School sports: Anderson steals show as Kingussie clinch cup

Kingussie Primary School continued a magnificent season by retaining the Williamson Cup, and pride of place on a gala night at the Eilan at Newtonmore went to the nippy wee goalscorer, Ruaridh Anderson.

The son of shinty legend, Davy Anderson – the Kingussie head coach – Ruairidh scored two goals in his A side’s 7-0 final win over Alvie A and he deservedly became the first winner of the Bertie Williamson Memorial Trophy.

The Williamson Cup was introduced in 1947 as a way of encouraging local Primary school boys and girls to take up the sport and it has enjoyed an unbroken run of success. So much so, that there is now the addition of a Balavil Cup for Primary 1-3 pupils and a Gergask Quaich for the Primary 4-5.

The Bertie Williamson Trophy is in memory of the founder’s grandson and was awarded to the player of the tournament. He passed away a couple of years ago and the family donated money for a ‘player of the tournament’ award.

Ruaridh was a worthy recipient but far from a solo stand-out. It was a great all-round performance in the final and Roddy Young and Dylan Borthwick also scored two goals a-piece with seventh coming from Alexander Michie.

Kingussie also triumphed in the Gergask Quaich, although it was a much closer 1-0 victory for the C side over Alvie B in the final. The goalscorer was Rachael Young, the younger sister of Roddy. Their Dad is one of the team coaches, Dallas Young.

Home team Newtonmore C triumphed in the Balavil Cup with a 2-1 final win over Gergask B.

Fourteen teams entered this year’s event and Rob Ritchie, Newtonmore’s groundsman, historian, past president and coach, was rightly proud of an event that attracted a massive turn out.

“The tournament has grown and grown, and it is within the last ten years or so that a lot more girls have taken part,” he said. “All the local players that have gone on to make a name for themselves will have played in the Williamson Cup.”