Newtonmore Camanachd Club

Newsletter 4 -  2008

1] Primary school show the way Colin Stewart evidently could not remember the last time he drove a bus back to Newtonmore with the team carrying a cup! That was what happened on Sunday 20^th April when the Primary 5 and under won a thrilling final 3-1 in the First Shinty tournament in Perth. Garry Reid of the Camanachd Association said that he had never heard such noise at a shinty match! The players have just about come  down to earth after their open topped lorry tour of the village! It fairly inspired the Primary School team as they beat Tomnacross 8-1 to win through to the next round of the Mackay Cup.

2] Other results The only disappointing result so far was the 1sts loss to Fort William. A 2^nd team with lots of young players getting game time are undefeated so far. One pleasing statistic is that the bookings have been restricted to two in all the games in comparison to two red cards and eight bookings at the same stage last year. 2^nd team experience is giving some of the under 17s a lot of good experience and they were very impressive in their 6-1 win against Strathglass.

 3] Sponsorship of Shinty Family Sunday This is now reduced to £150! The large tents are not available for the Sunday so we will be reformatting the event and we will operate out of the clubhouse instead, but there will be no folk music but we hope to have a BBQ and bar.

 4] Trees A number of the 120 + trees planted last autumn have not survived the winter. We are particularly interested in any surplus Scots pine, beech and oak saplings that you might have.

 5] Spare helmets In order to ensure that all the Primary schools have a stock of spare helmets we need to acquire more. However there did not seem to be much point in paying for more new ones when there are quite a few used ones lying around houses because the owner has grown out of them. They can only be taking up space so why not donate them for a worthy cause. Bring them along to the Eilan on Saturday or give me a call and I will pick them up.

6] Youth player development camp We try to send two promising players to this week long even in Perthshire at the clubs expense each year. This year the players are Rory Kennedy and Blair Mackintosh.

6] Camanachd Association AGM

W  The association reported a loss of almost £17k in the 6 months to Dec 2006 but a surplus of over £10k for the year to Dec 2007 [largely due to £25k sponsorship from Highland 2007 for the Camanachd Cup Final and £10k from O’Briens for the International match].

W  The loss of the sponsorship of Tulloch which was £50k a year means that there is a challenge to find new sponsorship. Possibly connected with this financial reality was the announcement that Gill MacDonald the CEO will be going part-time shortly.

W  Increases to annual membership fees, league entry fees and cup fees were eventually all approved though the valid question was raised about what consultation had taken place! This will cost Newtonmore over £300 next season. Proposals to increase youth league and cup fees were withdrawn for further consideration.

W  As part of an attempt to encourage more referees the match fee has been increased to £30 and the mileage allowance to 40p/mile back dated to the start of the season.

W  A transfer fee of £50 has been introduced

7] Coaching initiative The pilot after school clubs at Kingussie High School were disappointingly attended, possibly because most of the young players are getting plenty opportunity to play shinty at the moment and there are no new players from Aviemore etc getting coaching yet as past of the school PE curriculum. However plans for next year are under way with in-service shinty coaching training for teachers being organised shortly and initial stocks of helmets being delivered to schools.

8] Possible land purchase No response has been received yet to our letter to the landowner. A map of the Eilan showing the area we have proposed to buy is on display at the clubhouse.

 9] Looking ahead It is possible that we will play Kingussie on three successive weeks in the MacTavish Cup, the League and the MacAulay Cup starting on 24^th May. The last game depends on Newtonmore defeating Kilmallie in the previous round on 10^th May.

10] Badenoch and Strathspey Sports Council AGM This is being held at the Boat of Garten Community hall on Wednesday 14^th May at 7.30pm. The sports Council have been very generous in their support for the coaching project and in supporting us sending youth players to the summer development camp.

Back