Skye Camanachd Send Thanks To John “Slippy” Finlayson | |
12 May 2017 Skye Camanachd would like to put on record their sincere thanks to John “Slippy” Finlayson who recently retired as Head Teacher at Portree Primary School. Shinty enjoyed an increased profile during John’s tenure at Portree Primary School. A number of former Skye Camanachd players were “persuaded” to take up shinty coaching and it wasn’t long before there were weekly sessions at P4-P5 and P6-P7 levels. These were followed soon after by P1-3 sessions and sessions for the various girls’ age groups. The increased profile should not have been a surprise to anyone as John had previous shinty successes during his time at Plockton Primary School and he was also part of Skye Camanachd’s 1990 Camanachd Cup winning squad as well as a former Skye Camanachd first team manager. There have been many achievements during John Finlayson’s tenure at the helm at Portree Primary School and one of the first signs of what was to follow on the shinty front came in 2004 when Portree Primary School won the BP First Shinty Indoor Festival in Fort William. The majority of that side went on to play for Skye Camanachd and Neil MacVicar and Stewart Grant are current Skye Camanachd first team players. A major breakthrough came 12 months later when Portree Primary School lifted the national MacKay Cup for the first time since DR MacDonald’s 1974 side. Jordan Murchison and Will Cowie, also current first team players, were part of that side. Portree would go on to enjoy much success in that prestigious tournament over the next 12 years. Current Skye Camanachd first team managers Willie Cowie and Peter Gordon first took up coaching as part of the Portree Primary School set up. As well as competing successfully in both local and national sixes and 12-a-side competitions, Portree also ventured further afield including a memorable trip to Ireland in 2006 which was hosted by Ballinascreen GAA in Derry. This included a visit to state of the art sporting complex at Belfast University where the coaches were given access to the very latest technology, also accessed by Europe’s top athletes, to measure their own fitness levels and there were surprising results! The experiences gained by the youngsters involved helped them progress as shinty players and also allowed them to make lasting friendships and gain tremendous life experiences. John also chaired the extremely successful Isle of Skye Primary Schools Camanachd Association committee which runs all primary school age competitions on the Island, ensuring that a significant number of boys and girls progress to the U14 age group run by Skye Camanachd. Since his retiral at the end of April 2017, John has been elected as one of four Highland Councillors for the Eilean A Cheo Ward. We send him our thanks for all his hard work on the shinty front and wish him every success in his new role. |