With Ynys Mon’s bid to host the International Island Games on Anglesey in 2025 progressing well, the island received another significant boost to their hopes of landing the 2025 games this week as Anglesey’s bid committee announced it has successively secured the rights to host the Inter Games Football Tournament in June 2019.
Gibraltar, who host the International Island Games tournament in 2019, are unable to include football as part of their competition due to only having one football pitch. Ynys Mon’s bid committee were quick to step in and offer to host the football themselves on Anglesey in just over a year’s time.
Ynys Mon 2025 Project Manager Gareth Parry will be responsible for leading the 2019 project on the island too, and expressed his delight recently when discussing the impending prospect of Anglesey hosting the Inter Games Football in 15 months’ time.
“In bidding for the 2025 International Island Games we put ourselves forward for hosting the football-only competition in 2019 and, as such, I’m delighted to announce that Ynys Mon has been given the green light to host the football tournament on the island from the 15th-22nd June 2019.
“To welcome an international football competition to Ynys Mon, with up to 24 different islands from across the world descending on Anglesey in just over a year’s time for a whole week of high-quality football, it will be a fantastic experience not just for our island in the short-term, but also as we look to host the whole games in 2025 too.”
“We are working hard regarding our plans for hosting the 2025 games to ensure that there is a lasting legacy on Anglesey that will benefit all on the island for generations to come, and that is no different with hosting the Inter Games football tournament next year.”
Regarding that legacy, Mr Parry noted his hopes for how the 2019 tournament could have a transformative effect on Anglesey’s footballing landscape.
The buzz and excitement for the impending arrival of such significant footballing talent on the island next summer, according to the former Ynys Mon Men’s Football manager, is set to spark the re-emergence of an Anglesey Academy side and many more positives for Ynys Mon’s footballers.
“Already we have started planning the development of a football academy on Ynys Mon, and we’d like to bring together a forum for all of the island’s football clubs, so that we can collectively and strategically plan the way forward for our island’s footballing talent. This is in addition to hosting a Junior Football Festival on Ynys Mon in the weeks leading up to the 2019 tournament.
“Putting on a good show is essential if we are to convince the IIGA Exec Committee that we are serious and capable as hosts for The Island Games in 2025. It will also help inspire more youngsters, both male and female to participate in the sport, as well as bring communities and clubs together.
“There is so much passion and love towards football on the Island, we just need a mechanism to work together to improve opportunities for all ages and all genders to see Ynys Mon’s football thriving once again.”