With the 2012 Shinty / Hurling International series between Scotland and Ireland now behind us, attention turns to the future of the annual composite rules clash between the Celtic cousins.  

What happens next with the international series is one of the topics contained within the current Competitions Review being carried out by the Camanachd Association. A paper issued to clubs said,

“Recently the Senior Shinty / Hurling International has been played on a home and away basis, although both the Under 21’s and Women’s team have only had one match. Should we expand this to enable all three teams to have annual home and away fixtures or should we revert to just one fixture per team each year?”

Scotland Head Coach Drew McNeil has come down clearly in favour of continuing with the home and away series and you can read his views by clicking on the following link Drew McNeil

Camanachd Association Communications Director Donald Stewart has been an advocate of the international series and he was instrumental in the introduction of the home and away format. He is also charged with raising the funds necessary to cover the costs of playing the international series on a home and away basis each year. In an interview with Alasdair Bruce, Donald answered some of the questions being raised in the shinty community at present.

AB – How did the home and away format for the Shinty / Hurling Internationals come about?

DS – A delegation from the Camanachd Association met with Irish officials ahead of the 2009 single Homecoming international in Inverness. Duncan Cameron was Camanachd Association President at the time and he was joined by Archie Robertson and me. We met with current GAA President Liam O’Neill and Pat Daly, GAA Director of Games & Development. We talked about how we could raise the profile of the game and get maximum exposure. We wanted to expand the programme so that the players, supporters and both associations got more out of the experience. Included in our discussions was the fact that it obviously takes a financial commitment from both parties to fulfil the fixture. It was felt by both ourselves and the GAA that playing the senior game on a home and away basis each year would help us realise these objectives. We decided to pilot the fixture as a two-test affair from 2010 and it has moved on from there.

AB - Cost is an obvious issue. Can the shinty community afford the financial commitment required for the senior team to continue to take part in an annual home and away series?

DS – Cost is often cited as a reason for reverting back to one international each year. However the reality is that sponsors are more interested in the home and away format than they were with the single venue event. In the main, each country raises money to cover the costs accrued in their home fixture. It is difficult to get continuity with sponsorship for an event that only happens every two years. That was one of the factors we took into account when moving to two tests. Look at the television coverage this year. BBC2 Scotland covered the game in Inverness live whilst BBC Alba started their daily broadcast a full two hours earlier to show the game in Ireland live. This series is regarded as a national event. On the Irish side, TG4 covered both tests live and they are really impressed by the whole spectacle. This means that we can offer sponsors a platform of up to four hours coverage on national television on two successive Saturdays. There is also live radio coverage of the game on a national and local level. Add in press coverage and it shows how we can offer sponsors an attractive package. 

AB – What is the financial cost to the Camanachd Association of running the series on a home and away basis?

DS – No money comes out of the Camanachd Association coffers to fund the Shinty / Hurling International series. It is all self-funded. The event does take up some Camanachd Association staff time but it has also galvanised a huge band of volunteers. Our Head Coaches; Drew McNeil with the seniors, Ronald Ross with the U21s and Sarah Corrigall and Laura MacKay for the ladies, are all volunteers. So are their assistants and those who provide medical and fitness support to the various squads. And there are other volunteers too. These people commit their time and they make a financial commitment because they believe in the game and all the benefits it brings. In 2009, the single Homecoming international was properly budgeted and properly costed. In fact, we made close to a £2,000 profit that year and that was mainly down to some great work by Alice MacRae and her brother Roddy who organised the refreshments tent. We then calculated how much money we had to raise to have the event on a home and away format starting from 2010 and we raised it. Thereafter we broke even in both 2010 and 2011 too. The 2012 home international made a profit and we used this money for our share of the costs of going across to Ireland.

AB – If we were to revert to just one international for the seniors each year, would the funds used to participate in the second international be available for other aspects of the game of shinty?

DS – The short answer is no, they would not be available for other aspects of the game of shinty. The whole event is self-funding. We have a main sponsor in Marine Harvest who under-pin the series. Event Scotland, the Inverness Common-Good Fund and Caledonian Brewery have also contributed to the home match. Co-operative Foods and Scottish Hydro also provide financial support. JIG Groundworks of Kiltarlity got involved with the Ladies team this year which was another boost. Other income comes from a variety of sources including; gate receipts, programme sales, vendors’ fees, general advertising and pitch-side advertising. In recent years, we have also had players’ sponsorship and that his been a popular source of revenue. All players from the seniors, U21s, and ladies find their own individual sponsor who is offered a package for their support and the money raised goes towards the cost of the event. All this money is all raised on the back of playing home and away against Ireland. If we didn’t play this fixture then this money wouldn’t exist so it couldn’t be used else-where.

AB – What are the benefits to shinty of Scotland and Ireland meeting twice a year?

DS – I know that our Head Coach Drew McNeil has spoken to you about the benefits for the players and for the game and I agree with these. Every player and coach that I have spoken to says that they get more out of the two games than they would out of one game. I would add that it gives any youngsters who start playing shinty the pathway to progress from a beginner right up to representing the national team when they are older. My involvement is off the field and if we only played Ireland once each year, I believe that we would raise less than half the current funding because one match is not as attractive to sponsors or television as the two match series.  

AB – How do Ireland view the series?

A – They are fully committed to the home and away format. They find it easier to promote the game on a home and away basis each year. Both GAA President Liam O’Neill and Pat Daly, who is the main figure at Croke Park, are heavily involved. They have agreed to share their Development strategy and their vision for 2020 and have invited our Coaches to join them at their annual Coaching Convention in January 2013 so that the Camanachd Association can benefit from the additional exposure and relationship building. That’s how serious they are about it.

AB – How do the sponsors view the event?

DS – They think it is great. The spectacle, the television coverage and they are pleased with the feedback they get. They are much more interested in the two game event and, by all accounts, BBC2 Scotland and BBC Alba are pleased with the viewing figures for the games. It is the same for Ireland. One of their concerns in 2009 was that their main sponsor had dropped out and they wanted to make the game attractive to a new partner. TG4 have come in and filled that void. This is the Camanachd Association’s second biggest event of the year after the Camanachd Cup Final. There is also the added bonus that we link the home event into the Marine Harvest Annual Awards Ceremony. This takes place on the Friday prior to the international and if people are travelling a distance to Inverness for the ceremony, they can stay overnight and attend the international the following day. Marine Harvest do not just under-pin the international series but they are a main sponsor who support shinty throughout the year and they see this additional test and media coverage as a good return on their investment.

AB – What progress do you feel the event has made?

DS – We are always looking at how we can improve things on and off the park. For example, this year we spoke with journalist Kenneth Stephen and photographer Neil G Paterson about how we could package the game better for the media. They now provide a range of match previews, match reports and photographs for the various media outlets. This helped greatly improve the coverage of this year’s games. I think it is important that the internationals take place after the shinty season is decided as clubs seem to buy into it more that way. Therefore there was more of an emphasis on applying the Byelaws, with the cooperation of the clubs, when pitches were unplayable earlier in the season and that seems to have worked. We also increased the points scored for a goal this year from three points to five points.

AB - Why make the switch to five points for a goal?

DS – At the end of the 2011 series, the Camanachd Association and the GAA spoke about how things had gone and about any improvements we could make. It is no secret that Ireland want to get more of an emphasis on ground hurling. They see benefits for player development in doing so as it is easier for their youngest age-groups to play hurling that way. We both felt there was too much emphasis on playing the Shinty / Hurling game in the air. I also looked at it from the point of view that in a shinty match, we want to see our team score more goals than the opposition so it was a natural thing to encourage goals. I think encouraging goal-scoring is a good thing and don’t forget, there were 17 goals scored over the two games this year – more than ever before. However we gave it a go and we’ll review the position with the Irish as we do after every international and if our feeling is that we should move back to three points for a goal, I don’t think Ireland would have a problem with that.  

AB – What happens next?

DS – First of all, we’ll sit down and review how things went this year. We’ll begin planning for the 2013 series early next year. There is talk of building up to an event in New York in 2014 which would certainly be something to capture the imagination. The Camanachd Association and the GAA have agreed to look at joint sponsors for next year who do business in both countries and grant funding from Europe. It is also worth noting that this meeting between Scotland and Ireland is a cultural exchange. This series is now not only about the sport but about a very important cultural exchange which has grown rapidly over the last few years with Cholmcille sponsoring young musicians from both countries to visit and play in venues otherwise beyond their reach; to quote Sally from Feis in Ennis 'I didn't come here to play Scottish tunes but to learn Irish tunes'; the young Feis musicians were able to play with Finbar Furie, Kate Purcell and our own Manran. The home and away format creates twice the opportunity and twice the benefit, both in sporting and cultural terms. A lot will depend on what comes out of the review but I believe that we have something special here.

End of interview

Proposals for the new competitions structure will come before the 2013 Camanachd Association Annual General Meeting. 

However the Shinty / Hurling debate may yet have some more mileage and it certainly deserves a full discussion, taking all factors into account, before coming to a final decision. 

Photograph courtesy of www.neilgpaterson.com