Aberdeen University
Shinty Club
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Aberdeen
University Shinty Club
W
ith the 2018 season underway, Aberdeen University Shinty
Club is working hard to enjoy a successful campaign. Sport in
Profile Magazine recently caught up with Club Representative Joe Folan to
find out more about how they are getting along.
Involvement
He told us, “I think I’ve been playing
with Aberdeen since 2012, the seasons
are piling up now! I had played some
shinty with Robert Gordon University
(RGU), which is University level shinty.
Despite being called Aberdeen Uni, we
have very little involvement with the
University itself, and we play at club/
adult level.
Another player who was a year
ahead of me at RGU came to me and
said since I was going to be spending
the summer in Scotland (before that
I’d always gone home between terms),
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it may as well be spent playing shinty.
And he was not wrong. Given I played
hurling (Irish version of shinty) for most
of my life before coming to Scotland, to
keep playing a sport in the same vein
was a no brainer.”
The Role
“The most challenging thing is
keeping the club going. Despite being
the oldest registered shinty club in the
country, we are a one team club, and in
the North East of Scotland, where rugby,
football and hockey reign, getting people
into shinty can be a tough task.
Without the massive backing that
some clubs on the other side of the
country have, where the whole parish
grows around the shinty club, things
such as pitches, game transport, ref and
competition fees, mean the bills can pile
up. Making sure fundraising events
such as team runs or race nights bring in
enough to keep the club in the black can
be hard given our limited scope.
The most rewarding thing is sitting
down with the lads after a tough game
and coming out with a win. Given the
mileage we cover for games (our nearest
away game is about two hours away),
we spend a lot of time in about each