Shinty players are an impassioned and dedicated bunch but BBC ALBA has turned the cameras away from the pitch – and found a team every bit as doughty.
This one is Team SWAG – the Shinty Wives and Girlfriends: 100% behind their men and the team.
SWAGs – airing at 21.00 on 25th December – gives a snapshot of life for three Premiership teams in the latter part of the 2013 season; Argyll’s Kyles Athletic, Newtonmore and Kinlochshiel.
As well as competing for the much coveted Camanachd Cup, there are weddings to be planned and naked shinty boys photo-shoots to be organised for a calendar. You have been forewarned.
Passions always run high in Tighnabruaich where Shinty is concerned but this year the wedding of Heather Mitchell [left] and Kyles player Thomas Whyte is causing just as much excitement. Sports Therapist Heather moved to Tighnabruaich four years ago from Glasgow and hasn’t looked back. I’ve been converted to a shinty girl and now a shinty WAG. I never would’ve thought that.’
Kinlochshiel Shinty Club prides itself on being a close-knit family-orientated club, a young team always up for a laugh. Alice is the heart and soul of the club. Not only is she the mother of three of the team’s top players, she’s Club Secretary, team bus driver and fundraiser. Her latest venture The ‘Shinty Boys’ calendar has gone down very well. The programme also catches up with Alice’s daughters-in-law Sandra, Lani and Jazmin to find out about life as a SWAG in the MacRae shinty dynasty.
Shinty is always big news in Newtonmore, enjoying strong local support and for the SWAGs it’s very much a way of life. Glasgow based friends Thea Jones and Jess Thompson [pictured top] regularly make the 250 mile round-trip to support their shinty boyfriends on match days.. Captain’s wife Lyndsey Robinson has had ‘the best season so far’ with husband Jamie leading the team to Cup and League victories.
As well as the shinty supporting SWAGs BBC ALBA meets some shinty playing ladies with a passion for the game: Gemma Bell the shinty playing SWAG who has taken her love of the game further than most by establishing her own ladies team; and the girls of St Andrews University who have discovered the shinty life and love it.
