Iolaire shinty commmeration

Camanachd Leòdhais will be taking part in a shinty challenge match on New Year's Day to commemorate the centenary of the Iolaire disaster.

The game is being organised in conjunction with the Iolaire Working Group and will see a Lewis select battle a Kinlochshiel select.

Several Kinlochshiel players that won the Premier League in 2017 will be taking part.

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Camanachd Leòdhais will be represented at the game by a large number of players; both junior and senior, who wish to pay their respects.

Club captain Ally Lamont said: “As a club we are conscious that we represent the island and our community in everything we do.

“The unimaginable loss of the Iolaire tragedy can still be felt across our island and we feel that a shinty match, a sport which many of the Lewis men who went to war would have played, is a fitting way to honour their memory.”

Kinlochshiel represents Kyle of Lochalsh, the town that the Iolaire departed from on that fateful night.

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Neil MacRae, one of the club’s directors, said: “Notwithstanding the fact the boat started her journey in Kyle, the tragedy took the lives of young men of shinty playing age from an island renowned for its sportsmen. We look forward to a sporting and respectful challenge with the present and growing Lewis Camanachd.”

Representatives from both clubs will attend the Iolaire Remembrance Service at the Iolaire Memorial on New Year’s Day before heading into Stornoway to take part in the game. Weather permitting, the game is expected to take place at Bayhead. If the pitch is deemed unplayable, the game will go ahead at the all weather pitch on Smith Avenue.

Throw up will be at 1.30pm and will be preceded by a two minute silence. Spectators are warmly welcomed to attend.