Free, fun football activities for all ages and ability levels are coming to Ynys Mon as part of the Inter-Island Games Football Tournament, the Huws Gray Ynys Mon 2019 Organising Committee are today delighted to announce.
With 16 men’s and women’s teams from islands across the globe set to descend on Ynys Mon from June 15th to June 22nd, the tournament’s organising committee have worked hard to confirm three bespoke footballing events across the island aimed at increasing participation and encouraging the people of the island to live more healthy and active lifestyles.
On the day of the tournament’s opening ceremony a McDonald’s Fun Football Festival, organised in partnership with the FAW Trust, will be hosted at Holyhead Hotspur from 11am until 4pm with a McDonald’s Grassroots Football Ambassador set to be in attendance. Welsh International Footballers Ian Rush, Craig Bellamy, Sophie Ingle and many more are current ambassadors for McDonalds and could be in attendance on the day.
There will also be an Over-50s Walking Football tournament taking place at Amlwch Leisure Centre from 11am until 2pm on the same day, with teams from across North Wales and beyond set to compete.
Another event taking place during the tournament week will be a Girls Football Festival, organised in partnership with the FAW Trust and the Urdd, which will be hosted at Plas Arthur in Llangefni on Wednesday June 19th for primary school girls on the island.
Discussing the McDonald’s Fun Football Festivals, a spokesperson for the FAW Trust said:
“Every summer we provide free fun football festivals across Wales alongside our grassroots football partners, McDonald’s, and as part of the Ynys Môn Inter-Island Games tournament this summer one of our festivals will be visiting Holyhead Hotspur.
“The free festivals, which have featured guest appearances from the likes of Ian Rush, John Hartson and Craig Bellamy, will include fun football activities, aimed at boys and girls aged between 5 and 11, with the goal of helping more children across Wales fall in love with football this summer.”
The FAW Trust are also working in partnership with the Urdd on a series of Girls Football Festivals taking place across the country this summer, with Llangefni’s Plas Arthur hosting a festival in the middle of the tournament week. Urdd Gobaith Cymru Senior Sports Officer Aled Jones added:
“The Urdd, in partnership with the FAW Trust, is hosting a Girls Football Festival on Ynys Mon on Wednesday 19th of June. The event will be a celebration, a legacy of the Women’s World Cup which is being hosted in France this year and also a part of celebration of the Inter-Island Games Football Tournament taking place on the island.
“The festival is open to girls teams in years 3, 4, 5 and six from every school on the island, offering opportunities for girls to play football in a safe, non-competitive environment and promote the opportunities there are for girls to move forward into the Urdd’s community football clubs or other clubs in the local area.
“By hosting this festival for girls in the week of the Inter-Island Games football, the goal is to inspire a new generation of girls to take up football and hopefully we’ll see these players starring in future Island Games for Ynys Mon or even representing their country in football in the future.”