Sutherland Cup Tie Is A Family Affair For The MacVicar Clan. | |
19 May 2010 This weekend’s Aberdein Considine Sutherland Cup second round tie between Skye Camanachd and Col Glen has some added spice for Skye Camanachd second team manager Davie MacVicar. It was as a 7 year old for Col Glen in the late 1960s that MacVicar learned his shinty trade. “We just played youth shinty back then,” he said, “as the senior side was in abeyance. However Col Glen re-entered the senior shinty world around 1971 when they had sufficient players to form a team.” It was a resurgence which mirrored that of Skye Camanachd around a similar time. “I recall making my debut as an 11 year old. I would have been a substitute for a couple of years before establishing myself in the team as a 14 year old. Our side was made up from youngsters like me right up to players in the 40 year old age bracket,” said MacVicar. “My brother Duncan MacVicar was part of that Col Glen side and our younger brother Ronnie also joined us later on.” The team progressed each year and they went on to have a particularly successful season in 1983. “We won the Bullough Cup, beating Kyles Athletic in the final. It was a convincing win, 5-0 I think,” recalled the Skye Camanachd second team manager. “We also reached the final of the Sutherland Cup that season but we went down 6-1 to a very strong Lochaber side which featured future Scottish internationalists Scott and Drew McNeil and their brother Alex as well as keeper Duncan Kelly. Former Scotland and Lochaber manager Ally Ferguson also played in that Lochaber side as did Duncan Stewart and the late Donnie MacLean who was an excellent full centre.” Donald “McGuffie” MacPhail, and his brother Ronnie, were a Col Glen team-mate of MacVicars in that side and buckshee back Donald will likely feature in the visiting squad this weekend. Work commitments took Davie to Stornoway later in 1983 and so his spell with Col Glen ended. Duncan MacVicar was not part of the 1983 line-up as he had by then made what was to become a familiar family journey from Col Glen to Kyles Athletic. He served them with distinction, captaining the Tighnabruaich men to 1983 Camanachd Cup success – the first year that the competition featured an open draw. Ronnie also joined Kyles for a spell where he too won the Camanachd Cup in 1994 when his team mates were former Col Glen players Kenny Allan and Donald “McGuffie” MacPhail. Ronnie’s Kyles side beat Glenurquhart after extra time in the semi final of the competition and the Glen side included none other than his brother Davie who joined the Blairbeg outfit after leaving Stornoway and a spell with Glasgow Mid Argyll. Ronnie rejoined Col Glen and he still plays for them. He will likely feature this weekend at either full centre or full forward. He has been joined on the field by his son, 13 year old Jamie MacVicar, who scored a crucial debut goal in Col Glen’s extra time victory over the Taynuilt second string in the previous round of the Aberdein Considine Sutherland Cup. A third brother Niven did not play for Col Glen. However his younger son Sandy played for the side before joining Kyles Athletic last season where he was an unused substitute in the 2009 Camanachd Cup Final. He also represented the 2009 South U17 side last season against the North U17 in Fife when he was captain. Niven’s other son Willie attends Strathclyde University and is part of the current Col Glen squad although exams may prevent him from playing this weekend. The Skye Camanachd link is enhanced as Davie’s son Neil MacVicar is full centre for the Island team. Neil captained the Skye Camanachd U17 to their 2009 London Shield success and he has been a second team regular for several years now. He was part of the Scotland U17 Development squad which toured Ireland in 2009. He also made his first team debut this season and may well have added to his 4 appearances in Aonghas MacDonald’s side had it not been that an additional first team outing would have left him cup-tied for both the Aberdein Considine Sutherland Cup and Strathdearn Cup competitions. There is nothing like a few family links to spice up a shinty match, especially a cup tie, and this encounter has all the ingredients for a lively first meeting between these sides. And for the the winners, it’s not just the family bragging rights, but a trip to play – who else – Kyles Athletic at Tighnabruaich in the next round! The Aberdein Considine Sutherland Cup tie between Skye Camanachd and Col Glen at Pairc nan Laoch, Portree throws up at 3pm. |