A junior rugby union festival featuring teams representing every club on the Island is being held at Douglas RUFC on October 21 and 22, 2017, and is sponsored by Old Mutual International. There’s a chance to win a ball signed by members of the current England rugby union squad - including Owen Farrell, George Ford, Dylan Hartley and Maro Itoje - in a ‘spot the ball’ competition to raise funds for Old Mutual International’s charities of the year, ManxSPCA and Alzheimer’s Society Isle of Man.
Junior matches will take place on both days with the under13s game acting as a curtain-raiser before the Douglas 1st XV’s North 1 West division match against Blackburn on Saturday afternoon. Sunday October 22nd will see competition between teams from the under-7s age group, and all other categories up to under-16s with the schedule as follows: under-7s, under-8s, under-9s, under-10s, and under-11s at 12.30pm (both pitches), under-12s and under-14s at 2pm (both pitches), under-15s (Douglas vs Nomads) at 4pm.
Old Mutual International will be giving away branded bags, jelly beans, puzzle sliders and colouring books. The company has also donated a signed England rugby ball – you can enter the spot the ball competition on both days, and if more than one person guesses the correct location their names will go into a hat and the winner whose ticket is drawn will receive the signed ball. All funds raised will be split equally between the ManxSPCA and Alzheimer’s Society Isle of Man.
The company’s sponsorship of the festival is part of its ongoing drive to invest in the local community to make a difference to charities, community groups and sports organisations – and this includes a number of sponsorships which support rugby union on the Island. The company sponsors an annual junior rugby festival held in the spring, has been the main sponsor of Douglas RUFC since 2015, and in August this year announced that it was supporting the England Rugby Kids First scheme on the Island which aims to inspire more children to take up the game.
For more information about Douglas RUFC, go to http://douglasrufciom.rfu.club/
Photo - The ball, donated by Old Mutual International, which has been signed by members of the current England rugby union squad is the prize in a spot the ball competition being run during this weekend’s junior rugby festival at Douglas RUFC.
