Kyles Athletic Shinty Club is a shinty team from

Tighnabruaich Tighnabruaich; (; gd, Taigh na Bruaich) is a village on the Cowal peninsula, on the western arm of the Kyles of Bute in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. In 2011 the population was 660. It is west of Glasgow and north of the Isle of Arran. Tighnabru ...

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

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 is one of the sport's most illustrious names, presently playing in the Marine Harvest Premiership with their second team is playing in South Division one. In 2012 they won the Camanachd Cup for the first time since 1994, defeating local rivals

Inveraray Inveraray ( or ; gd, Inbhir Aora meaning "mouth of the Aray") is a town in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is on the western shore of Loch Fyne, near its head, and on the A83 road. It is a former royal burgh, the traditional county town of Arg ...

in the final.

History

The club was founded in 1896 as ''Kyles Athletic Football and Shinty Club'', the same year as the first Camanachd Cup, which Kyles have gone on to win more times than any other club apart from the

Badenoch Badenoch (from gd, Bàideanach, meaning "drowned land") is a traditional district which today forms part of Badenoch and Strathspey, an area of Highland Council, in Scotland, bounded on the north by the Monadhliath Mountains, on the east by t ...

giants,

Newtonmore Newtonmore ( gd, Baile Ùr an t-Sléibh ) is a village in the Highland council area of Scotland. The village is only a few miles from a location that is claimed to be the exact geographical centre of Scotland. Activities *Shinty - The town is ...

, sharing the second place spot with

Kingussie Kingussie ( ; gd, Ceann a' Ghiùthsaich ) is a small town in the Badenoch and Strathspey ward of the Highland council area of Scotland. Counties of Scotland, Historically in Inverness-shire, it lies beside the A9 road (Great Britain), A9 road, ...

, 21 times in all. They have also won the Celtic Society Cup 29 times and the MacAulay Cup a further 10 times. They won the Grand Slam in 1966. (At that point consisting of the Camanachd, MacAulay, Celtic Society and Dunn Senior League.) Kyles play in royal blue shirts with white shorts and red stockings as their first set of jerseys were presented by

Rangers FC Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fou ...

. Kyles won the

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

in 1966, the only time the club has done so, winning the Dunn League. Until the formation of the National Premier League, Kyles were the dominant side in South shinty, having won the inaugural amalgamated South league in 1974–75 and then winning every league from 1977 to 1988. A great constant since the late 1970s has been Kenny MacDonald who is still who is still helping manage the first team today. He has played for Scotland and also won the

Albert Smith Medal The Albert Smith Memorial Medal is the award given to the Man of the Match in the final of the Camanachd Cup, the blue riband trophy of the sport of shinty. It has been presented every year since 1972 by the Smith family of Fort William in honou ...

. He was also part of the Kyles team which won the Macaulay Cup alongside his son Roddy. In the early 2000s they enjoyed a

yo-yo A yo-yo (also spelled yoyo) is a toy consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a string looped around the axle, similar to a spool. It is an ancient toy with proof of existence since 500 BCE. The yo-yo was also called a bandalore in ...

existence in the National Leagues and whilst still a match for anyone in remote Tighnabruaich, they struggled to regain their prime position in South shinty until the next decade. They faced Lochcarron in the play-off for entry into the Premier League in 2006. They lost 2–1 in a close game at The Eilan, Newtonmore, consigning the club to another year outside the top flight.

Return to the Top

On 7 September 2007, Kyles defeated Ballachulish 2–0 away from home to gain promotion back to the top flight. In 2008, the club played well and stayed in the Premier Division. In 2009, the club came to international attention when two of their players were diagnosed with

swine flu Swine influenza is an infection caused by any of several types of swine influenza viruses. Swine influenza virus (SIV) or swine-origin influenza virus (S-OIV) refers to any strain of the influenza family of viruses that is endemic in pigs. As ...

. This resulted in Kyles' fixtures being postponed. The club also made it to the final of the Camanachd Cup after an extra-time replay of a match against Kingussie which they won 4–3. The original game was called off with Kingussie leading 4–1 with 30 minutes left. Kyles went on to lose the final 4–3 in Oban to Fort William despite coming back from 3–0 down to draw 3–3 before the decisive Fort William goal. Kyles controversially refused to travel to

Beauly Beauly ( ; ; gd, A' Mhanachainn) is a village in the Highland area, on the River Beauly, west of Inverness by the Far North railway line. The town is historically within Kilmorack Parish of the Scottish County of Inverness. The land around B ...

on 28 November 2009, when bad weather had rendered their park unplayable and no alternative ground could be found for what would have been a title decider for opponents Kingussie. This refusal led to Kyles being docked 2 points, this was appealed and led to Kyles leapfrogging Glenurquhart into 4th place in the 2009 standings. Kyles started the 2011 season with 5 straight wins, including two important victories away to Inveraray and Fort William. This has raised hopes in Tighnabruaich of a maiden Premier Division title. Kyles went unbeaten for the whole season, winning the MacAulay Cup and the Glasgow Celtic Society Cups. Their only defeats were to Inveraray in the Camanachd Cup and heartbreakingly to Newtonmore in a winner takes all game for the Premier Division at Dunoon Stadium, due to Tighnabruaich being unsuitable. Even more heartbreaking was the manner in which they lost, requiring only a point to make realistically sure of a maiden title, they succumbed to a last minute goal from

Danny MacRae ''Daniel Pirrie MacRae'' better known as Danny MacRae (born 19 August 198is a retired Scottish shinty player from Newtonmore, Scotland. He plays for Newtonmore Camanachd Club. He is affectionately known in the press as "Super Dan Playing career H ...

. 2012 would see Kyle beaten to the league again by Newtomnmore but this disappointment paled into insignificance with the victory of the team in the Camanachd Cup final in Oban, defeating Inveraray 6–5, in a classic final. In 2013, Kyle relinquished the Camanachd Cup to Newtonmore 3–0. Kyles had beaten 'More previously in the MacAulay Cup Final and also won the Celtic Society Cup. The second team also won South Division Two. In the 2015 season, Kyles lifted the Celtic Society Cup for the third year in a row.

References

External links

Kyles Athletic Official PageKyles Gain PromotionKyles Return To The Premier
{{Shinty teams Sports clubs established in 1896 Shinty teams 1896 establishments in Scotland Sport in Argyll and Bute Kyles of Bute