The History of the Island Games: From a Small Island Gathering to an International Sporting Festival

The Island Games are a celebration of sport, community and island identity. Bringing together athletes from islands scattered across the world, the Games offer competitors the chance to represent their homes on an international stage, while creating friendships and rivalries that stretch far beyond the sporting arena.

For Orkney, the Island Games have become much more than a sporting competition. They are an opportunity to showcase the islands, celebrate local talent and demonstrate that a small community can compete with pride against much larger populations. But the story of the Games began with a relatively modest idea: to bring island communities together through sport.

The birth of the Island Games

The first Island Games took place on the Isle of Man from 18 to 24 July 1985, as part of the island’s Year of Sport. Originally known as the Inter-Island Games, the event was intended to bring together athletes from small island communities that often found it difficult to access international sporting competition.

The ambition was simple but powerful: create a festival where islanders could compete against one another, share their cultures and develop lasting friendships.

The inaugural event attracted around 700 competitors representing 15 islands, with participants travelling from the British Isles, Scandinavia, the Mediterranean and the South Atlantic. Among them were athletes from St Helena, thousands of miles from the host island. Seven sports featured in the official results, including athletics, swimming, cycling, shooting, badminton, volleyball and five-a-side football.

The Games proved such a success that organisers agreed to hold them every two years. What had begun as an ambitious sporting experiment was already developing into an international movement.

From a small gathering to an international event

Guernsey hosted the second Games in 1987, followed by the Faroe Islands in 1989. The event then travelled to Åland in 1991 and the Isle of Wight in 1993, with Gibraltar, Jersey and Gotland among the subsequent hosts. Each edition helped strengthen the links between the participating islands and expand the Games’ sporting programme.

As the event grew, the International Island Games Association (IIGA) became the organisation responsible for overseeing the movement. The number of competitors increased, more sports were introduced, and additional islands joined the growing membership.

By the late 1990s, the Games had developed into a major event in the calendars of many island sporting associations. For young athletes in particular, selection to represent their island offered a rare opportunity to compete internationally while wearing their home colours.

The Games also provided something that conventional international competitions could not always offer: the chance to compete against communities with similar experiences of island life, limited populations and the practical challenges of travel, training and facilities.

A unique sporting identity

Unlike the Olympic Games or the Commonwealth Games, the Island Games are built around the identity of island communities rather than sovereign nations. Participants represent their island, often against competitors from places with remarkably similar histories and challenges.

The range of sports has grown considerably since 1985. Athletics, swimming, cycling, shooting, badminton and football have long been important parts of the programme, while other sports have included archery, bowls, golf, gymnastics, judo, sailing, tennis, triathlon and volleyball. The precise programme varies between editions.

This variety allows islands with different sporting strengths to find opportunities to compete. Some have developed strong traditions in athletics and swimming; others have excelled in shooting, cycling, archery or team sports.

The medal table tells only part of the story. For many competitors, the achievement lies in qualifying for the team, travelling to another island, competing at their best and representing their community. For smaller delegations, every personal best, close finish and team performance can become a memorable moment in local sporting history.

The importance of hosting

Hosting the Games has become an important opportunity for participating islands. A successful edition requires months—and often years—of preparation, from developing venues and arranging accommodation to recruiting volunteers, coordinating transport and welcoming thousands of visiting athletes and supporters.

The benefits can extend beyond the competition itself. Hosting can bring visitors and business to the local economy, develop volunteers’ skills, improve sporting facilities and raise the profile of the host island. Just as importantly, it gives residents the opportunity to welcome the wider island community and share their own culture and traditions.

The responsibility is considerable, particularly for small islands with limited resources. Yet that is also part of what makes the Games distinctive: their success depends heavily on community involvement, cooperation and the determination of local people to make a major international event possible.

Orkney and the Island Games

For Orkney, the Island Games have a special place in the islands’ sporting story. Orcadian athletes have been part of the movement since its early days, competing alongside representatives of other island communities and helping establish the Games as an important feature of local sport.

The opportunity to represent Orkney gives athletes a clear goal to work towards. Selection can recognise years of dedication, while participation allows competitors to measure themselves against athletes from across the international island network. The experience also creates friendships and connections that continue long after the final events have finished.

Orkney’s role in the movement reached a historic milestone when the islands hosted the 20th International Island Games from 12 to 18 July 2025. The event brought the Games to a community with a strong sense of local identity and a long tradition of volunteering and sporting participation. The official organisers also recognised Orkney as the smallest island, by population, ever to host the event.

Hosting was significant not only because of the sporting competition, but because it demonstrated what a small island community could achieve through collective effort. Athletes, officials, volunteers, businesses and supporters all played a part in welcoming the wider Games family.

For Orkney, the 2025 Games became part of the islands’ own history while adding a new chapter to the story of the international event.

The challenges and changes

Over four decades, the Island Games have had to adapt to changing circumstances. Travel costs, accommodation capacity, venue requirements and the demands placed on host communities can all influence how an edition is organised. The event has also faced disruption: the 2021 Games, which were due to take place in Guernsey, were cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite these challenges, the fundamental idea has endured. The Games continue to depend on the commitment of participating islands and the belief that sporting competition can bring small communities together.

The scale of the event has changed substantially since 1985, but its identity remains rooted in the relationships between competitors and the communities they represent. The Games are large enough to offer a genuinely international sporting experience, yet small enough for athletes and supporters to meet, talk and get to know one another.

Looking to the future

The next chapter will unfold in the Faroe Islands, which are scheduled to host the 2027 Games from 3 to 9 July. It will be the Faroes’ second time hosting, following their first edition in 1989. The Isle of Man is scheduled to host again in 2029, with Gotland selected as the preferred host for 2031.

These future editions underline the enduring strength of the Island Games. The responsibility of hosting passes from one island to another, allowing different communities to welcome their fellow islanders and put their own stamp on the event.

For athletes, each edition offers new challenges, opportunities and memories. For host communities, it is a chance to demonstrate what they can achieve. And for the Games as a whole, every gathering reinforces the bonds that have developed between participating islands over more than 40 years.

More than medals

The history of the Island Games is ultimately a story of communities choosing to come together.

What began on the Isle of Man in 1985 with around 700 competitors from 15 islands has developed into an established international sporting festival supported by a network of member islands. The sports, venues and competitors have changed, but the original purpose remains recognisable: to encourage sporting achievement, friendship and cultural exchange.

For Orkney and the other participating islands, the Games provide something particularly valuable. They offer a chance to compete internationally without losing sight of the communities that make participation possible. Every athlete carries the hopes of their home island; every volunteer helps make the event happen; and every host adds another chapter to the shared history.

Medals and records will always be part of the story. But the lasting legacy of the Island Games is the connection between islands that might otherwise have little opportunity to meet—and the knowledge that, whatever their size, they can come together on a common sporting stage.