Women's shinty is a sport, played almost entirely within

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, identical to the men's game – with the same rules, same sized pitch and same equipment. It is administered by the Women's Camanachd Association (Camanachd nam Ban)

History

In the 1990s, teams from Glengarry, Oban and Dunaad were beginning to play each other, this resulted in the Women's Camanachd Association being set up in 2001 to run the league and cup system discretely from the men's game.

Competition structure

League

Dunaad, Glengarry and Oban Camancheroes made up the first league. The league has now expanded to cover most of the major shinty playing areas. As of 2012, these will be known as the Marine Harvest Leagues.http://www.womens-shinty.com/about/history/ Until 2013, there was a National league one, with teams of 10 a-side, with two regional divisions, based on the sport's traditional North and South Districts, in which teams played 8 a-side. This however, often led to very small leagues and a lack of games which resulted in stilted growth for the game. In 2014, the WCA amalgamated the North and South Divisions Two into National Division Two. This, along with the promotion of Skye and Lochaber to National Division One, resulted in two sizeable leagues allowing for more regular play.

National Division One 2014

* Glasgow Mid-Argyll * Aberdour *

Skye Camanachd Skye Camanachd is a shinty team from the Isle of Skye, Highland, Scotland. It plays in the Premier Division and has a reserve team in North Division One, as well as a Ladies team in the WCA National Division One and a Ladies reserve team in t ...

Lochaber Lochaber ( ; gd, Loch Abar) is a name applied to a part of the Scottish Highlands. Historically, it was a provincial lordship consisting of the parishes of Kilmallie and Kilmonivaig, as they were before being reduced in extent by the creatio ...

Glengarry The Glengarry bonnet is a traditional Scots cap made of thick-milled woollen material, decorated with a toorie on top, frequently a rosette cockade on the left side, and ribbons hanging behind. It is normally worn as part of Scottish military ...

* Badenoch & Strathspey

National Division Two 2014

* Oban Lorn * Lovat *

Ardnamurchan Ardnamurchan (, gd, Àird nam Murchan: headland of the great seas) is a peninsula in the ward management area of Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, noted for being very unspoiled and undisturbed. Its remoteness is accentuated by the main access ...

* Glasgow Mid-Argyll† *

Strathglass Strathglass is a strath or wide and shallow valley in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland down which runs the meandering River Glass from the point at which it starts at the confluence of the River Affric and Abhainn Deabhag to the point where ...

* Dunadd Camanachd * Cowal & Bute †Denotes reserve team

Cup

* Valerie Fraser Trophy – The equivalent of the Camanachd Cup for the women's game. However a club need only win two games to win it. In order to increase the number of teams competing, Division Two teams were permitted entry in 2012. It has been sponsored by Peter Gow of Inverness for several years. *Challenge Cup – A cup for Division Two and reserve sides. Originally the Caledonian Canal sponsored this tournament, but it will be the Marine Harvest Cup from 2012.

Representative

There are North and South representative games at senior and U-18 level. These are one of the few 12 a-side games played in the women's game. These are traditionally played in Oban.

International links

There are also international compromise rules games against camogie teams. In recent years the gap with the Irish Camogie sides has been too great and so the Scotland national side now usually face British Universities GAA. In 2013, Scotland faced Dublin Camogie.

References

External links

Official Website of the WCA

Camanachd Association Women's page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Women's Shinty Shinty Shinty Women's team sports