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Shetland football team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shetland
Nickname(s)The Shelties, The Blues
AssociationShetland Football Association
Head coachNeil Fenwick
CaptainErik Peterson
Home stadiumGilbertson Park, Lerwick, Shetland
First colours
Second colours
First international
 Orkney 2–3 Shetland 
(Kirkwall, Orkney; 7 May 1919)
Biggest win
 Orkney 0–8 Shetland 
(Kirkwall, Orkney; 30 July 2022)
Biggest defeat
 Orkney 7–1 Shetland 
(Kirkwall, Orkney; 30 June 1972)

The Shetland football team represents the islands of Shetland, Scotland, in association football. It is not a member of FIFA or UEFA and is therefore not eligible to enter the World Cup or the European Championships. The team regularly competes in the Island Games, which it won in 2005, and has a strong rivalry with the representative team of Orkney.[1][2][3] This representative team should not be confused with Shetland FC, which was formed as a separate entity to compete during the mainland's winter season cup competitions - despite being separate entities, the teams share management staff and squad of players.[4]

Venues

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Shetland normally play their home matches at Gilbertson Park (capacity unknown, highest attendance approximately 5,000, sometimes referred to as "the Gibbie") in Lerwick. Some matches, particularly friendlies, are occasionally played elsewhere, often at Seafield (Lerwick) or Harbison Park (Whalsay). They sometimes go on tour to play pre-season friendlies against Highland League clubs in July.

Competitions

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Beginning in 1929, Shetland played biennial matches against the Faroe Islands. These were initially played for the Adam Shield (donated by a Glasgow shipbuilding firm) and later for the North Atlantic Cup. The logistics of this required a 14-hour trip by boat trip and a week-long stay for the visiting team. The last such friendly was played in 1990, the same year that the Faroes joined UEFA.[5]

Shetland are neither a national team nor do they participate in league competitions, so they do not have many regular games.

However, more recently, they have entered some of the cup competitions organized by the North Caledonian Football Association.

The latest most noticeable event to take place in Shetland was the 2005 Island Games: many of the group matches were played on pitches all around Shetland, and the final was at Gilbertson Park.

2005 Island Games

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Match: Final

Shetland Islands 2 (0) V 0 (0) Guernsey

Time: 16:00 Date: Friday 15 July 2005 Venue: Gilbertson Park

Group 1 matches

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Pos. Team Played Won Draw Lost For Against Diff. Points
1st Shetland 4 3 1 0 8 1 7 10
2nd Isle of Man 4 2 1 1 12 3 9 7
3rd Saaremaa 4 1 2 1 5 5 0 5
4th Åland 4 1 0 3 4 7 –3 3
5th Falkland Islands 4 1 0 3 3 16 –13 3

Current squad

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This is the squad that competed in the 2023 Milne Cup held in Shetland.[6]

Goalkeepers

Andrew Goodlad (Celtic), Rory Henderson (Scalloway)

Defenders

Lorne McNiven (Whitedale), Liam Flaws (Ness Utd), Josh Carroll (Spurs), James Farmer (c) (Ness Utd), Jack Clubb (Celtic).

Midfielders

Neil Laurenson (Whalsay), Declan Adamson (Ness Utd), Calvin Leask (Thistle), Brandon McKay (Spurs), James Aitken (Celtic), Harry Thomson (Ness Utd), Ronan Grant (Spurs).

Forwards

Sam Maver (Spurs), Finn Regan (Celtic).

Coaches Neil Fenwick (Manager), Richard Arthur (Coach), Bruce McCulloch (Coach), Craig Dinwoodie (GK Coach), Martin Leyland (Conditioning).

Notable players

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Tournament records

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Island Games record

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Island Games record
Year Round Position GP W D L GS GA
Faroe Islands 1989 Group stage 5th 4 0 0 4 1 13
Åland 1991 Group stage 5th 4 2 0 2 7 8
Isle of Wight 1993 7th 4 1 0 3 3 10
Gibraltar 1995 Did not enter
Jersey 1997 Group stage 5th 4 2 1 1 4 6
Gotland 1999 10th 5 2 0 3 14 14
Isle of Man 2001 8th 4 1 2 1 6 7
Guernsey 2003 7th 5 2 1 2 10 8
Shetland 2005 Champions 1st 5 4 1 0 10 1
Rhodes 2007 Did not enter
Åland 2009 Group stage 13th 4 1 1 2 7 9
Isle of Wight 2011 Did not enter
Bermuda 2013 Did not enter
Jersey 2015 Fourth place 4th 5 2 1 2 10 5
Gotland 2017 Group stage 10th 4 1 0 3 7 12
Gibraltar 2019[n 1] Fourth place 4th 4 1 0 3 8 8
Guernsey 2023 Group stage 7th 4 3 0 1 12 6
Total 1 title 12/16 56 22 7 27 99 107
  1. ^ Not held football tournament (Replaced by 2019 Inter Games Football Tournament in  Anglesey).

North Atlantic Cup[8]

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Note: 2 points for a win era.

Year Position GP W D L GF GA GD Points
1968–1973 2nd 8 3 1 4 18 21 -3 7

Milne Cup[9]

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Including Kirkwall vs. Lerwick

Location W D L GF GA GD
ShetlandOrkney 1908–2020 57 6 39 230 184 46
  • 61 Milne Cup wins

Mitchell and Sutherland Shields[10]

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Mitchell Shield

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Location W D L GF GA GD
ShetlandOrkney 2006–2014 9 0 0 59 10 49
  • 9 Mitchell shields wins

Sutherland Shield

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Location W D L GF GA GD
Shetland Orkney 2007, 2008, 2011 2 0 1 21 9 12
  • 2 Sutherland Shield wins

Selected International opponents

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Last update: 26 July 2009
Opponents Matches Win Draw Loss GF GA GD Win%
 Åland 4 1 0 3 5 8 −3 025.00
 Falkland Islands 1 1 0 0 4 0 +4 100.00
 Faroe Islands 24 6 2 16 37 66 −29 025.00
 Frøya 1 1 0 0 3 1 +2 100.00
 Gibraltar 4 3 0 1 6 5 +1 075.00
 Greenland 3 1 0 2 9 7 +2 033.33
 Guernsey 3 2 0 1 9 7 +2 066.67
 Hitra 2 2 0 0 6 2 +4 100.00
 Isle of Man 4 1 1 2 5 9 −4 025.00
 Isle of Wight 2 0 1 1 0 2 −2 000.00
 Jersey 2 0 0 2 0 7 −7 000.00
 Menorca 1 0 1 0 2 2 +0 000.00
 Orkney 86 50 4 32 207 156 +51 058.14
 Saare County 3 2 1 0 6 4 +2 066.67
 Western Isles 2 0 0 2 1 4 −3 000.00
 Ynys Môn 4 0 1 3 2 10 −8 000.00

Honours

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Non-FIFA competitions

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Others titles

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References

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  1. ^ "Shetland Shock to End: The 2005 Island Games ended with the biggest shock in island games football history". BBC Sport. 16 July 2005. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
  2. ^ "Football and hockey teams get ready to entertain Orkney rivals". The Shetland Times. 29 July 2011. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
  3. ^ Shields, Tom (22 July 2007). "Island Fling: Tom Shields investigates the very special rivalry between Orkney and Shetland". The Sunday Herald. Glasgow: Scottish Media Group.
  4. ^ "Shetland Squad : Shetland Football". www.shetlandfootball.co.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  5. ^ When Shetland met Faroe and the real romance of the cup
  6. ^ "Milne Cup 2023". www.shetlandtimes.co.uk.
  7. ^ "Bray in US university hall of fame". shetlandtimes.co.uk.
  8. ^ "North Atlantic Cup 1968-1973". RSSSF. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  9. ^ "Milne Cup". RSSSF. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  10. ^ "Mitchell and Sutherland Shields". RSSSF. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
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