MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands checks Orkney facilities, seat for next year's Island Games

Falklands National Sports Council Mike Summers recently visited Orkney island

With the upcoming Island Games, Orkney 12 to 18 July 2025 just around the corner, and with the anticipated participation of a Falkland Islands delegation, Mike Summers, chair of the Falklands National Sports Council advanced some leads as to what can be expected next year, since he recently visited the Scottish Island.

Island Games, currently known as the NatWest International Island Games for sponsorship reasons are biennial international multi-sports events organized by the International Island Games Association (IIGA). Competitor teams each represent different island communities, with one team from Gibraltar, which are IIGA members. Currently all competitor teams represent non-sovereign territories of European nations—some within European waters and some further overseas. The most recent edition was the 2023 which took place in Guernsey with around 2,200 competitors from 24 islands or island groups participating in 14 sports.

Mike Summers said he was interviewed several times by people in Orkney and asked about the relationship between people from the Falkland Islands and Orkney, and “my reply was that well apart from your rather strange accent, we are just about the same. Orcadians are very much like Falkland Islanders, and well we're very much like house on fire”.

“Sports facilities are excellent, all of them are very good and I came back pleasantly surprised with that; but their struggle is going to be accommodation, anyhow you can see that they have it well in hand, and I can anticipate that it is going to be perfectly adequate, it's not the hotels and hostels and similar things we've became used to in Guernsey and Jersey, since places like those do not exist in Orkney”.

Summers added that the Games are to be essentially around Kirkwall, the island's capital, which means all are going to be walking distance. A couple of events are scheduled to take place at Stromness, but not disciplines in which Falklands will be involved such as gymnastics and triathlon, and the cycling competition can be expected all sort of around the island.

Finally the Sports Council chair said that “we will be talking to clubs about the levels of preparations and their fitness regimes, their selection procedures and all of that sort of things, so in the coming weeks there is still a lot to do and prepare”.