Newtonmore turn to three wise heads for new shinty season
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A trio of well-known faces will be the Newtonmore senior side’s management team for the 2022 shinty season.
All three – Norman MacArthur, Evan Cheyne and David Cheyne – have been distinguished players with the club with MacArthur previously having managed the side between 2006 and 2012.
This will be a shared effort from them with their appointments confirmed at an emergency general meeting on Thursday.
The EGM was required as a matter of protocol as the club were unable to fill the role at December’s AGM
Colin Stewart had been mooted to be part of the new management team, but he reluctantly came to the decision that he was unable to take part due to work commitments.
They take over from Orsten Gardner who stood down from the manager’s role at the end of last season.
MacArthur said after the meeting: “We are not expecting to immediately get back to being the side we were two or three years ago, but we do expect to be competitive this season.
“I’ve said before that I was a bit worried about being involved again to start with, but we are all really looking forward to it now. We’ve all had time away from the shinty pitch and with lockdown and everything; it will be so good to be back.”
The new Newtonmore management team were due to see their charges play Fort William at the Eilan on Saturday. However, the wintry weather brought high winds coupled with debris on the pitch and on the roads resulting in the morning postponement.
MacArthur said: “It was the correct decision as the weather was such that the game would have been farcical and neither side would have taken much from it.”
However, ’More won’t have to wait long for their first on-the-field action as the side travel to Braeview Park to play 2021 Balliemore Cup runners-up Beauly on Saturday. This will be the first pre-season friendly of the season for both sides.
The Fort William friendly has been rescheduled for February 12 and will be played either at the Eilan or An Aird depending on weather and pitch conditions.
’More’s final pre-season friendly takes place the week after against Caberfeidh at the Eilan.
Newtonmore will travel to Rèaraig to play Tulloch Homes Camanachd Cup and cottages.com MacTavish Cup winners Kinlochshiel, still managed by Johnston Gill, on the opening day of the new shinty season on March 5.
MacArthur is looking forward to the match: “That’s a fantastic match to start with. We’ve had a huge response from the boys at training and they are really enjoying and benefiting from the sessions put on by three times Olympian Lesley McKenna.
“Lesley has made a huge impression on the guys and they have really taken to her training and the sessions are as good as we have had.
“Kinlochshiel had a great season in 2021 so this game will tell us right away exactly where we stand and show what we need to do to get where we want to be.”
The new shinty fixture list is very much along the lines of the 2020 schedule. ’More were also to start with a visit to ’Shiel then but an unplayable pitch saw the contest switched to the Eilan where Newtonmore won 1-0 with Iain Robinson scoring midway through the first half.
n ’More’s second team dominated their regional league last season and their first Mowi North Division 1 fixture is against the Kinlochshiel reserves at the Eilan.
With Peter Ross and Mark Taylor still at the helm, they then head west to play Lochcarron at Battery Park a week later before hosting the Inverness first team at the Eilan on March 19.
The Strathdearn Cup preliminary round ties are scheduled for the end of the month with the draw still to take place.
The Newtonmore seconds are current HIS Sutherland Cup holders having beaten their Lovat counterparts in last season’s final and they will open the defence of their trophy on Saturday, April 2.
They will learn their opponents on Monday, when the first-round draw takes place.
