Isle of Man Football Association celebrated International Women’s Day by launching a new initiative at the Bowl on Wednesday evening last week.

Former England international Natasha Dowie – a Liverpool FC women’s ambassador – was one of the guests of honour at the island’s first showcase event for women and girls’ football to launch a new IoMFA campaign aimed at getting more involved in the sport.

This is aligned with the English FA’s #FootballForAll and #letgirlsplay, which are in turn part of wider campaigns to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.

The event – which took place two days before International Women’s Day – featured 17 under-six to under 16 girls club teams in a friendly round robin tournament, and girls from the Manx Youth Games.

The finale was a senior exhibition match between two teams drawn from the Isle of Man’s national women’s football squad.

Proceedings started off at 5pm with a number of six, short-size pitches across the Bowl, commencing with the u14s, u16s and MYG, before the u10s and u12s took to the pitch. The emphasis was more to do with participation and enjoyment in these matches, with between 200-300 junior players taking part.

Thanks go to the coaches of these teams for organising their players and the Isle of Man FA youth leadership group who refereed and co-ordinated fixtures on the night.

Former Everton, AC Milan and Liverpool player Dowie then presented certificates to all the junior players.

Also present was Lady Lorimer, Douglas Mayoress Natalie Byron-Teare, Chief Minister Alf Cannan and IoMFA non-executive director Vicki Hotchkiss.

Proceedings came to close with an exhibition match involving the top female players in the Isle of Man which featured most of the squad that won bronze at last year’s Island Games in Guernsey.

The match was 30 minutes each way and was officiated by four female officials (based in the UK) involving the blues and the reds. It was an entertaining match which the blues win 1-0 courtesy of early Ruby Palmer strike.

Before the match and at half-time, the crowd was entertained by Move It, a local dance group.

The Isle of Man FA would like to thank Canada Life, Boal & Co, Robinson’s Fruit and Jacksons IoM for the continued support.

l Manx Footy Podcast recorded two episodes on women’s football, covering the event at the Bowl plus interviews with island captain Becky Corkish, referee Janeann Doyle and IoMFA chief executive Lewis Qualtrough.

Watch the episodes at https://www.youtube.com/@ManxFootyPodcast or listen online at https://audioboom.com/dashboard/4819547

Alternatively, scan the QR code below.