Rugby set to return to the Isle of Man

Matches to restart in October

After what seems a lifetime without rugby, the sport is set to return for the 2021/22 season, with Manx sides playing in the National Leagues as well as a new look domestic competition.

Douglas will be playing in the English Clubs Championship in North One West which was basically where they left off after Covid struck way back in March 2020. The league is predominately the same as it was but does include some new sides. Carlisle drop down a division from 2019-20, Kendal move across from North One East while Glossop and Manchester are promoted. Douglas' fixture list gets underway on 4 September.
 
Vagabonds ladies also secure a league position in Women's NC 1 North West. Like Douglas this was the Division they were in pre-Covid and contains some familiar names. New faces for this season are Yorkshire side Halifax and Littleborough, who hail from just outside Rochdale. Vagas fixtures are currently scheduled to begin on 26 September.
 
For Vagabonds men and Ramsey, there is no league rugby for another season at least. This is unchanged from the end of the 2019-20 season and is a result of disagreements over travelling distances within the ranks of RFU North which saw 36 sides leave the competition and set up their own leagues. This left Vagabonds and Ramsey with no opposition. An RFU rescue plan could see openings in September 2022 for the two sides, but as yet that is not confirmed.
 
Vagabonds and Ramsey will therefore join Southern Nomads and Douglas Celts in a new look domestic competition which will be made up of two leagues. The four “big” teams will play in League 1 and the rest in League 2 (Castletown, Emerging Nomads, Ramsey B, Vagabonds Hornets and Western Vikings).

Matches will begin in early October and will be preceded by a series of friendly games which will be held between late August and the end of September.

Report by Dave Christian.