Strathglass & Skye Camanachd To Contest 2016 Murdo MacKenzie Memorial Cup | |
11 February 2016 Strathglass will play Skye Camanachd for the 2016 Murdo MacKenzie Memorial Cup at Cannich on Saturday 13 February 2016. Each year, Strathglass invite a team they will not play against in the league to contest the Murdo MacKenzie Memorial Cup in memory of club stalwart Murdo MacKenzie and Newtonmore are the current holders. Murdo MacKenzie, whose parents were from Skye, had many years association with the game of shinty. He became Lochaber secretary in the early 1950s and played a pivotal role in organising the 1957 Camanachd Cup Final when Newtonmore beat Kyles Athletic 3-1 at Spean Bridge. He was also involved in the arrangements for four Sutherland Cup Finals at Spean as well as other major shinty events. Murdo moved to Cannich in 1963 at a time when Strathglass Shinty Club was in abeyance and there was no shinty pitch in the area. A number of players from the area were traveling to play for other clubs such as Inverness and Beauly. Murdo was part of a small band of shinty enthusiasts who got together to revive the club and Strathglass rejoined the shinty world in 1965 with Murdo – not surprisingly – named club secretary. Strathglass won the Strathdearn and Glenmhor Cups in 1967 and they continued playing through a period in the early 1970s when they had a shortage of players. However the sterling work by the Strath committee helped ensure the club’s survival through this crucial period where had they folded, they may never have returned to the game’s top flight. Strathglass won the Balliemore Cup – their first national success - during the 1985 / 86 season and it would have given Murdo particular pride that his son’s Colin and Roy were part of the victorious team. Murdo remained Strathglass secretary for over 20 years until ill health forced him to retire. He was thought to be the longest serving club secretary in the Camanachd Association at that time. The Strathglass team of the 1960s marked Murdo’s contribution to the game by presenting him with a silver mounted caman whilst the current side of the time presented him with a specially engraved rosebowl. Murdo was also a former Vice President of the Camanachd Association. Murdo passed away in 1987 and Douglas MacKintosh, Camanachd Association President at the time, said, “Murdo will be an immense loss to shinty and in particular the Strathglass area where he was so vital to the game.” The Murdo MacKenzie Memorial Cup is a fitting tribute to one of the game’s true stalwarts. (Thanks to Ken Thomson’s article in the 1987 Shinty Year Book for the background information) |