Former Scotland Head Coach Fraser MacKenzie takes charge of SCOTS Camanachd for “Iomain Nam Feachd - Armed Forces Shinty / Hurling” clash with the Irish Defence Force as the British and Irish Armed Forces meet for the first time at the Bught Park, Inverness on Saturday 28 April 2012.
MacKenzie is clearly proud to have been asked to manage the SCOTS Camanachd side. “I was asked by Captain Stoddart to manage the team on Saturday,” said MacKenzie who is the current Glenurquhart co-manager. “I will also take the players for training sessions on Thursday and Friday evening.”
“I have a lot of fond memories of my time in the Queens Own Highlanders and the Highlanders,” he said “It’s a fantastic honour to be asked to take the team after being out of the army for 15 years.”
MacKenzie reflected on how shinty in the forces started. “We started the shinty team in 1994 when it was still the Queens own Highlanders and we had just returned to Edinburgh from Germany. I went to the sports officer Major Hugh Young and said to him ‘sir we are a Highland regiment, we have a football team, a rugby team, ski teams, running teams, fishing teams and even a cricket team but we don’t have a shinty team’. He asked me how many players we had and I passed him a list of 30 players including Paul Ross from Caberfeidh, Dickie Mackenzie from Inverness, Robbie Stewart from Newtonmore and myself. We were immediately given funding for the team and it grew from there. I remember we were given almost a full week to train for the Dalmally Sixes, not many teams would get that sort of time to train.”
MacKenzie also has praise for his successor. “I left the battalion just after we came back from Northern Ireland and Captain Robert Stoddart from Broadford, Skye took over and he has done an amazing job keeping the team going especially when you look at the commitments the army has now.”
“It is a great opportunity to keep players who might only have played shinty in school involved in the game while they are serving. Davie MacKenzie served in the Queens Own Highlanders and he has been a guest player in some of the games since it started again. Another shinty player that served in the Queen Own Highlanders was Lochaber manager Michael Delaney.”
This weekend’s match throw in has been scheduled for 5.30pm in order to allow shinty fans to watch their club side and then head along to the Bught Park. SCOTS Camanachd are asking all shinty fans to show their support for their Armed Forces Shinty / Hurling team.
As well as the game, there will be;
- Entertainment provided by the Army Cadet Force Pipe Band
- An opportunity to meet members of the Armed Forces
- A bouncy castle for children
- A food and drink outlet
- The Shinty Shop will be present
Iomain Nam Feachd is sponsored by Poppyscotland, the leading charity supporting ex-servicemen and women and their families in Scotland. Admission to the game is free by donation to Poppyscotland.