It’s under a week until North and South go head to head on the Tynwald fairfield at St John’s in a fierce battle for bragging rights in the island’s national sport.

And fighting talk is flowing freely from seasoned Cammag players ahead of the match, which takes place on Tuesday (Boxing Day) at 2pm.

The highly anticipated match is a game of three halves featuring an unlimited number of players wielding a variety of home-made sticks.

Three generations of Callister - John ‘Dog’, Juan and 18-year-old Harvey - will be representing the North, John ‘Dog’ as team captain as the oldest team member.

Juan told Island Life: ‘It’s tradition for the North to win but sometimes we let the South win.

‘They came close last year but I’d rather have small pox than see the South win.’

Last year, John ‘Dog’ scored the winning penalty strike when the match ended in a tie, the first time he had seen the game go to extra time and penalties in all of the 45 years he has been playing Cammag.

Juan said that he and his son Harvey have been playing ‘since we were old enough to take a fat lip’, which for Harvey was aged 10.

‘Holly sticks are John ‘Dog’s’ choice of weapon,’ Juan said.

‘He brings a sack full but only the North can borrow them.

‘My stick last year was the bottom of the Christmas tree.’

He added: ‘I enjoy running round like a lunatic, taking it easy on women and children but if a big Southerner stands in my way I won’t think twice of flattening them.’

Juan described the match as a ‘great day out’, adding: ‘It’s so friendly, never any trouble. The odd scrape but nothing a whiskey at half-time won’t fix. Then it’s off to the Tynwald Inn for a pint and a yarn with the twiddly diddly music on and all.’

Meanwhile, Richard Corlett rates the Southerners’ chances of success.

‘The Southerners are the better team, they’ll win easily,’ he said.

‘They’re just better than the North and pushing forward towards the goal.’

Richard has always lived on the North-South border of St John’s, making it hard for him to decide what team to play for. This year he moved to Kirk Michael, which would make him a North player, but he said he will play for the team with the lower turnout on the day.

Richard has been playing Cammag for at least 17 years but admits it could be even longer.

He said Boxing Day is the day he looks forward to most each Christmas because of Hunt the Wren and Cammag.

‘It’s great to be able to meet up with people and have a good laugh over the holidays but it’s also important to me to help keep Manx traditions like Cammag going,’ he said.

His current stick is a willow branch cut from his back garden.

‘For years I used a gorse stick until it snapped,’ he said. ‘It’s not easy to find a good stick in the wild.

‘Getting the right angle for the handle can be a challenge but this year I think I’ve got a great one with a lot of weight for a good swing.’

He said his most memorable Cammag game was played in the snow.

‘We’d just done Hunt the Wren all morning in the snow and there were snowmen littering the fairfield around the pitch,’ Richard said.

‘Trying to stop from sliding and falling over when chasing the ball was a real challenge.’

Cammag is closely related to hurling or shinty in neighbouring Celtic nations. Records go back hundreds of years.

It’s open to anyone who wants to join in and people are also welcome to watch. Players should dress warm and bring something stick-like.