Camanachd Association Chief Operating Officer Torquil MacLeod gave an end of season interview when he spoke to Cuillin FM on a range of matters on Saturday 23 December 2011.
Speaking to Saturday Sports Show presenter Drew Millar, Torquil MacLeod went through some of his highlights from the 2011 shinty season.
Balliemore Cup
MacLeod first of all spoke on the Balliemore Cup between Caberfeidh and Bute which was held at Pairc nan Laoch, Portree and which was featured live on Cuillin FM. He said. “We have had a great season and there have been lots of great highlights during it. The thing that takes up a lot of my time is the events side and we’ve had a lot of events. The Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup Final obviously stands out but we came to Skye earlier in the year for the Balliemore Cup Final and for me that was a highlight and it was one of our best preforming events. We got a great crowd on the day and people were there all day drinking at the bar, eating at the BBQ and watching the shinty and I just thought it was a fantastic event. We made a big effort to try and reach the tourists and that was part of the motivation for coming to Skye. The final was part of Scotland’s Islands Year of Culture and we got a grant from them for coming to Skye as there was an additional travel cost particularly for a team like Bute coming all the way up. The support from Scotland’s Islands offset the additional costs. It also allowed us to put in a significant marketing effort behind that which was supported by Skye Camanachd and the large contingent of volunteers that the club was able to provide. I have this image in my mind of this group of German motorcyclists, with their bikes parked at the side of the pitch, sitting down and watch some shinty for the first time. It was great. Bute ran out winners and it was a long trip for them, it was an overnighter, but they loved it and the day worked out really, really well so that was a real success and a genuine highlight for me.
Aberdein Considine Sutherland Cup
“Another highlight was the Sutherland Cup Final in Aberdeen which was exciting. It was Aberdeen University Club’s 150th anniversary and we had First Minister Alex Salmond there. The final was played at Kings College, Aberdeen and it was another great day for the sport and it was a good match with Kingussie running out winners.”
Artemis Macaulay Cup
“The Macaulay Association is the lead in terms of organising and presenting the Artemis Macaulay Cup and they do a great job. The final was another sunny day in Oban. It was a very tight game which had a very dramatic finish with Kyles wrestling the lead from Newtonmore in the final minutes.”
Scottish Hydro Premier Division
“The Scottish Hydro Premier Division went as close to the wire as it could possibly go with Kyles losing the league in the last minute. If it had been a draw, which it was heading right up to the last minute, then Kyles would have had a chance to win the league in their last game against Kingussie but Newtonmore scored right at the end to retain the trophy. I know the result was a huge disappointment for Kyles; they were very disappointed about that. There were over 1,000 supporters down there in Dunoon and it was another fantastic show-piece and we have match highlights on our YouTube website. That game would have been a really good TV product as well as it was such an exciting day with a great crowd there.”
Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup
“The Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup Final was another fantastic show-case for the sport. The sponsors Scottish Hydro lend a lot of support to the event to help dress it up. I see our role as providing the stage for the two teams to get on and perform and we had a great stage and we had a fantastic performance on that day. We had around 4,000 people there and we had a record TV viewing audience watching from home so it couldn’t have gone much better from our view-point. Kingussie might have a different opinion but it was a great day for shinty. I think most people walked away from that game, even if you were a Kingussie supporter, recognising that it was a great spectacle even if you were disappointed with the outcome.”
Marine Harvest North Division 1
Finally there was mention of another west coast success with Kinlochshiel running away with the Marine Harvest North Division 1 title. MacLeod said, “West Coast side Kinlochshiel are now in the Scottish Hydro Premier Division and justly so. I haven’t seen much of Kinlochshiel but those who have say that they will be a good contender in the Premier Division.”