History was made in shinty this week when Wendy Chamberlain became the first woman to join the board of the sport’s governing body, the Camanachd Association (CA).
In a week that will end with Kyles Athletic, the grand old club her family has long been closely associated with, seeking to claim a fifth successive victory and a sixth in seven years in the final of the Gregor Cameron Glasgow Celtic Society Cup – one of the sport’s five ‘Grand Slam’ competitions – Fife-based Chamberlain’s co-option is a tribute to the work being done at one of the newest and most vibrant clubs in the sport.
The Aberdour club was formed just 16 years ago, yet it already has a set up that many of its long-established rivals should be seeking to emulate with both genders heavily involved in teams from primary one age to senior level and twice as many junior members, 60 in all, as senior members.
“My husband Keith is from Edinburgh. He’d heard of shinty but that was all. He’s a big Jambo, but now he’s recently become chairman at Aberdour and coaches the kids,” she said, citing Aberdour as an exemplar that has set a template for others, particularly in the central belt, to follow.
Distant as the east coast of Fife is from the sport’s heartlands in Scotland’s Highlands and islands, the success enjoyed by the likes of her son Alasdair’s Primary 4/5 team in reaching their national indoor finals and the final of the South of Scotland sixes, is an indication of what can quickly be achieved in development terms with energy and commitment.
Tellingly, too, daughter Catriona, who is in first year at high school, has already played for the South against the North in a girls’ representative match and Chamberlain offers considerable credit to club founder and head coach Lisa McColl for the growth of the women’s game.
Her own elevation to the CA board is just the latest evidence of the growing influence of women in the sport, albeit she did not realise how significant the invitation was. “I didn’t have any idea that I would be the first ever woman board member,” said Chamberlain. “I was surprised because we’re in 2017, however I’m part of a shinty family so I get the heritage side of things.”
Her father Billy Paterson was a member of the Kyles Athletic team which won the Celtic Cup in 1976, while grandfather Celly, also a Celtic Cup winner in the thirties who went on to become a CA chieftain, is considered one of the sport’s greatest ever goal-keepers.
However Chamberlain, who headed to University in Edinburgh just before the momentum gathered behind the development of women’s shinty, also surprised herself by making a playing debut earlier this year at the age of 40, joining what is effectively the club’s mothers and daughters’ development team, formed to ensure they can maintain a fixture list for players in their teens, the age that girls in particular tend to drop out of sport. “When I think about inactivity in children, I’m quite happy to humiliate myself,” she laughed.
Therein lies her main motivation, in seeking to use her family’s sport to promote the greater good.
“One of the things I’ve been asked to help with is around the development of diversity and inclusion strategies,” she explained. “I want us to be diverse in more ways than just gender though. Diversity is about much more than gender. The social inclusion aspect is very important.”
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