Isle Of Wight festival to be football-free zone

This weekend’s Isle Of Wight Festival is to be a football-free event – meaning punters who want to see England’s opening World Cup match will have to go elsewhere to watch it.

Around 60,000 people are due to attend the festival, which starts on Friday (June 9), the same day as the World Cup starts in Germany.
England’s opening match, against Paraguay in Frankfurt, kicks off at 2pm on Saturday. But organiser John Giddings said the match would not be screened at the event "because it's a festival of music".

All is not lost however - Newport Football Club, which located close to the festival site, says 8,000 people will be able to watch the match on their big screen for a donation of £1, reports the BBC.

The Download festival at Donington Park, featuring the likes of Tool, Metallica and Guns N' Roses, is also on this weekend but will be showing the match.

If England progress from the group stage in the World Cup, their second round match will take place on 24 or 25 June. Whatever day it takes place on, it will be screened at the Wireless Festival shows in Hyde Park, central London, headlined by James Blunt (24) and Depeche Mode (25).

If England reach the quarter-finals, their match is set take place on 1 July - coinciding with the capital's Hyde Park Calling festival. Organisers have also confirmed they will show the match on an area of the site.

The World Cup final will take place in Berlin on 9 July - at the same time as the second evening of T In The Park in Scotland – on an evening headlined by The Who. Organisers say they will NOT be showing the match.

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