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About The Games

The first Games took place in the Isle of Man, as part of their ‘Year of Sport’ in 1985, where fifteen island teams, including Shetland, took part in a programme of seven sports.

At the Closing Ceremony of that event, it was agreed to form the International Island Games Association (IIGA) - the organisation that oversees this major multi-sport event.

All competing teams at the Games are Member Islands of the IIGA and agree to abide by the IIGA Constitution, Operational Guidelines and Sports By-Laws.

In the last Games in the British island of Jersey, from 27 June to 3 July 2015, an estimated 3,000 participants took part, including competitors and officials from 24 island teams took part in a sports programme of fourteen sports.

The current membership of the IIGA is as follows:

  • Åland
  • Alderney
  • Bermuda
  • Cayman Islands
  • Falkland Islands
  • Faroe Islands
  • Frøya
  • Gibraltar
  • Gotland
  • Greenland
  • Guernsey
  • Hitra
  • Isle of Man
  • Isle of Wight
  • Jersey
  • Menorca
  • Orkney
  • Rhodes
  • Saaremaa
  • Sark
  • Shetland
  • St Helena
  • Western Isles
  • Ynys Môn

The Games takes place every two years, usually in the months of June/July.

Conditions for Representing a Member Island

The following section is taken from the Section 6 of the IIGA Operational Guidelines 

"To represent a Member Island, a competitor may qualify either by: 

  1. Having been born on that Member Island.
  2. A competitor may be considered to have been born on a Member Island if the mother was normally resident on that Island immediately prior to the birth and returned to the Island soon after.
  3. Having been resident on that Member Island for the period of 12 consecutive months prior to the date of the Opening Ceremony of the Games to be entered.
  4. Any person wishing to gain qualification under 3 (above) shall be deemed to be a permanent resident for the purpose of qualification if they are not residing on that Member Island because they are following a programme of study or involved in military service out of the Member Island.

Any competitor not complying with the above shall be subject to an automatic disqualification from the Games."

Anyone with any queries over their eligibility to compete for Shetland should 'Contact Us' to clarify this.