Oban Celtic (; ) 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 from

Oban Oban ( ; ' in Scottish Gaelic meaning ''The Little Bay'') is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William. During the tourist season, th ...

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 ...

. The club won South Division One in 2016.

History

The Club was founded in 1927 due to a plethora of players being available who could not get a game for either the senior or the junior side of

Oban Camanachd Oban Camanachd are a shinty team based in Oban, Argyll and Bute, Scotland who currently play in the MOWI Premiership. One of the oldest Camanachd clubs they were founded in 1889. The reserve team currently play in South Division One under t ...

. The Club were highly successful from the start, winning the Bullough Cup in their first year and reaching 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 ...

Final in 1937, where they defeated

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 There is some debate as to the lo ...

. They won the Camanachd Cup five times in all, and they have also been runners up on four other occasions. They were also South Senior Champions 12 times before reconstruction. The Club has fallen on hard times in the new millennium, being relegated from the old National Division One to South Division One in 2004 and then being consigned to South Division Two due to a poor league position at the time of league reconstruction. This led to the best players going to fierce local rivals

, with whom there were advanced talks of a

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

and also the loss of the reserve team. The club finished second in South Division Two in 2007 but won the league at a canter in 2008, marking success after several years of decline. The club were runners-up to Glenorchy in 2010 but had a disappointing 2011, finishing 7th. However, they can look forward to renewed competition with Oban Camanachd's first team in 2012 as their bitter rivals were relegated from the Premier Division. The club holds an annual

Boxing Day Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It ...

fixture between ex-players and the current side. There is also the Robert Wylie Memorial cup played with Inverness.

Nickname and Origins

"Celtic" Over the years, Oban Celtic have attracted moral support from fans of

Glasgow Celtic F.C. The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional association football, football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating po ...

, based solely upon their name. However, this name was decided upon the mere toss of coin, the other option being Rangers. It is also noted in the modern era by the rest of the shinty community that most Celtic players support

Rangers F.C. 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 ...

The club plays in green and white stripes.

References

External links

Oban Celtic
at Shinty.com. {{Shinty teams Shinty teams Sport in Argyll and Bute 1927 establishments in Scotland Sports clubs established in 1927 Oban