GETTING TO THE ISLAND

Isle of Man Hockey Tour

30th April - 3rd May 2010

Welcome to the Isle of Man Hockey Tour

If you are a hockey player and have never heard of our Festival before then where have you been for the last 50 years??? That's right, this year will be our 57th Hockey Festival! Those of you that have been before will know that this Festival really is one NOT to be missed.

The tour is open to men's, ladies and mixed teams of all ages and abilities and this year especially, we are looking for vets teams, as we have already had great interest for vets games. Spectators and social supporters are of course also very welcome, last year we had lovely weather and were able to sit outside and watch the many games being played, with a long cold drink or several of course!

Listening to feedback from last years' teams, we have this year decided to focus even more closely around the ‘social’ playing aspects on the grass pitches at our Ronaldsway clubhouse (close to the Airport at Castletown) however we will still use a couple of Astro pitches. Depending on the numbers of teams entering, we may also look to modify the actual playing time away from two 30 minute halves to a shorter time slot however that shall be decided upon closer to the time, once we have a better idea of teams and overall game and pitch requirements. The 2010 entry forms have been slightly changed to take account of this. Running alongside the hockey games we also will have some 'social games' being played as well, so you have been warned!

There will be transport laid on to pick you up, if you are staying in a hotel on Douglas seafront to take you to your first games, shuttle buses will run between the Southern hub grass pitches at the clubhouse to the astro pitches as required and transport will take you back to your hotel again at the end of the day. If there are any games based at the Astro in Douglas, you will be transported there and after the game you will be picked up immediately afterwards and shuttled onto the next venue.

At the Southern hub there is Ronaldsway clubhouse, with toilets, plenty of seating, a well stocked bar and a good variety of hot and cold food during the weekend.

We try wherever possible, to match similar skilled ability teams, so the more 'serious or shall we say 'able' teams, can play higher level games should they wish to and the more social teams who are in the majority, can have more relaxed fun games. However the key ethos of the tour is for people to have fun and really enjoy themselves and have a holiday weekend.

On the social front we are probably looking to do the following (but yet to be finalised).

Friday night is a meet and greet and drinking session in Amber bar in Douglas which this year is actually based just below the Hotel we are using as Hockey HQ, how easy or dangerous is that! Once again Sleepwell group and Chesterhouse manager Alex is going to give me beer vouchers (for those staying at Chesterhouse) and they will put on promotional drinks in the bars.

Saturday night there will be a social event and this year we are looking at a simple themed night with food (minimal cost probably looking at £10 per head again) further details to follow, we will also do the Samaritans trophy challenge that evening.

Sunday at Fiesta Havana Nightclub is our fancy dress disco and the winning team gets a crate of something alcoholic together with this year the additional prize of a free entry to the 2011 IOM Hockey Tour. Each year the fancy dress event gets better and the team outfits more outrageous and entry again is free of charge. Quite a few of the teams actually have specially designed tour shirts or fancy dress to play in as well and we totally encourage this type of outrageous and frivolous behavior.

Hockey Web 2008

Travel & Accommodation

Tour Organisers must arrange their teams own travel and accommodation to the Festival by either booking through a tour operator or by contacting ferry or air companies directly.

Please ensure that you book your travel and accommodation EARLY as the Festival falls in our peak tourism season.

For further details please look on the travel and accommodation sections of this site.

Hockey 2

Entry Forms

Entry forms for all categories can be downloaded from the bottom of this page. The deadline for entries is 2010

Contacts

Not convinced yet? If you have any questions regarding the Festival please feel free to contact the Festival Secretary or visit the official IOM Hockey Festival website www.manxhockey.org