non-tartan kilts on the field.

[Tobus]

Solids make sense as there are some Irish contestants too?

Not to get too technical here, but we're talking about Highland Games. It is a distinctly Scottish sport - at least in this context. There may be Irish, Poles, Germans, and people from virtually all other backgrounds competing (we often have several African Americans competing as well), but the point here is that this is a traditional Scottish sport, and one is expected to pay homage to the tradition regardless of one's actual ethnicity or bloodlines.

And that's without even delving into the whole contrived-Irish-kilt issue...

[tundramanq]

Here we have the Rio Grande Valley Celtic Festival with both both Celtic and Gaelic games. The SCA was invited last year and had their section of the field. There was a real mix of kilts, shorts and period dress in the audiences. The Gaelic athletes do, strongly - , lean toward shorts for football but there were a few kilts on the field for the Hurling competition. I did'nt notice any comic-con'ers - but I was there early.
Will see what this year brings.

[RogerWS76]

Ok, now just to play the devil's advocate here: The games the Highland Games themselves have been around since at least the 11th century. I have seen many posts here in this forum that say that kilts only began to be worn in the 16th century. So ... we have about five hundred years of Highland Games history without the kilt!

OK, personally, I think a kilt should absolutely be worn. There is STILL 500 years of Highland games history WITH the kilt as well and it IS the more recent history!!! I also think it is important the the kilt have some very real meaning to the wearer.

However, in the beginning, I did not know about less expensive alternatives like Sport Kilt for athletic purposes. I also knew at that I could not afford to have a kilt made for me (and I think all would agree, that a tank would not farewell in the many times muddy or dusty fields of play at the various venues). So I made my own. I did know of my own clans tartan but had to settle for a plaid at JoAnn's that had at least most of the colors in it.


Since finding SportKilt I have worn a few different tartans but they all have a special meaning. I have worn the Air Force Tartan for my three kids in the US Air Force. I have worn MacDonald (in the absence of a MacAlister being available) and I have also worn the St. Andrews USA (as a proud citizen of this country).

I also have a friend who wears a camoflage kilt that I made for him to honor his service in the Army.

So, I think it is important that there is some kind of valuable reason that you have for the kilt that you wear on the field and it would be AWFUL and sanctimonious, sacreligious anathema to allow competitors to wear shorts!


However, to stir the pot a little, what say you all about wearing Tartan Breeks???

[Panache]

At a game, the athlete wears his game uniform. For practice anything works.

I think this sums up kilts and highland throwers perfectly.

I do think a solid color kilt is fine, but it should look like like a traditional kilt.

If you are trying to promote this very traditional sport then you should keep the traditional looking uniform.

Cheers

Jamie

[Martin Roy]

Tartan Breeks?
You mean like matching underpants?

[Chas]

The games the Highland Games themselves have been around since at least the 11th century. I have seen many posts here in this forum that say that kilts only began to be worn in the 16th century. So ... we have about five hundred years of Highland Games history without the kilt!

OK, personally, I think a kilt should absolutely be worn. There is STILL 500 years of Highland games history WITH the kilt as well and it IS the more recent history!!!

Do you have any evidence for that? I ask because, I for one, have difficulty believing it.

1066 (Battle of Hastings) was in the middle of the 11th century and this is the first time I have heard that the common people had 'leisure' time.

Regards

Chas

[Alan H]

Roger makes a very good point. There is documentation of Scottish "wappinshaws" going back to long, long before the implementation of anything like a kilt. The caber throw is hypothesized by some to be an evolution of an event called "tossing of ye barre", which is documented as having taken place in King Henry VIII time, in fact in his younger years, Henry was supposed to have been pretty good at it. Mind you, nobody really knows where the caber throw event came from, there's are lots of websites and brochures which claim one thing or another, but nobody that I have ever found can provide conclusive evidence of anything. I can provide references if anybody wants them. So Highland Gatherings with athletic events far, far, predate the earliest documented appearance of anything kilt-like.

If that's the case, then why demand that athletes wear kilts? Well, probably because the "Highland Games" as in the athletics as we know them today are primarily a Victorian era invention. How so?


Stone throw .... obviously this long, long predates the Victorian era

Weight throws ... in fact the weights that are thrown are evolved from the "half hundredweight" and "quarter hundredweight" weights which every feed store and agricultural store had in stock, used to measure out feed and grain and so on during the late 1700's and 1800's.. A "half-hundredweight" weight is based on the old avoirdupois system of weights and measures, which goes back to the 1500's at least, and equals 56 "modern" pounds. This is definitely a Victorian Era implement.

Hammers.... truth is that nobody knows exactly where the hammer came from but the best guess that I have read is that the original hammer was a blacksmiths "two-hand" hammer, not a sledgehammer used for busting up rock, or whatever. At any rate the Blacksmiths two-hand hammer came into common useage in the late 1700's....originally in IRELAND.


Weight over the Bar.....again, a Victorian Era invention, as the weight that is thrown over the bar is the same as the one that's thrown for distance. It's not the same NOW...here in the USA, or even at most Games in Scotland, but originally, it was.


So if we take the garb of the Victorian Era as the "original" uniform, then I suppose that a tartan, knife-pleated kilt should be what's worn.

I, personally do not have a problem in the slightest with a solid-color kilt, if made in something approximating the "traditional" manner....a bunch of pleats in the back and some aprons, more or less full-width, in the front. I have to say that wearing a full-on wool "tank" that costs hundreds of dollars is probably not the optimal thing to do. I know that there are those who think that nothing else is a kilt and therefore nothing else belongs on the field.

From a practical standpoint...these things get dirty and sweaty. They get chalk and pine-tar on them. The lower, right hand buckle often tears out of the kilt, I can't tell you how many I've seen that are ripped out. A large-sett, "nine yard" traditional kilt (athletes tend to be big guys) is a flippin' heavy garment, and it can ever-so-slightly slow down an athlete. So it is that when I make a kilt for an athlete, this is how I make it.

1.) in the tartan of the athletes choice....solid-color if they prefer
2.) in polyester-viscose. Why?
a.) it's machine washable.
b.) it sheds even the sticky mess of pine-tar...that teflon coating is pretty handy
c.) because I'm partial to stuff made in Scotland, if we're doing a Scottish heritage sport
d.) It's light, and even 6 yards of it won't slow down an athlete
e.) it's easy to take care of...machine washable, holds a pleat pretty well, etc. etc. a number of the Pro athletes wear Stillwater kilts and you should see what a Stillwater acrylic kilt looks like after a couple of years of being worn on the field, taken off and shoved into an athletes gear bag for a month, and never washed or ironed. Hey, I'm pretty laid-back about this stuff, but there are limits!!!

3.) with only one buckle on the right side. Why put it there if it's just going to rip out?
4.) with a full-waistband-length fabric strap to take the buckling load
5.) .... ->this is new, will go into the kilt I'm making for 3x World Champion, Dan McKim....leather straps that are about 3x the length of the straps you usually find on a kilt. 2/3r'ds of those straps are sewn into the kilt, and yes...horrors.... will be sewn all the way through the over-apron. This would not be acceptable in a dress kilt, but I am tired of seeing my straps slowly tear out of my athletes kilts, including my own. Lots of athletes like to strap their kilts *Really* tightly and that loads up the buckles and strap stitching very hard.

[Alan H]

For anyone interested, it's been common practice among quite a few North American Games, to allow the beginners class to wear shorts, especially the novices. Why? Because in general we're interested in bringing new lads and lasses to the sport, and if acquiring a kilt is an impediment to someone trying their hand at the events at the Games, then who needs it? However, as soon as you've done 2-3 Games and you're past the Novice class, a kilt is expected and required on the field.

[Alan H]

Do you have any evidence for that? I ask because, I for one, have difficulty believing it.

1066 (Battle of Hastings) was in the middle of the 11th century and this is the first time I have heard that the common people had 'leisure' time.

Regards

Chas

The History of the Games is a good question/issue... where did this stuff come from? I actually put together a complete hour-long lecture and powerpoint presentation on this for the Re-enactment Guild that I participated in, for a while.

It's a good question, and I think I'll start another thread about it.

[RogerWS76]

As far as the beginning of the games I am going by my memory and that very well could be "off" by a century or so but I believe I remember that info from David Websters book on the history of the games. I will look at the source tonight and inform you all of how good (or bad) my memory has served me!