Shinty legend has a royal day out
Kingussie shinty star Ronald Ross, the most successful player in the sport’s history, has just collected his MBE from HRH Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace.
The proud player, awarded the nickname "Ronaldo of the Glens", in tribute to his scoring prowess, drawing comparisons with the famous Brazilian footballer, was delighted with the honour.
He said: "It was a great to receive an MBE from Prince Charles, and fabulous to go down to Buckingham Palace to receive it.
"My father, Ian, got an MBE for services to shinty from Prince Charles over a decade ago, and now I have got mine for outstanding services to shinty.
"There can’t be many fathers and sons who have both been made Members of the Order of the British Empire."
Ronald added: "Prince Charles told me he remembered making my dad an MBE, and we talked about shinty and my work. He said he had always wanted to come along and watch a shinty game."
The 37-year-old Kingussie forward has had a glittering career ever since he began playing in primary school, and has become the first person to be made an MBE for his ability on the shinty field.
Since breaking into the Kingussie first team in 1992, he has re-written the record books over and over again.
In May, 2009, he took his tally of first team goals to 1,000 – a feat now registered with the Guinness Book of Records.
In 1998 he captained Kingussie’s Grand Slam winning squad, and was elected as the club’s captain for the season just papped.
He has also been Man of the Match in three Camanachd Cup finals.
And it isn’t only shinty at which Ronald has excelled. He played tennis for Scotland under-12s and 14s and was the Scottish number two for a time.
In December last year Ronald won the Sunday Mail’s Scottish Amateur Sports Personality of the Year, and he has also twice won the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award for Sport.
Ronald’s mum, Belle, who hails from Newtonmore, was delighted when she heard he had been honoured with the MBE, in January this year, although originally she would have preferred him to play for her home village.
Her father, Minto Sellar, won the Camanachd Cup for Newtonmore in 1931.
In 2002-03 – the last ever winter season for shinty – he scored 94 goals in all competitions.
This was more than the accumulated totals for Kingussie’s closest rivals, Newtonmore Camanachd Club and Fort William Shinty Club, in the league that season.
His previous best, in season 2001-02, was 88. He has never gone two games without scoring a goal in his career.
Ronald also had a fantastic international career, playing for Scotland for over 20 years in three different spells. He also captained both the under-21s and senior teams.
He is employed as a shinty development officer by the Camanachd Association, and has popularised the wearing of safety helmets amongst young players.
After so many years of success with Kingussie, Ronald is now having to accept that Newtonmore are the shinty team to beat.
They have just won the Premier League for the second year in a row this year, and beat Kingussie in this year’s Camanachd Cup final in Inverness in September.
Ronald said: "There is no question that the balance of power has shifted from Kingussie to Newtonmore.
"They are without a doubt the best team as they won the league, and that is the true test of how good a team is. They have a bigger pool of players than Kingussie.
"We are going through a transition period. We won the league for 20 years in a row but now we have younger boys coming into the side whereas Newtonmore have got guys in their prime.
"If Newtonmore lose one of two players to injury they can replace them more easily than we can. However, Kingussie will still be competitive."
Asked about his own playing future, Ronald said: "I don’t know how long I will go on for, but provided I can still compete at the top level, I will continue."