Misplaced Pages

#126873

44-581: Played in the town centre of Kirkwall, the two sides are the Uppies and the Doonies, or more correctly, "Up-the-Gates" and "Doon-the-Gates" from Norn gata (path or road), although it is also common in Scots . The tradition belongs to Kirkwall and the surrounding area of St Ola, and has always been played by men from those two areas since before records began. In the past 50 years, mainly due to improved transport,

88-450: A "break" whereby one of the faster boys manages to break free of the scrum and runs with the ba', making valuable ground, sometimes making it all the way to his team's goal, thereby ending the game. Boy's Ba' winners, in the sense of the individual boy who is awarded the ba' after the game as his personal property, will normally be boys playing in their final games prior to turning 16 years old, although there are occasions in history where

132-744: A Shetland man Andrew Mowat of Heogoland in Eshaness . It is not known exactly when Norn became extinct. Sources from the 17th and 18th centuries speak of Norn (sometimes identified as "Norse", "Norwegian" or "Danish") as being in a state of decline and generally indicate that the language remained stronger in Shetland than in Orkney. A source from 1670 states that there are "only three or four parishes" in Orkney where people speak "Noords or rude Danish" and that they do so "chiefly when they are at their own houses". Another from 1701 indicates that there were still

176-403: A dash through the crowds of spectators. To the casual onlooker this can happen at any moment, but the seasoned Ba' watcher can often see what is happening long before the ba' suddenly erupts. Breaks sometimes occur on Broad Street, but can occur anywhere where one side gains sufficient control of part of the scrum. The Doonies have the benefit of a flat push to Albert Street, while the Uppies have

220-469: A few monoglot "Norse" speakers who were capable of speaking "no other thing," and notes that there were more speakers of the language in Shetland than in Orkney. It was said in 1703 that the people of Shetland generally spoke a Lowland Scots dialect brought to Shetland from the end of the fifteenth century by settlers from Fife and Lothian, but that "many among them retain the ancient Danish Language"; while in 1750 Orkney-born James Mackenzie wrote that Norn

264-479: A hard push up to the top of Tankerness Lane. The game may also go down one of the flagstone lanes, or down Castle Street onto the open Junction Road. Once there either side may gain the upper hand by means of a smuggle and run, or the scrum may become immobile in one of the many closes and yards. However, if the Uppies manage to enter Victoria Street, or the Doonies Albert Street, the opposition have

308-452: A large bench built in the courtyard, the 'dole's seat', where beggars would wait to receive alms from Foulzie. In 1642 the buildings were sold by Foulzie's descendants to John Baikie of Tankerness , with the properties becoming known as Tankerness House and remaining part of the Baikie family estate for three centuries. The Baikies later built an additional wing, the west wing, in 1680 and

352-408: A long period of time (usually around 20 years minimum). Ba' winners range from outstanding players in their early thirties to veterans in their mid to late forties. There are several players who are what is known as a "double winner" in that they have been awarded both a Boys' Ba' and a Men's Ba' during their playing careers. Originally the side any individual played on was decided by whether he

396-589: A much harder time, due to the narrowness and the press of often many hundreds of keen spectators. All the same the Ba' may be restricted for several hours in any of the many lanes and neither side ever gives up the struggle until the goal is reached. Immediately after the end of World War II there was a movement to establish a Ba' game for women in Kirkwall. There were only ever two Women's Ba' games played, on Christmas Day 1945 and New Years Day 1946. The first ever winner of

440-399: A sight to behold. Once thrown up, the Ba' disappears into the scrum and much surging play occurs while the two sides weigh each other up and determine who has the weight on their side on this occasion. Much exciting surging and turning play often occurs on this wider part of the street, which can frequently determine the outcome. Occasionally, the ba' appears out of the scrum and someone makes

484-605: A spoken language in Caithness but had probably become extinct there by the 15th century, replaced by Scots. Hence, some scholars also speak about "Caithness Norn", but others avoid this. Even less is known about "Caithness Norn" than about Orkney and Shetland Norn. Almost no written Norn has survived, but what little remains includes a version of the Lord's Prayer and a ballad , " Hildina ". Michael P Barnes, professor of Scandinavian Studies at University College London , has published

SECTION 10

#1732798837127

528-661: A study, The Norn Language of Orkney and Shetland . Norn is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages . Together with Faroese , Icelandic and Norwegian , it belongs to the West Scandinavian group, separating it from the East Scandinavian and Gutnish groups consisting of Swedish , Danish and Gutnish . While this classification is based on

572-511: A younger boy has managed to make off home with it, thereby claiming the ba' as his, despite having further years left to play in the boys game. Nowadays this is generally frowned upon, the conventional wisdom being that younger boys will have other chances to win a Ba', whereas the 15‑year‑olds will not. Although a great honour, winning a Boy's Ba' does not affect status when moving up to the men's game. All young players are considered equal and must prove themselves on their individual performances in

616-682: Is a history museum in Kirkwall , Orkney , Scotland. Run by Orkney Islands Council , the museum covers the history of the Orkney Islands from the Stone Age through the Picts and Vikings to the present day. The museum was founded in 1968 as Tankerness House Museum and in 1999 changed its name to The Orkney Museum. Items in the collection include the Viking 'dragon' whalebone plaque from

660-451: Is acclaimed. This winner is awarded the trophy of the game, which is the ba' itself. When the winner is finally decided, he is normally held aloft and carried shoulder-high from the goal by his teammates in celebration, passing into the ranks of Ba' winners and into Kirkwall history. To stalwart Ba' players, the ultimate honour is to be awarded a ba'. To have any chance of this honour, a player generally has to have played consistently well for

704-523: Is difficult to be certain of many of the aspects of Norn grammar, documents indicate that it may have featured subjectless clauses, which were common in the West Scandinavian languages. The following are Norn, Old Norse and contemporary Scandinavian versions of the Lord's Prayer : A Shetland "guddick" ( riddle ) in Norn, which Jakob Jakobsen heard told on Unst , the northernmost island in Shetland , in

748-432: Is generally considered to have been fairly similar to Faroese, sharing many phonological and grammatical traits, and might even have been mutually intelligible with it. Thus, it can be considered an Insular Scandinavian language. Few written texts remain. It is distinct from the present-day Shetland dialect , which evolved from Middle English . The phonology of Norn can never be determined with much precision because of

792-499: Is the principal diversion of the common people, which they practise with great dexterity". There is speculation that the game in Kirkwall may have its roots in folklore based on the tale of Sigurd and the Orkneyinga saga . The Boys Ba', as the name suggests, is restricted to those aged 15 years and below. There is no restriction on the lower age limit and small boys of sometimes as young as 5 years old can be seen around

836-477: The Faroe Islands , it is probable that most came from the west coast of Norway . Shetland toponymy bears some resemblance to that of northwest Norway, while Norn vocabulary implies links with more southerly Norwegian regions. Orkney and Shetland were pledged to James III in 1468 and 1469 respectively, and it is with these pledges that the replacement of Norn with Scots is most associated. However,

880-670: The Scar boat burial , a Pictish symbol stone from the Knowe of Burrian, and the wooden box in which the remains of Saint Magnus Erlendsson were kept. The museum is housed within Tankerness House, a Category A listed former townhouse complex centred around a courtyard and sited opposite St Magnus Cathedral in central Kirkwall. The house is considered one of the most important early townhouses in Scotland. The earliest parts of

924-537: The Shetland and North Ronaldsay breeds. Icelandic uses similar words for many of the same colour variations in Icelandic sheep . There are some enthusiasts who are engaged in developing and disseminating a modern form called Nynorn ("New Norn"), based upon linguistic analysis of the known records and Norse linguistics in general. In 2022 at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall , as part of

SECTION 20

#1732798837127

968-543: The 1890s. The same riddle is also known from the Faroe Islands , Norway, and Iceland, and a variation also occurs in England. The answer is a cow: four teats hang, four legs walk, two horns and two ears stand skyward, two eyes show the way to the field and one tail comes shaking (dangling) behind. Most of the use of Norn/Norse in modern-day Shetland and Orkney is purely ceremonial, and mostly in Old Norse, for example

1012-569: The Men's Ba'. Indeed, many players who were prominent in the boy's game prove to be otherwise when they step up to the Men's game, and vice versa. The Men's Ba' is thrown up also from the Merket Cross, when the cathedral bell strikes 13:00. The person chosen to "throw up" the ba', or begin the game, is usually an older Ba' stalwart, but the honour is occasionally given to some local public figure. The waiting scrum can number up to 350 men and can be

1056-438: The Shetland 550 concert celebrating the 550th anniversary of Shetland becoming Scottish, singer Inge Thompson sang a rendition of a song in Norn. The online translator Glosbe has Norn as a language, though due to the lack of words it acts more like a dictionary. In 2023 the singer Siobhan Wilson released a song featuring the Norn language. The Orkney Museum The Orkney Museum , formerly Tankerness House Museum ,

1100-572: The Shetland motto, Með lögum skal land byggja 'with law shall land be built', which is the same motto used by the Icelandic police force and inspired by the medieval Norwegian Frostathing Law . Another example of the use of Norse/Norn in the Northern Isles can be found in the names of ferries: Norn words are still used to describe many of the colour and pattern variations in the native sheep of Shetland and Orkney, which survive as

1144-541: The Women's Ba' was Barbara Yule who was an Uppie. Following her death in 1999 the ba' she had kept since she won it, was returned to Orkney, and is on display in The Orkney Museum in Kirkwall. The second winner was Violet Couper who was also an Uppie. The two games played did not follow the pattern of the men's game and were very much running games. The women's game was abolished in subsequent years. History records

1188-490: The building (the north and south wings) were constructed in the 1530s as two separate houses that served as manses for the cathedral. Following the Scottish Reformation the houses were purchased from the church by the archdeacon Gilbert Foulzie, who in 1574 built an additional wing (the east wing) and the entrance archway facing onto Broad Street which bears his coat of arms and Latin inscriptions. He also had

1232-470: The decline of Norse speech in Orkney probably began in 1379 when the Earldom of Orkney , covering all of the Northern Isles , passed into the hands of Henry Sinclair , of Clan Sinclair . Scots had superseded Norse as the language of prestige on Orkney by the early 15th century. In Shetland, the transition began later, but by the end of the 15th century both island groups were bilingual . Despite this,

1276-562: The differences between the North Germanic languages at the time they split, their present-day characteristics justify another classification, dividing them into Insular Scandinavian and Mainland Scandinavian language groups based on mutual intelligibility. Under this system, Norwegian is grouped together with Danish and Swedish because the last millennium has seen all three undergo important changes, especially in grammar and lexis, which have set them apart from Faroese and Icelandic. Norn

1320-721: The edges, making their first tentative steps into the game. The Boys Ba' is thrown up from the Merket Cross on the Kirk Green on front of St Magnus Cathedral at 10.00, the start time recently having been moved from 10.30 due to the Boys Ba' having a tendency to last longer. The Boys game, like the Men's, has grown in size and popularity in recent years and the number of boys participating can number over 100. The Boys Ba' has been known to last as little as 4 minutes (New Years Day 1985) or as long as 6 hours (New Years Day 2019). It can be very fluid, with its outcome often decided by

1364-443: The game is not encouraged, mainly for safety reasons but also as Orcadians are very protective of their tradition and do not wish to see it become a pursuit for "adventure tourists" as has happened with several other UK traditional ball games. The current scrum has become very large and those associated with the game believe that further players, particularly ones who have no appreciation of the dangers, tactics, allegiances or history of

Kirkwall Ba' Game - Misplaced Pages Continue

1408-477: The game's popularity has grown to include players from all areas of Orkney, including some of the outer isles. This has not met with universal approval from those associated with the game as its sheer size has become a problem from a safety perspective. Scant information is available about the early history but some form of mass football appears to have been practised throughout Scotland and England for at least three centuries. Records from 1797 indicate that "Football

1452-510: The game, and often people from the isles or rural areas, their side is determined by the route taken on their first arrival in Kirkwall. The game has no official rules, but there is a code of honour among players whereby certain acts are considered strictly unacceptable. This code is generally adhered to extremely well by those who play the game and as result the game is self-regulating and self-policing, requiring no intervention from outside parties. The game's popularity in recent times has led to

1496-510: The game, will be no asset from a safety point of view. This view is endorsed almost universally throughout the game. Citations Norn language Norn is an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken in the Northern Isles ( Orkney and Shetland ) off the north coast of mainland Scotland and in Caithness in the far north of the Scottish mainland. After Orkney and Shetland were pledged to Scotland by Norway in 1468–69, it

1540-587: The junction of Main Street with New Scapa Road, opposite the Catholic Church, which was the site of the old town gates in bygone times. (The last remains of the town gates were removed in the 1950s, leaving the Uppie goal as the gable end of a house on Mackinson's Corner.) Once the Ba' has been goaled Up or Doon, lengthy argument often ensues among players on the winning side before a popular individual winner

1584-463: The lack of source material, but the general aspects can be extrapolated from the few written sources that exist. Norn shared many traits with the dialects of southwest Norway . That includes a voicing of /p, t, k/ to [b, d, ɡ] after vowels and (in the Shetland dialect but only partially in the Orkney dialect) a conversion of /θ/ and /ð/ (" th ing" and " th at" respectively) to [t] and [d] respectively. Norn grammar had features very similar to

1628-546: The language in Shetland, where there were people " who could repeat sentences in Norn", probably passages from folk songs or poems, as late as 1894. Walter Sutherland from Skaw in Unst, who died about 1850, has been cited as the last native speaker of the Norn language. However, fragments of vocabulary survived the death of the main language and remain to this day, mainly in place-names and terms referring to plants, animals, weather, mood, and fishing vocabulary. Norn had also been

1672-478: The other Scandinavian languages. There were two numbers , three genders and four cases ( nominative , accusative , genitive and dative ). The two main conjugations of verbs in present and past tense were also present. Like all other North Germanic languages (except West and South Jutlandic ), it used a suffix instead of a prepositioned article to indicate definiteness as in modern Scandinavian: man(n) ("man"); mannen ("the man"). Though it

1716-409: The process by which Scots overtook Norn as the primary spoken language on the islands was not a swift one, and most natives of Orkney and Shetland probably spoke Norn as a first language until the late 16th and early-to-mid 17th centuries respectively. One of the last documents written in Norn was for a 1597 mortgage issued over a property belonging to Else, sister of Anna Throndsen , who had married

1760-573: The reasons for its discontinuation as being a general public dislike for female participation in a very physical and public spectacle, the attitudes of the time being that it was not "lady-like". The Doonies' goal is the sea, normally within the Basin of the Harbour, but so long as it is immersed in the salt water of Kirkwall Bay, the Ba' has gone doon. The Uppies must round the Lang, or Mackinson's corner at

1804-575: The scrum of men becoming very large with up to 350 men playing at any one time. Forces within the scrum can be enormous, with broken and cracked ribs not uncommon. The scrum will collapse often during the game, at which point players are generally very good at ceasing play and aiding teammate and opponent alike to regain their feet. Camaraderie within the game is excellent, although as with any highly physical male pursuit, tempers can and do flare. Such incidents are quickly extinguished by fellow players and grudges are not held. The participation of visitors in

Kirkwall Ba' Game - Misplaced Pages Continue

1848-400: Was born up or doon the gate but when Kirkwall's Balfour Hospital was built in the 1950s, the majority of babies were born there, thus giving a heavy bias to the Uppies. This led to a swing toward family allegiances, meaning players played the same way as their forebears. This tradition continues to this day. For non-Orcadians or ferryloupers (incomers) or indeed anyone with no family history in

1892-436: Was gradually replaced by Scots . Norn is thought to have become extinct around 1850, after the death of Walter Sutherland , the language's last known speaker, though there are claims the language persisted as late as the 20th century. Norse settlement in the islands probably began in the early 9th century. These settlers are believed to have arrived in very substantial numbers, and like those who migrated to Iceland and

1936-417: Was not yet entirely extinct, being "retained by old people," who still spoke it among each other. The last reports of Norn speakers are claimed to be from the 19th century, with some claims of a very limited use up until the early 20th century, but it is more likely that the language was dying out in the late 18th century. The isolated islands of Foula and Unst are variously claimed as the last refuges of

#126873