Sport
Football
Blairgowrie and Rattray is home to the Scottish Junior Football East Region Premier League side Blairgowrie F.C. as well as the Scottish Amateur Football Association sides Rattray A.F.C]and Balmoral United A.F.C. which play in the Perthshire Amateur League.
Golf
Blairgowrie Golf Club was founded in 1889. There are now two 18 hole courses, Rosemount and Lansdowne, and a 9-hole course.
Skiing
The Glenshee Ski Centre in Glenshee (Glenshee or Gleann Shith which translates from Gaelic as Glen of the Fairies), is some 18 miles to the north at the Cairnwell Pass on the A93 Braemar road which is the highest public road in the UK.
Rattray
The traditional ball game of Rattray no longer takes place, but the Rattray silver ball, the trophy retained by the winners, is still in existence. It is believed to have been donated by Sylvester Rattray of Nether Persie who became minister of Rattray in 1591 and continued there until his death in 1623. The Rattray silver ball is now kept at Perth Museum and Art Gallery.
Highland Games
Blairgowrie Highland Games are held annually on the first Sunday of September in Bogles Field on Essendy Road. It is noted for its Hill Race and its mass tug o'war where as many contestants as possible from Blairgowrie and Rattray compete against each other.
The evening before is known as Braemar Night with entertainment in the Wellmeadow and fireworks along the river. This tradition started in the 1960s to encourage travellers returning from Braemar Highland Games (held on the Saturday) to stop in the town and quickly grew into a huge programme of entertainments, pipe bands, fireworks, funfairs etc. which drew tens of thousands not only returning south from Braemar but on special excursions from Perth and Dundee. The current event is somewhat scaled down but extremely popular with locals.
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“What sport shall we devise here in this garden
To drive away the heavy thought of care?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
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—Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939)