KYLES AND KINGUSSIE READY FOR BATTLE

The atmospheric field of battle - Ruel close by

The hills of Glendaruel will echo once more to the sounds of battle as Kyles Athletic lock horns with Kingussie in an Orion Premiership shinty tie tomorrow beside the river of red blood - at a place redolent with tales of battles long ago.
The match is set to be played at Ormidale, at the head of beautiful Loch Riddon.

This place has a rich and bloody history, and tomorrow's will not be the first battle to be staged in this scenic corner of Cowal.

The field in question has been marked out among the floodplain folds of the meandering river. It had not been used in living memory for shinty matches until being pressed into service over the last couple of weeks by the local club, ColGlen, while their usual pitch at Clachan of Glendaruel recovers from winter saturation and pre-season wear and tear.

Kyles juniors made the hop across the hill to play the Glen last week in south division two. The away side won, and seems to have been sufficiently impressed by the Ormidale site to propose it as a venue for the Kingussie game in the top division this week.

Kyles have been keen to find a viable alternative to its own Kames playing field, which is undergoing renovation at present. The venue chosen for this important early season match sits beside the outfall of the River Ruel, from which Glendaruel gets its name.

The glen had an old name, it is said - Glenduisk, meaning 'The glen of black water'. That name was, though, to be forgotten as the district and water were handed a much more evocative title - and their colour changed from black...to red.

The resting place of the last north team captain to invade these parts - Mechan

According to a local website, the story goes that about the year 1110, a battle was fought between Mekan, King of Norway (son of Magnus Barefoot) and the local Gaels. The invaders were defeated, and the slaughtered thrown into the River Ruail, hence Glen-da-Ruail meaning Glen of Red Blood. The name of the clachan was anglicised to Glendaruel.

A lump of rock near the head of Loch Riddon has the name 'Mechan's Grave', and local legend has it that it does indeed belong to a Viking leader. The inscription on this rock refers to a fight nearby around the time of the Battle of Largs in 1263. The question of when, precisely, a battle or battles took place is less significant than the apparent fact that a battle did indeed take place very close to - or perhaps even on the same location as - tomorrow's atmospheric field of play.
 
All this talk of ancient warriors got me wondering.

Was the distinguished King Mekan, son of legendary Viking warrior Magnus Barefoot, somewhat confused to be faced on the battlefield by a horde of hairy Cowal peasants waving camans menacingly around their ginger nuts - perhaps led by Malky, son of Bare arsed Erchie?

We'll never know.

All we do know is that the men of Cowal managed to get the better of the formidable northern foe - before chucking their bits and pieces in the nearest river.

The referee for tomorrow's game, Bute man Ted McDonald, will no doubt  be doing his best to avoid too many of the fallen landing in the river.

Will it run red once again as the Cowal club tries to avenge an opening day defeat to the north men at the Dell a couple of weeks back?

Ghosts of long-dead warriors may just make their presence felt...we'll have to wait and see.

Throw-up is at 12.30

We're in for a battle. Don't miss it.

And don't forget that host club ColGlen will start their match versus Aberdour at the same Ormidale pitch at 2.30pm, after the Kyles game finishes.