Aberdour Shinty Club

Infobox shinty club
clubname = Aberdour


fullname = Aberdour Shinty Club
gaelicname = Comann Camanachd Obar Dobhair
nickname = The 'Dour
founded = 2001
ground = Silver Sands, Aberdour
manager = Lisa Norman
league = South Division Two
season = 2008
position = 7th
pattern_la1=_whiteshoulders|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=_whiteshoulders
leftarm1=000000|body1=000000|rightarm1=000000|shorts1=000000|socks1=000000
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=cccccc|body2=cccccc|rightarm2=cccccc|shorts2=000000|socks2=000000

Aberdour Shinty Club is a shinty club which plays in Aberdour, Fife, Scotland. It is the only senior Shinty Club in Fife and was founded in 2001. It currently competes in the Marine Harvest South Division 2, which it entered for the first time in 2006.

History

Although shinty has an historical presence in Fife, it has not tended to be a hotbed of the game in recent times.

Jamieson records that the old name of shinty in Fife was "carrick", and that it was "still used in the eastern part of that county" [http://www.dsl.ac.uk/dsl/] in 1825.

However, the sport was played in Glenrothes in the 1970s and in Dunfermline in the early 1990s and St. Andrews University has had a team made up of students since the late 1960s. However, Aberdour is the first club to take a longer term view of the sport in the Kingdom and have developed a strong junior setup to support the development of the senior team.

It was established in 2001 as a junior side by local Sports Science student Lisa Norman as part of a project at University and within a few years had successful teams playing at all levels from Under 10 to Under 17. 2005 saw their first entry into senior competition, playing in the Bullough Cup. In 2006 the decision was taken to make the step up to full time competition, entering the senior leagues for the first time, although this has been a challenge for the club with such a young squad. The club's achievements in recent years have been rewarded with recognition of the most talented young players in the international set-up as well as various awards from local organisations.

The club finished bottom of South Division Two in its first season, 2006. The club recorded its first win in senior shinty with a 5-3 away win against Edinburgh East Lothian on 28 April 2007. In June 2007, Aberdour's Under 17 team were runners up in the MacQuiston Cup.

2008 saw Aberdour begin to mature as a side and they have recorded victories against Glasgow Mid Argyll and London Camanachd as well as having significantly improved performances against other teams in the league. [http://www.dunfermlinepress.com/articles/2/24975#post] the club finished the league second bottom but within three points of third place.

The club also won its first national trophy, winning the under-14 developmetn trophy 5-1 against Strathglass on the 13th of September 2008 in Fort William.

External links

* [http://www.aberdourshintyclub.com/ Aberdour Shinty Club Website]
* [http://www.shinty.com/aberdour/Default.htm Aberdour @ Shinty.com]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/5071470.stm BBC News Report about Aberdour's Success]
* [http://www.dunfermlinepress.com/articles/2/23161 Aberdour beat London]