Orkney’s flag is everywhere. On flagpoles in Kirkwall, out of cars in Stromness, in a ribbon along the walls of houses in Holm, or along the garden hedges in Finstown. The Scottish blue with yellow borders forms a Nordic cross on the red background, symbolizing the connection with Norway. Orcadians are proud that their island is hosting the 2025 Island Games. “If you ask someone from the island what their nationality is, they’ll probably tell you Orcadian rather than Scottish. It’s about our identity,” says Gordon Deans, chairman of the organizing committee.
“But it’s a hybrid for us. This is very much a Scottish event. That’s also part of us; you’ll see Scottish flags as well. We have one eye on mainland Scotland and one on Orkney.” And then there’s the historical connection to the Vikings. Orkney (and Shetland to the north) was colonized by the Vikings in the 8th century and became the center of power for the Viking civilization. At the end of the Middle Ages, the island was given as a dowry to James III of Scotland, who married Margaret, the daughter of Scandinavian monarch Christian I. “We have a passionate connection with our Norwegian roots. We celebrate Norwegian Constitution Day on May 17th every year, and words and sayings can be traced back to the Norwegian language. The word peedie, for example. Have you heard that word last couple of days? It’s Orkney dialect. It basically means small.”
Peedie
Peedie isn’t what the Island Games are. Over 1,600 athletes from 24 islands compete in 12 sports for medals at an international tournament. And that international character is important, because many island athletes often don’t get the chance to compete with teams or athletes from other countries or islands. Or they always have to travel far to do so. Orkney’s men’s football teams play in the North Caledonian League with teams on the Scottish mainland.
And the Orkney women’s representative team, the island’s only women’s football team (!), plays its matches in the Highlands & Islands League. “For an away game, we travel all Sunday,” says captain Kirsty Skea. “Early in the morning on the boat, then on to the match venue, and late at night on the boat back. It’s tough, but it shows that we’re willing to sacrifice our entire day for football.”
The women won one match at the Island Games (against Froya) and finished second to last (10th). “It’s been brilliant for us to play our first Island Games, on our own Orkney. The weather has been brilliant as well. It’s tough for us to play so many games in a row. We’re not used to that, but it pushes us to get better. Hopefully, more girls will start playing football. There’s a girls’ development program, so the younger kids are coming.”
Resilience
Besides offering sporting opportunities for the athletes, the Island Games also creates other chances. “It’s an opportunity to showcase these island communities from a tourist perspective as well,” says chairman and former Orkney police officer Deans. “The island mentality is inherited in all of us. There’s resilience in it. We think nothing is impossible. Sometimes we punch above our weight, but we can achieve things greater than the sum of all parts.”
The Island Games have been running since 1985. Orkney is now hosting the multi-sport event for the first time. After 2014, the International Island Games Association decided to give smaller islands the opportunity to host the Games as well. “Accommodation is a challenge for many smaller islands, including us. We have to accommodate 2,000+ visitors. We do have existing sports facilities, although we’ve been able to improve them. Look at our athletics track or our football pitches, which are in fantastic condition. It’s fantastic that we’ve been able to address that. But again: it’s not just about the sport.”
Skara Brae
Deans points to an even older history than the Vikings, the prehistory. The Neolithic settlement of Skara Brea shows that there was already a civilization on Orkney thousands of years ago. “That is UNESCO heritage. It’s absolutely mindblowing. We have such an incredible history. I’d like to say we are in the sweet spot of everything. The landscape is beautiful.
The weather is not too cold, not too hot. Great for our community farmers. The island is not too big, not too small. We are close to our UK neighbors and feel the connection with our Scandinavian roots. It’s a pretty wonderful place to be, I would say. And I hope the visitors and competitors feel our welcoming spirit. The friendliness, the willingness to help. To go that extra mile. And that is not an effort for us Orcadians.”