Ancient times

Competing in sport is as old as mankind and must always have involved feats of strength or stamina of individuals and groups, the competitors vying for the satisfaction and/or glory of ultimate success. The name of the town and parish of Dingwall show that the Scandinavian assembly called Þing, ie Thing, was held here when the area was under Norse influence and occupation in the 11th Century.

These assemblies comprised a regular gathering of the free men and women of the region when matters of politics, peace and war would be discussed and decisions made. The touchy honour of the participants was held in check by the Peace of the Thing in which fighting was forbidden and serious transgressors could even be outlawed. Their release was in the competitive games held after the business was concluded. These could include horse racing, athletics, lifting heavy weights and other events that nowadays we often associate with Highland Gatherings.

What records have we of the mediaeval sports? The garrison of Dingwall Castle under the Earls of Ross from the 12th to 15th Centuries will certainly have trained in fighting techniques like any military unit, and would have kept constant practice in archery, running, sword skills, horse-riding and more in the fields, on the slopes and out on the waters of the area around. As well as to the local people in challenges and gatherings they will have shown off their peacetime prowess in organised events for visiting dignitaries all the way up to the Kings and Queens of Scots who visited here and stayed in the Castle.

Modern times

Shinty and football matches may once have seen large representations from parish and settlement rivalries trying to move a ball to a target with few of the modern safety rules that have developed along with league tables. Alexander Simpson, 18th-Century schoolmaster and Baillie ran a cock-fighting club. But today we see bowling greens, tennis courts and football pitches, curling ponds and fields for shinty and Highland Gatherings. The 1880s saw shinty matches being played above Tulloch and beside the railway with teams formed from the traders or the East End and West End of the town. The Dingwall Curling Club played its matches on the ponds at the West End and the Dingwall Bowling Club has a long history, now nestled in the Jubilee Park.

In 1876 The Ross-shire County Football Club was formed in Dingwall – to play Rugby Union football!

The modern Ross County team grew out of predecessor clubs such as the Dingwall Templars and Dingwall Thistle before the Great War, and the West End team and the games played with the local Army, Navy and AirForce servicepeople stationed all around here during the Second World War. There was a Ladies’ team in the 1930s.

Colin Bain Calder worked in the coachworks in Dingwall, and moved in the 1880s to Argentina to join the British rail network there. He started a sports club in the coachworks, that developed into a football club. It is still there: Club Atlético Rosario Central in Argentina’s Primera division and a road in Rosario is named for him.

Today, football’s Dingwall home is the stadium of Victoria Park where Ross County plays its Scottish Premier League matches, continuing to make its mark.