Editing Shinty (section)

===Season===

Shinty was traditionally played through the [[winter]], based around the tradition of the "Iomain Challainn", where [[New Year]] was marked by a game between neighbouring parishes. The [[summer]] was left free for seasonal work and friendly tournaments. The Winter season always ran over, however, and many teams would find themselves finishing the previous season only weeks before the next one would start.

In 2003, shinty clubs voted for a trial period of two years of a summer season from March to October, with a view to moving permanently to summer shinty if the experiment was judged to be a success. Despite opposition from the "Big Two", [[Kingussie]] and [[Newtonmore (Shinty)|Newtonmore]], and other small groups in the game, an [[Extraordinary General Meeting|EGM]] in November 2005 voted by an overwhelming majority (well over the required two thirds) to make summer shinty the basis upon which the game would proceed.<ref name="The Times"/>

There have been teething problems since the move to summer shinty, with a couple of teams being culpable for the season running over into November and December. Season 2010 saw the league season finished by the first weekend in October, almost on schedule.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

Shinty does still get played during the winter, in [[University Shinty]] which has teams compete for the second most valuable trophy in Scottish sport – the Littlejohn Vase – and in New Year fixtures, the most prestigious of which is the [[Lovat Cup]], played between Beauly and Lovat.<ref>[http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/14162/Holders_Lovat_ranked_favourites_to_retain_cup.html]{{dead link|date=March 2016}}</ref>