Scotland's Highland games future as volunteer numbers dip

As well as struggling to attract new committee members, some games have been hit by a funding blow as hard-pressed local authorities withdraw financial support, leaving them struggling to make ends meet.

There are also worries that a Scottish Government consultation currently looking at alcohol advertising within sports settings could lead to new rules impacting precious sponsorship and support from whisky distilleries and breweries.

In recent weeks two popular games events, Loch Lomond Highland Games at Balloch and Thornton in Fife, have been ditched.

The Balloch games, planned for mid-July, crumbled after it lost financial support – thought to be around £14,000 – from West Dunbartonshire Council.

Its collapse saw the Royal Scottish Highland Games Association scrambling to find alternative venues for both the World Heavyweight Championship and Scottish 80 metres events.

While the Thornton Highland Gathering, which ran for almost 190 years and once drew huge crowds, has become the latest Fife games to fall victim to apathy among its local community.

Its committee numbers had been on the slide prior to the pandemic. Events were cancelled due to lockdown, sparking a further decline.

With older committee members drifting away, there emerged complaints over the time-consuming preparations, the challenges of meeting modern health and safety requirements and a dearth of fresh blood coming through to help.

A newly formed committee had tried to keep the games alive but finally conceded they could not guarantee they would be able to complete all the necessary work to run the event.

According to the RSHGA, they had “no alternative but to call it a day” and have now disbanded completely.

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It prompted the association issue a rallying cry for more people to support events or face the possibility they may lose them completely.

“All games in the country are run by volunteer members and, to ensure their survival through this and into the next century, it is essential that more people come forward to lend a hand,” it stated.

The loss of the Balloch and Thornton games followed the demise of two others. Cupar in Fife, and Roseneath which was held near Helensburgh both collapsed after struggling to find new blood to take them on.

Meanwhile, other games organisers have been sending out appeals for help: The Helensburgh and Lomond Highland Games has urged volunteers come forward to set up the June 1 event and afterwards to clean up and remove fencing.

The call for a new generation of volunteers to step forward comes with Scotland’s Highland games season just weeks away: it kicks off with Gourock Highland Games on Sunday, May 12.

That gathering, held at the town’s Battery Park, is thriving as unlike many of Scotland’s community-run Highland games which rely on unpaid volunteers and the support of sponsors, it is funded and organised by the area’s local authority, Inverclyde Council.

The coming weeks will also see games will go ahead at locations from Gordon Castle near Fochabers – organised through the castle estate - to Carmunnock due at the end of the month and back after having stalled in the wake of the pandemic.

Gatherings are scheduled for almost every weekend through summer, until the final 2024 games in mid-September at Pitlochry and Bowhill at Cardenden in Fife.

And although there are worries, Highland games officials say they remain upbeat and keen to stress that dozens of events will continue to be held.

“We still have 59 members, there are games in all parts of the country and we all try to help each other out where we can to make sure these are great events,” says Craig Dunbar, Secretary of the RSHGA.

However, he conceded: “Fewer people are prepared or willing or able to spend the time it takes to put these things on.

“Highland games are like many other clubs and organisations; the people organising them are getting older and trying to get younger people to come in is difficult.

“We don’t know if people just don’t have the time, whether it’s family pressure, people working every hour the Lord sends to pay the bills or whether it’s just that their interests have change.

“It is a generational shift and different attitude these days to doing lots of work voluntarily? Or that people can’t be bothered putting up with the red tape that goes with it all?

“Then there is funding and sponsorship which is proving more and more difficult to get and in some cases has not come back this side of Covid.

“Having a couple of younger people come forward is not enough.

“But it’s not that we are in splendid isolation,” he adds, “lots of other sports events and groups are going the same way.”

Indeed, earlier this week – and with the 2024 Summer Olympics on the horizon - Scottish Athletics pleaded  for volunteers for three upcoming regional meetings.

It said the events, the 4J Studios District Championships for teenagers, and National Open events for Senior, U20 and U18s at Grangemouth, Kilmarnock and Inverness over the weekend of May 10-12 had attracted more than 2,300 entries from 1,300 athletes.

“With no fewer than 70 affiliated clubs represented across the three venues, it is set to be a busy weekend of athletics for all involved,” the organisation added.

“We already have support from 200 officials and volunteers to assist with the delivery of these events, to whom we are very grateful.

“However, with three packed timetables to deliver, our dedicated teams of regular volunteers are stretched, and we need further help from the sport to make these events happen.”

It urged athletic clubs to seek volunteers to help technical officials across various roles, including athlete assembly and presentations as well as on-field roles.

Ironically, Scots’ apparent apathy towards supporting some Highland games events is against a backdrop of their huge popularity abroad.

In the USA, Highland gatherings are held from Alaska to Hawaii. The Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in North Carolina spans four days and attracts more than 40,000 spectators with pipe bands and sports alongside whisky tastings, an appearance from the Hebridean Baker, Coinneach MacLeod, torchlight parades, sheep herding, fiddle and harp competitions and a mini Gaelic mod.

Alaska boasts two Highland games – one of which features ‘salmon tossing’ event - there are ten in California and more than a dozen in Florida.

Last month, the Las Vegas Celtic Society held its 20th Highland Games with two days of events, exclusive VIP tickets, pipes and drums and its own Nevada tartan.

Highland games are also held across Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, Switzerland, France, Germany, Czech Republic and Belgium.

Closer to home, the number of Highland gatherings is a fraction of the 1970s and 1980s, when celebrities of the day such as Diana Dors, Bobby Charlton and Linda Lusardi made personal appearances.

The sluggish support from volunteers also appears to be in contrast to the scale of interest among competitors.

Mr Dunbar says events are attracting rising numbers of entries, particularly among junior competitors and women seeking to test their strength tossing the caber and the shot putt.

“The number of competitors we have coming from America for the heavy weight events is in double figures, we have runners coming from Australia and lots of dancers from America, Canada and Australia,” he adds.

“Unfortunately, if you ask most people what they know about Highland games, they’ll say ‘Braemar’ because it’s the only one they ever see on television.

“But it is just one run by the 59 Scottish members of our association, and there are others run by organisations that aren’t our members.

“Over summer there are 90 around the country.

“I’m not complacent but I’m not panicking either,” he adds.  Games have adapted and people do it because they love it.

“But inevitably, unless people are volunteering, there are some games that will not happen again.”