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updated 1/13/2003
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FROM THE PEOPLE'S JOURNAL (10/15/1983)
FANCY PLAYING SHINTY AGAINST THE YANKS?
Mike Bentley is a keen player. Nothing unusual about that in the North.
But Mike turns out for a team in California!
He is in this country on holiday just now and last week he took in his first senior Scottish shinty match in Inverness, when he watched Skye beat Glenurquhart 3-1 at Bught Park.
Mike is a member of a Scottish society in the San Francisco Bay area.
A couple of years ago they staged a Scottish pageant, featuring aspects of life in the old country.
ENJOYED IT
One of the ideas was to stage a shinty match.
That was a bit of a problem as no one knew the rules, or even what a caman looked like!
After research, a five-a-side game was arranged and it went down well with the spectators.
Better still, the lads who took part enjoyed it too, and decided to continue playing, and to try to improve their knowledge of the game.
Several of the team members had played hockey previously and had some idea of stick handling.
Mike himself used to play ice hockey, which, he says, is far more similar to the physical elements involved in shinty!
"Baseball, too, was a help, for playing the ball in the air," he added.
"But you should have seen the assortment of sticks we used for camans!"
Now the Bay area has two shinty teams divided roughly north and south.
"They're called the North Tacks and the South Tacks, as a reminder of the old clan system," Mike explained.
PICKED UP
He plans to take in more shinty before heading home next month.
While in Inverness, he picked up a copy of the shinty year book, and the recently-published coaching manual.
After watching the first division match at the Bught and the fourth division game which was being played on the pitch alongside, Mike, whose ancestors are from Thurso, said, "I reckon our teams would probably be in the twelfth divisions!"
Still, if any Scottish sides fancy a trans-trip, Mike assures them that the California sides would give them a game.
By that time, the coaching manual will have been avidly read by the players from both the Bay teams.
Who knows, perhaps one day we could see an American shinty team competing in the Camanachd Cup!
