Shinty, officially known as camanachd, is a team sport played with sticks and a ball. Played almost exclusively in the Scottish Highlands, the sport was derived from the game of hurling and is similar to bandy.
The objective of the game is to play a small ball in a goal, or hail, erected at the ends of a 160-yard-long pitch. The ball is played using the caman, a stick of about 3 1/2 ft in length. Unlike the hurling caman, it has no blade.
A team consists of 12 players, with one goalkeeper. A match is played over two halves of 45 minutes. With the exception of the keeper, no player is allowed to play the ball with his hands.
Gaelic settlers from Ireland brought the sport of hurling to Scotland, where the game was played as such until the 14th century, albeit with a different caman from the Irish one.
The modern sport is governed by the Camanachd Association (Comunn na Camanachd). Senior clubs include: