New location for summer festival of football

FC Isle of Man have hosted the festival at The Bowl in Douglas for the past two years [Hannah McHugh]

A summer festival of football is set to return to the Isle of Man in July, but this time in the north of the island.

Hosted by FC Isle of Man, the event takes place between 17 and 19 July, with all matches played at Ramsey's Ballacloan Stadium.

The festival will see the island welcome back National League North side Radcliffe Borough for the third time, alongside League Two side Shrewsbury Town and Northern Premier League Division One West's Bury FC.

Organisers said the relocation to the north of the island was to allow those taking part and visiting to plan after uncertainty over the availability of the Ravens' home stadium of The Bowl on the dates.

Festival schedule

Friday, 17 July: Radcliffe vs. Shrewsbury Town (15:30 BST) & FC Isle of Man vs. Bury (19:30)

Sunday, 19 July: Third-Place Playoff (11:00) & Grand Final (15:00)

FC Isle of Man, who play in the North West Counties League Premier Division, have hosted the festival for the past two years to provide pre-season warm-up games for the teams and fans.

Director of football for the club, Lee Dixon, said the island's northern town had a "brilliant stadium" and a "great pitch" and moving the festival reinforced the Ravens' place as a club for the whole island.

"The Manx community is obviously not just Douglas, not just The Bowl, this is taking it out to another place like Ramsey," he said.

"Hopefully all the bars and restaurants and shops get to benefit from that and we'll have a very busy Ramsey on July 17th and 19th."

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