Many people who have never been to the Isle of Man are not sure exactly where it is! The answer is that it lies in the Irish Sea, between England , Scotland , Ireland and Wales , less than 60 miles west of the Lancashire coastline, and it is easy to get to thanks to excellent air and sea services.

The Island is a unique self-governing kingdom - a Crown dependency which belongs to neither the UK nor the European Union. It has its own Parliament (called Tynwald), laws, traditions, culture, cuisine and postage stamps; other differences include the Manx language and currency (though English is the spoken tongue and English and UK currencies are accepted everywhere),

The thriving east coast town and port of Douglas is the capital of the Isle of Man. The hub of much Island activity, it offers a great variety of accommodation, pubs, bars, clubs and restaurants.

In terms of sporting events, the Isle of Man is probably best known for the T.T. races, only closely followed by the I.O.M. Vagabonds Festival of Rugby!!

The festival is now in its twentieth year and still attracts teams from all over the U.K. and beyond.

We welcome some teams back on a regular basis, including Tamar Saracens who have been touring to the Island for almost as long as the festival  has been running!

We also like to see new faces and the Tournament is designed for all ages and levels.

Over the last couple of years, the number of women’s teams travelling to the festival has increased so we have introduced a Ladies K.O. Tournament for the Cain’s Cup and Plate which takes place on Easter Saturday.

Saturday also sees the Manx Challenge Cup match where the host side invite a visiting club to compete for the trophy.

The format of the Festival is as follows:

Easter Friday

One hour friendly games at Vagabonds to ease the teams in gently followed by a lively social scene in the Clubhouse.

On Friday, a visiting club will again be invited to play a mainly young mixed team from Vagabonds to play for the ABC Cup.  This is in memory of 3 young members of our Club who lost their lives in a car crash.

Easter Saturday

Friendly 15-a-side games Island wide.

Manx Challenge Cup

Ladies Tournament

Easter Sunday

Seven’s tournaments - men and women.

To round off the weekend on Sunday after the seven’s tournaments presentations there will be live bands in a marquee behind the clubhouse with plenty of antics going on to keep you entertained.

For all inclusive packages contact: belljan@manx.net