketball player * Michael Fraser, Baron Fraser of Kilmorack (1915–1996), British Conservativ ...

currently plays for the club, after having retired from professional football. Midfielder

Eddie Tembo Eddie Tembo (born 1980) is a Zambian-born Scottish international shinty player from the village of Drumnadrochit. He plays for Glenurquhart Shinty Club and was a member of the North Division One Championship side in 2008. In 2008, he was select ...

was the first

black person Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in s ...

to play for Scotland at full international level, coming on as a substitute in the combined rules international with Ireland in 2008

He was joined by John Barr (shinty), John Barr in 2009. Another player who has gained international recognition and holds a record number of under-21 caps is present goalkeeper, Stuart MacKintosh. Andrew Corrigan and David Smart have also been capped by Scotland in the cross code series. January 2009 saw the club afflicted by tragedy with the

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

of shinty historian Professor

Peter English Professor Peter English (9 March 1937 – 3 January 2009) was a scientist, shinty player, and social historian from Lochletter, Glen Urquhart, situated by the shores of Loch Ness in Highland, Scotland. Career English was an expert in agricu ...

, who was intrinsically linked with the club as a player and an officia

Shinty journalist Fraser MacKenzie (journalist), Fraser MacKenzie played for the club and writes the Glen-based "Keeping Out Of The D" blog. The club also signed former Scotland and Lochcarron manager,

in 2011. There is also an under 14 team and under 17 team at the moment. GlenurquhartShintyClubBlairbeg

External links

Glenurquhart @ shinty.com

GUSC

Shinty's First Blog, Written from a 'Glen' perspective
{{Shinty teams Sports clubs established in 1885 Shinty teams 1885 establishments in Scotland Sport in Highland (council area)