IT’S a sport that’s as old as the hills, frequently associated with strapping Highland and Islands lads chasing a cork and leather ball around the pitch with a wooden stick called a caman.

But the ancient game of shinty – camanachd – is also popular amongst exiled Scots and others in London and elsewhere across England.

For more than 200 years, London Camanachd kept the sport and culture alive, apart from a couple of spells when the club folded but later reformed after being established in 1874.

Its most recent rise from the ashes was in 2004 when it formed both women’s and men’s teams and the club currently holds the English League title.

In his book Camanachd: The Story of Shinty, Roger Hutchinson says it is “very likely” that sports involving hitting a ball with a curved stick were played around the world, including in Athens in the 5th century BC.

“Somewhere along the line of its development into the sport it is today, shinty was linked to training warriors,” says Hutchinson. “It was seen to be the perfect way to develop the skills that would be needed in battle.

“More relevant for 21st century society is the fact that shinty was also seen as the ideal activity through which to learn skills in team-working and to develop positive attitudes and behaviours that would serve people well in their lives.

“The present-day sport still holds these attributes as important.”

Hutchinson says in Scotland shinty’s development as a sport was a community affair, and it was played by people from one community competing against a team from another.

“These competitive matches used to take place on particular festival days, such as New Year’s Day,” he says.

“At that time, there were no restrictions on how many people could be in each team and no written rules. The move to shinty becoming a more organised sport coincided with the emergence of the industrialised society and increased mobility amongst the people of Scotland.”

That mobility continues today, with an English Shinty League and clubs as far away as Bristol and Cornwall.

London Camanachd last month launched an appeal on its website for new players for the coming season: “London has always been a team with a great blend of local and expatriate talent.

“As such London is again appealing to shinty players from Scotland or the south west who have now moved to the London area, as well as men or women who have never played before but would be interested to learn.

“London has a long tradition of taking shinty novices and teaching and training them in a safe environment before getting them into games at a local level and across England.

“Over the years several who learned the game from scratch have gone on to represent the English Shinty Association and play regularly for London in cup competitions and league matches.

“This relies on the fact that several London players have completed coaching courses and gained certification with the Camanachd Association over the years and as such the team has a great coaching base.”

Fionn Ó Súilleabháin, the club chair, says their first outing last week ended in a notable 4-1 victory against Bristol Camanachd as they set out to retain their English League title.

“Next up for the London team is facing a strong Oxford side on the August 21 at Wormwood Scrubs, and then the much acclaimed London Shinty Festival in Greenford on September 3.

“In the 1980s the club was re-founded by two Irishmen, Sean Reid and Hugh O'Kane, which also saw London have its most successful period where they reached quarter final of the Camanachd Cup in 1984, won the Skeabost Horn in 1985 and the semis of the Balliemore and Bullough cups the same year.

“The club has continued through to the current day but is boosted by having four other newly founded teams in England for local competitions, who all combine to enter the Bullough Cup as English Shinty Association.

“In 2019, London won the Fingal Shield in Scotland, the English League, English Shinty Championship, London Shinty Festival and Oxford 6s tournaments. The women's side was founded in 1913, and trained in Wimbledon though we've no records of any matches against other opposition, the current women's side has dominated English Shinty and forms the backbone of the ESA team.

“Currently we rotate training about London, namely Clapham Common, Regents Park and Blackheath, where they played shinty back in the 1820s, and normally play at Greenford or Wormwood Scrubs depending on pitch availability.”

He added: “Recently, though pre-Covid, we've sent teams to play Scottish six-a-side tournaments … our squad numbers just over 20 though is spread from Glasgow and Dumfries, to across London and beyond with some players residing in France, Poland and Slovakia.

“In addition we have our own caman maker in George Mead who exports his camans to Scotland as well sending a couple to New Zealand.”