Shetland football team

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]

Shetland
Shirt badge/Association crest
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)

Venues

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

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

Match: Final

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

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

Group 1 matches

Pos. Team Played Won Draw Lost For Against Diff. Points
1st Shetland Islands 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

This is the squad that competed at the 2020 Milne Cup held in Orkney.[6]

Goalkeepers

Erik Peterson (C) (Ness Utd), Adrian Morrison (Whitedale)

Defenders

Andrew Flett (Spurs), Joel Bradley (Celtic), Tomas Smith (Ness Utd), Stuart Copland (Ness Utd), James Farmer (Ness Utd).

Midfielders

Sam Ward (Spurs), Calvin Leask (Thistle), Ronan Grant (Spurs), James Aitken (Celtic), Jack Clubb (Celtic), John Allen (Scalloway), Lewis Harkness (Spurs).

Forwards

Greg Tulloch (Whitedale), Paul Molloy (Spurs).

Notable players

Tournament records

Island Games record

Island Games record
Year Round Position GP W D L GS GA
Faroe Islands 1989Fifth place5th4004113
Åland 1991Group stage5th420278
Isle of Wight 19937th4103310
Gibraltar 1995Did not enter
Jersey 1997Group stage5th421146
Gotland 199910th52031414
Isle of Man 20018th412167
Guernsey 20037th5212108
Shetland 2005Champions1st5410101
Rhodes 2007Did not enter
Åland 2009Group stage13th411279
Isle of Wight 2011Did not enter
Jersey 2015Fourth place4th5212105
Gotland 2017Group stage10th4103712
Gibraltar 2019[n 1]Fourth place4th410388
Guernsey 2023
Total1 title13/17521972687101
  1. Not held football tournament (Replaced by 2019 Inter Games Football Tournament in  Anglesey).

North Atlantic Cup[8]

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]

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 Shield

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

Sutherland Shield

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

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

References

  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. "Shetland Squad : Shetland Football". www.shetlandfootball.co.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  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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