Stick sport of another sort all the rage in Fife as Aberdour reach first major final

IT MAY be renowned worldwide as the home of golf but events today will prove that a stick sport of another sort is taking root in Fife.

Ten years ago, they had never heard of shinty in Aberdour. With the famous links courses of St Andrews up the coast, people were swinging Callaways, not camans, on the grass parks overlooking the Firth of Forth. However, what started as a Strathclyde University project ten years ago has produced minor miracles along this part of the Kingdom’s shoreline.

And today, Aberdour Shinty Club will contest its first senior final – the Bullough Cup final against Lochside Rovers in Bute.

The story is as remarkable as it is unlikely. When Lisa Norman started a pilot project at a local primary school, she didn’t expect anything to come from it.

Fife had never had any ties with shinty. Both geographically and culturally, it lies miles from the heartlands of the Gaelic ‘bounding game.’

Nevertheless, today, Aberdour (with a total population of 1,690) boasts the highest number of youth shinty teams in Scotland. The boys of Fife are swinging camans from primary school to after-school. In a further unlikely twist, so are the village’s womenfolk. “In terms of the number of teams participating, we are the biggest club in the country now,” says founder Norman, who learned her shinty in Tighnabruaich, the home of Kyles Athletic. We do P1 to P3. We have U-10s, 12s, 14s, 17s, two senior men’s teams and two senior girls’ teams. It is incredible, really.”

Today, a busload of fans will make their way to Rothesay for the final. Many will be parents who never imagined they would bring their kids up playing shinty in Fife. They, too, have embraced the game; many of them holding active positions on the club’s committee.

“The reason I started doing this at all was as part of a second year university coaching module in Outdoor Education,” says Norman.

“It basically started as a six-week trial at a primary school and I never supposed it would take off. I probably also didn’t realise what was involved.

“In Fife, obviously, there is golf. There are SPL football teams, athletics clubs, water polo and one of the local gym clubs are UK champions.

“But as soon as the kids picked up a stick, they were hooked and that’s what can happen with shinty.” Some of today’s finalists in coach Scott Grant’s team are players from the original batch that started out with Norman in primary school.

Angus Thorburn is 15 now and admits it has been an incredible journey. “When I started playing, my family had never heard of shinty. In fact, they were a bit apprehensive. Now my sister plays as well. I don’t think it will ever die out here, now.”

Today’s final is the beginning of a hectic period for the club. Next weekend, the ladies contest the women’s Camanachd Cup final. Golf? You’ll just have to go to St Andrews for that.