A TEENAGER has become the first female to play in a senior men’s shinty team at premier league level.
In a scene that would not look out of place if they ever made a shinty version of Gregory’s Girl, Zoe Smith,16, came to the rescue when Fort William’s first team was short of players.
The talented shinty star, who plays for Lochaber Ladies, Fort William under-17s and the town’s men’s second team, was drafted on to the subs bench in the first team’s hour of need.
Then, when a player was injured early in the first half of last Saturday’s match against Glenurquhart, she took her place on the field for the last 40 minutes.
Smith has shinty flowing in her blood, as both her grandfathers, John Victor Smith and goalkeeper Jack Buchanan, were well-known players of the game.
And her great-grandfather Albert Smith, another shinty stalwart, is remembered by a unique medal bearing his name, which is given to the man of the match at the sport’s top game, the Camanachd Cup final.
So, when her father Victor, another renowned shinty ace and now co-manager of the Fort’s first team, asked for his daughter to help to make up numbers she had no hesitation in saying yes.
Mr Smith, 44, said: “The first and second teams were struggling for players and then on the Saturday morning other players pulled out too, but we managed to pull two teams together, taking Zoe from the second team to the first team.”
Smith played well and then her father surprised everyone by coming out of retirement as a player to score Fort William’s only goal of the match, which Glenurquhart won 3-1.
Shinty can be a dangerous sport but Smith’s mother, Elizabeth, said: “I wasn’t worried because Zoe is very, very tough and has always handled herself well. I think I was more surprised at Victor coming out of retirement.”
Her daughter said: “I have a helmet and shin guards to protect me, so I just go in swinging.” But she added: “It is really different with the men, instead of females. I have played about five games for the second [men’s] team, but it is quite a big step to the first team. I really enjoyed it.”
The family have another budding shinty star in Smith’s 14-year-old brother, Victor Jr, who scored a goal for the Fort William under-14s on Sunday.
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