Fort William's sixth sense tells them Camanachd Cup victory can be theirs

Published on Sunday 7 September 2008 01:34

IT HAS been suggested that continuous success can spoil teams. Next Saturday, Fort William assemble for their sixth successive outing in shinty's blue riband event, the Camanachd Cup final, at An Aird. Instead of tiring of the occasion, though, there will be individuals in yellow and black wondering how they ever got to this stage at all.

Unlike opponents Kingussie, Fort William have never enjoyed the bounty of regular victory. Back in the 1960s, the club which plays and trains below Ben Nevis almost died. At that low ebb, had it not been for people such as local distillery manager George MacMillan and a few tireless individuals, Fort would have become merely a footnote in history.

Fort's current manager, Drew McNeil, recalls joining the club from Lochaber as it peaked and plummeted unsteadily between the old North Divisions One and Two. For years, this was the club's expectation. Now Fort have established themselves as the sport's other superpower, perpetually threatening to nudge Kingussie off their perch. The highest number of kids ever are now walking through the doors of the clubhouse. Those facts will not stop individuals like defender Adam Robertson from appreciating every second of next week's final.

"Maybe the younger players take it a bit for granted now but it is not that long ago Fort William were a junior side," says the 36-year-old, who oversees construction courses at the local college. "When we were coming up the age groups, we were getting hammered all the time."