Shinty (Scottish Gaelic: camanachd, iomain) is a team sport played with sticks and a ball.

A composite rules shinty–hurling game has been developed, which allows Scotland and Ireland to play annual international matches.

[7] Hurling, an Irish pastime for at least 2,000 years similar to shinty, is derived from the historic game common to both peoples.

[8] A similar game is played on the Isle of Man known as cammag, a name cognate with camanachd.

Shinnie may also derive from shin in English, with the affix -ie, a common termination to the name of many games in Scotland.

[15] The objective of the game is to play a small ball into a goal, or "hail", erected at the ends of a 140-to-170-yard-long (128 to 155 m) by 70-to-80-yard-wide (64 to 73 m) pitch.

[citation needed] The ball is played using a caman, which is a stick about 3+1⁄2 feet (1.1 m) long with two slanted faces.

The stick has a wedge shaped head, roughly triangular in cross section,[18] which must be able to pass through a ring two and a half inches (6.4 cm) in diameter.

[citation needed] A player may only stop the ball with the stick, the chest, two feet together or one foot on the ground.

[20] In common with many sports, it became formalised in the Victorian Era and the first organised clubs were established in cities such as Glasgow and London where there were thousands of Gaels resident.

This game was attended by thousands of people and was a major milestone in developing a set of common rules.

[citation needed] This fixture was to be repeated on 12 January 2007 in Inverness as the opening centrepiece of the Highland 2007 celebrations in Scotland, but was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

[23] There are shinty clubs in Aberdeen, Aberdour (Fife), Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, Cornwall, Oxford and even London.

While the top Premier Division has been played on a Scotland-wide basis since 1996, the lower leagues are based on geography.

[24] There have been teething problems since the move to summer shinty, with a couple of teams being culpable for the season running over into November and December.

[citation needed] Shinty does still get played during the winter, in University Shinty which has teams compete for the second most valuable trophy in Scottish sport – the Littlejohn Vase – and in New Year fixtures, the most prestigious of which is the Lovat Cup, played between Beauly and Lovat.

[citation needed] In recognition of shinty's shared roots with hurling, an annual international between the two codes from Scotland and Ireland is played on a home and away basis using composite rules.

It derives its name from shinty, although a myth there perpetuates that it came from children tying Eaton's catalogues around their legs to protect their shins from flying pucks or slashing.

They compete annually in the English Shinty Championships against Cornwall, Oxford, Devon and Bristol as well as playing shinty–hurling matches and organising sporadic friendlies against visiting teams.

[citation needed] On 28 December 2010 Ireland held its first dedicated shinty match in Westmeath, with players who have played the Compromise rules Shinty/Hurling.

[27] A Cornwall Shinty Club was established in 2012, playing their first game on 21 April 2012 against London; the match finished a draw.

It is an open tournament held in late September after the Shinty season is finished to allow any travelling teams the opportunity to attend.

[citation needed] Since 2013, a combined English Shinty Association side has entered the Bullough cup, being beaten in 2013 by Tayforth and then in 2014 by Ballachulish.

[29] Local papers, such as the West Highland Free Press, The Buteman, the Oban Times and the Dunoon Observer and Argyllshire Standard, have in-depth shinty reports.

Regional newspaper The Press and Journal runs shinty coverage twice a week (Mondays and Fridays).

[citation needed] The first-ever shinty match broadcast live on television was the 1964 Celtic Society Cup Final.

[citation needed] 2009 saw the Camanachd Association sign a deal with BBC Alba to broadcast all national finals as well as the Marine Harvest Festival.

There is also an increasing amount of shinty on the internet, with various clips garnering attention on video sites such as YouTube.