Kenny “Duchan” MacPherson | |
17 March 2015 Skye Camanachd lost one of their most fervent supports when Kenny MacPherson passed away on Saturday 7 February 2015. Kenny “Duchan” MacPherson was born in Uig, Skye on Monday 14 May 1945 to Duncan and Margaret MacPherson. He was the youngest of seven brothers – Lachlan, Alasdair, Neil, Willie, Alan and Andy. Their father Duncan was a seaman turned crofter whilst mother Margaret was an active local Labour politician who campaigned at a national level and also had a talent for writing. Her works included “The Shinty Boys” which was published in 1963 (after initially being rejected) and she went on to write six more books. On leaving school, a 15 year old, Kenny took up employment with local supermarket Liptons. He left to serve his time as a joiner with Norman MacLeod before moving to Glasgow to ply his trade. During his time in Glasgow he attended several of Celtic’s European matches after Jock Stein joined the club as manager. Indeed eye-brows at Celtic Park were raised when he turned up for one match in a blue jumper which reflected his allegiance to Rangers. He returned to Skye where he worked driving for the Crofters. He took up oil-related jobs in Kishorn before heading for “the rigs” and he worked in the North Sea for twelve years as well as running a croft in Braes, from where his father and grandfather originally came. He also spent 12 years as Portree High School janitor before retiring in May 2005. Kenny celebrated the occasion with family and friends at a party at - where else - the Skye Camanachd Clubhouse. He was not idle for long as he started up a taxi business which he operated with his wife Christine. Shinty played a huge part of the MacPherson family life both at their home in Torvaig and further afield and with brothers Willie and Andy serving Skye Camanachd with distinction; it was little surprise that Kenny followed their path. Their mother Margaret was Skye Camanachd Chieftain for a number of years. As well as playing shinty locally with his brothers, Kenny played shinty in Glasgow during his time there. Skye Camanachd had a period of abeyance in the late part of the 1960s and brothers Willie and Andy joined another Portree-based player Iain MacDougall in turning out for Lochcarron. However by 1969, Skye Camanachd was back playing competitive shinty and Kenny’s involvement was both on and off the park. He was part of the Skye Camanachd squad which made it to the 1971 Sutherland Cup Final. There was only one substitute permitted in these days and Kenny missed out on a place in final where Skye eventually lost out to Ballachulish. Kenny would also have been part of the Skye Camanachd squad who played Newtonmore in the first Thomas Ferguson Memorial Cup match which was against Newtonmore at the King George V Playing Field, Portree. However he had appendix removed just ahead of the game – mistakenly as it turned out - but still attended the match with the other Skye Camanachd supporters. Kenny scored twice in a match against Glasgow University at the King George V Playing Field, Portree including a tremendous strike from near the corner flag. Kenny’s Skye Camanachd role also included a number of off-field duties; taking players to matches in cars & buses and organising dances, sales of work etc to raise club funds. During this period, Kenny visited Killarney, a town in County Kerry, three times for shinty / hurling exchange matches. He went once with Skye Camanachd, once with Inverness (when he was joined by fellow Skye players Donnie Martin, Ewen Grant, Peter MacKinnon, Ally MacKinnon, Donald Neil Murchison) and once with Strathglass. He refereed each time and the trip with Inverness included former Camanachd Association President Archie Robertson. Encouraged by Skye Camanachd stalwart, DR MacDonald, Kenny started refereeing school tournaments and this progressed to refereeing at a senior level. He officiated at several MacBean Cup Finals and a Littlejohn Vase Final as well as:
He also organised a North Division 3 Select team in 1978 and once took a Skye Girls team to an all-boys youth shinty tournament – late 70s / early 80s – when the squad included his nieces Margaret (MacPherson) Banks and Marion (MacPherson) Donaldson. This was possibly the first ever Skye Camanachd Ladies team and they reached the competition semi-finals. Working in the North Sea and running a croft in Braes meant Kenny became less involved in the game but he was one of the first people onto the An Aird pitch when referee John Henderson blew his final whistle following Skye Camanachd’s 1990 Camanachd Cup win over Newtonmore. Kenny married Christine MacLean in 1988 and their son Ian was born in 1994. Kenny enjoyed nothing more than watching Ian play shinty for Portree Primary School and then Skye Camanachd at U14, U17 and second team level. News filtered through to the Skye support that Kenny had passed away during the George Michie Memorial Cup match against Lovat at Pairc nan Laoch, Portree on Saturday 7 February 2015. He had taken unwell at his home in Portree earlier in the week. There was a minutes silence at the ground before the trophy presentation and Skye Camanachd postponed their friendly double-header against Glenurquhart the following Saturday as a mark of respect. Sadly Kenny’s brother Alan passed away 9 months earlier and his brother Lachlan passed away only a couple of weeks before him. Kenny’s funeral took place at the Church of Scotland, Portree on Saturday 14 February 2015 and it was one of the largest seen on Skye in living memory which reflects the high esteem in which he was held. His support will be missed by everyone at Skye Camanachd. |