Ronald Ross enters Hall of Fame
Having won every major honour in the game as a player, Kingussie legend Ronald Ross has continued to collect the accolades as he was inducted into the prestigious Scottish Sporting Hall of Fame.
Established by sportscotland in 2002 to recognise and honour the many great champions Scotland has produced, the Scottish Sporting Hall of Fame celebrates and pays tribute to Scotland’s most iconic sports men and women with the aim of inspiring future generations. It is an elite club which includes sporting giants such as Denis Law CBE, Kenny Dalglish MBE, Ken Buchanan MBE, Jock Stein OBE, Liz McColgan MBE, Sir Jackie Stewart OBE and Sir Chris Hoye MBE amongst just over 100 inductees.
Famed as being the only shinty player to score over 1,000 senior goals Ronald Ross has 12 Camanachd Cup winners’ medals to his name as well as numerous successes in the Macaulay and MacTavish Cups as well as countless league titles and he has also captained Scotland in the shinty / hurling international against Ireland.
Having worked for the Camanachd Association for over 22 years, Ronald Ross is currently national development manager, and he was awarded the MBE for services to shinty in 2011 and was also twice the recipient of the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland award.
His final senior game was the 2014 Camanachd Cup final when he scored twice in a 4-0 victory over Glenurquhart in Inverness.
Ronald Ross said: “This award was a huge surprise and certainly not something I expected. To be honest, I didn’t know a great deal about the Hall of Fame beforehand but there are some major sporting figures included, covering a range of different sports.
“I’ve always set out to be the best I can be but I’m not a person to look for individual awards. Shinty is a team sport and my dad always said that I was lucky to play at a time when Kingussie had so many great players throughout the team. They all played their part, from goalie, the defence, the midfield and the other forwards: there were so many quality players which is why we dominated the game for so long. It was my job to score goals and the goal scorers always get the credit.”
Ronald Ross becomes only the second shinty player to enter the Scottish Sporting Hall of Fame, joining Newtonmore’s Dr John Cattanach, born in 1885, who was an outstanding all-round international athlete and is considered one of the finest shinty players ever to wield a caman. He died in 1915, succumbing to wounds sustained in the Dardanelles during World War I.
Skye Preseason Fixtures
New Skye Camanachd manager Willie MacDonald has wasted no time in putting together a testing set of pre-season fixtures.
The Islanders will play three matches, all away from home, at Glasgow Mid Argyll on Saturday 10 February 2023, at Lovat a week later and at Newtonmore on Saturday 24 February 2023, a week ahead of the start of the new shinty season.
Supporters vote for shinty teams of the season
Shinty supporters from across the country have been voting for the various Camanachd Association teams of the year.
Captains from all clubs in the Mowi Premiership, Mowi National Division, the Mowi WCA National Division and Mowi WCA Division 2 were asked to nominate a player from another club in their division, in each position, as a first step to determining the team of the season.
The nominations have been counted and the four players with the most votes in each position are being put forward to a social media poll to decide who wins a place in the team of the season.
First up was the Mowi WCA Division 2 team of the year and those who were nominated but did not make the final line-up include Alison MacVicar (Uddingston), Ellie MacInnes (Oban), Catherine Robertson (Skye), Hope Borthwick (Badenoch), Joan Nicolson (Glasgow Mid Argyll) and Eilidh Cameron (Dunadd).
The team is: Thea Stronach (Strathspey), Maree MacKenzie (Kinlochshiel), Anna Nicolson, (Dunadd), Katie MacKay (Oban), Lorna MacRae (Kinlochshiel), Isla McNeil (Inverness), Kamryn Hughes (Inverness), Lexie MacKenzie (Kinlochshiel)
2024 Macaulay Cup Draw
The 2024 Artemis Macaulay Cup draw will be made live on Oban FM on Saturday 16 December 2023.
The south and north sections will be drawn up to the semi-final stage on the Sports Show programme which starts at 6pm.
Aberdour, Bute, Col Glen, Glasgow Mid Argyll, Inveraray, Kyles Athletic, Oban Camanachd and Oban Celtic make up the south part of the draw with Caberfeidh, Glenurquhart, Lochaber, Kingussie, Kinlochshiel, Lovat, Newtonmore and Skye Camanachd qualifying from the north.