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Skye Camanachd are a shinty team from the Isle of Skye, Highland, Scotland. It plays in North Division One and has a reserve team in North Division Two.

Contents 1 Stadium 2 Colours 3 Early History 4 Camanachd Cup 1990 5 Pride of the Summer 6 Recent times 7 Nickname 8 External Links

Pairc nan Laoch (Gaelic for Park of Heroes), Portree, Isle of Skye.

White shirts, sky blue shorts, white socks.

Change: Navy shirts, white shorts, navy socks

There was a Portree Club and a Bernisdale Club in existence in the 1880s. However, Skye Camanachd in its present form, came into being in 1895. Skye had a strong tradition of playing shinty on the Old Celtic New Year. The club was a founding member of the Camanachd Association and entered the Camanachd Cup despite mainland clubs trying to force them to play on the mainland. The club had to wait almost 100 years to get its hands on the Camanachd Cup.

Skye famously won the Camanachd Cup for the first time in their history in 1990 against Newtonmore in Fort William. Inspirational in this victory was player, Willie Cowie. Their exploits were recorded for posterity by the BBC program "Home" which filmed behind the scences on the day as well as the triumphant homecoming to Portree where they were met by a crowd of 5000 people, almost half the island's population. The celebrations are famous for the expensive trophy being lost and then found in the street at 6 in the morning the next day, the local legend being that everybody else thought that someone else was looking after it.

Skye Camanachd feature heavily in the song "Pride of the Summer" by Runrig.

I still hear the snares in the square

Colours ablaze in the evening

The air was still

Down the stormy hill

It's good to be young and daring

I still see the blood on the knees

The camans swing without warning

The lads in white

At the speed of light

It's good to be young and daring

Across the bay I still hear the strains

The two step loud and Blair-ing

We walked hand in hand

To the accordion band

It's good to be young and daring

She was the pride of the summer that year

She was my sweetheart, my lady

We walked the black rock

And we stopped by the loch

It's good to be young and daring

Beat the drum

Beat the drum

Like a heartbeat

Lonely and strong

Beat the drum

Skye have never again achieved the high of winning the Camanachd Cup, however they did achieve Premier division status in the early 2000s before being relegated. The club has shown a flair for another sort of promotion however, securing lucrative sponsorship deals with Danish firms Carlsberg and Hummell.

"Na Sgitheanaich"

• Skye @ shinty.com
• West Highland Free Press, Skye Shinty Reports
• Runrig Home Page

Shinty clubs
Senior teams: *Aberdeen University *Aberdour *Ardnamurchan *Ballachulish *Beauly *Boleskine Camanachd *Bute *Caberfeidh *Col-Glen *Dundee University *Edinburgh University *Edinburgh East Lothian *Fort William *Glasgow Mid Argyll *Glasgow University *Glengarry *Glenorchy Camanachd *Glenurquhart *The Highlanders *Inveraray *Inverness *Kilmallie *Kilmory *Kincraig *Kingussie *Kinlochshiel *Kintyre *Kyles Athletic *Lewis Camanachd *Lochaber Camanachd *Lochbroom Camanachd *Lochcarron Camanachd *Lochside Rovers *London Camanachd *Lovat *Nairnshire Camanachd *Newtonmore *Oban Camanachd *Oban Celtic *Robert Gordon University *Skye Camanachd *St Andrews University *Strachur and District *Strathclyde Police *Strathclyde University *Strathglass *Tayforth
Junior shinty teams: *Assynt Camanachd *Dunoon Shinty Club *Gryffe Shinty Club *Lewis Camanachd *Linlithgow Camanachd *Menteith Camanachd * Milngavie and Bearsden *Uist Camanachd
Women's teams: *Aberdeen University *Dunadd *Edinburgh University *Forth Camanachd *Glasgow Mid Argyll *Glengarry *Inverary *Linlithgow *Robert Gordon University *St Andrews University *Tir Connaill Harps
Shinty in the United States
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