After weeks of preparations and organisation the 2007 All Ireland TAG Festival is almost ready to begin. Held on the grounds of the historic Westport House on the May Bank Holiday Weekend, This year's edition plans to be one of the social and sporting highlights of the year with teams coming from all over Ireland and further a field with teams coming from Europe and possibly the USA to take part in what is truly an international event. This is not the first time that the Bulls have Hosted an event like this as their successful summer competition has moved from strength to strength over the past couple of years. But this year the decision to hold a whole festival over a bank holiday weekend has seen a lot of interest in this town and its facilities.

Saturday 5th May 07, 9a.m; Series of Shuttle busses available to transport teams from Town to Westport House. Changing facilities for Male and Female participants 'on site' on the grounds. Shower facilities available also.

10a.m; The two competitions (Social League & Super League) start with eight teams tipping off at the same time. The competition will be run in a league formaton

day 1. Saturday. All matches start & finish at the same time using a fog horn. Each team will have rest periods built into the schedule where they won't be playing while others will.

5pm; Day 1 of Competition finishes with both leagues now being seeded and also divided into two; Cup & Plate: for day two. Busses available to bring everyone to hotels.

This time competing for a Cup & Plate in each category. timeMinute0Hour131 - 2 p.m. Lunch Break. All matches suspended for 1 hour. Everyone gathers in the Wagon Wheel bar & Barbeque area for Lunch - Live music playing.

There are several Prizes on offer including league, cup, plate and Spirit of TAG rugby awards but for those who are just planning to come for the weekend and have the Craic, several prizes will be on offer for those players too.

At the time of writing there is no confirmed number of teams available but it is believed that spaces are limited. To register a team and to see programme of events see www.destinationwestport.com or call Tommy on 087-6488594.

TAG Rugby is a very fast growing, non contact sport, with teams consisting of 12 male & female players. Seven players are on the field at any one time - three of them must be female. The game is played on an area ½ the size of a normal rugby pitch with participants wearing a belt with two tags attached to shorts with a Velcro strip. To tackle a person and force the turnover of the ball to the opposing team one must detach a tag from the attacking player in possession of the ball.

The placeCityWestport event will cater for all levels of participants with a more serious section in addition to the fun section. Therefore participants with various levels of skills or indeed none at all, will be catered for at this event. Westport R.F.C. has the full backing of the Irish Rugby Football Union for this event. This is the first TAG rugby event to be held in placecountry-regionIreland that will be actively seeking teams from abroad.

In addition to the I.R.F.U. The following are sponsors of the event Failte placecountry-regionIreland, Destination Westport with Ballygowan Mineral Water being the main sponsors.

The competition proper will take place in League format over the Saturday & Sunday with finals taking place Sunday afternoon. In addition to entertainment being provided `on site' during the event each night of the weekend there will be organised social events in prominent hotels in the town.

Westport Rugby Football club are holding a major TAG rugby competition, in the grounds of the historic Westport House on the May Bank Holiday Weekend 2007.

In addition to the I.R.F.U. The following are sponsors of the event Failte Ireland, Destination Westport with Ballygowan Mineral Water being the main sponsors.

Information on TAG Rugby: For those of you new to TAG - TAG Rugby is a very fast growing, non contact sport, with teams consisting of 12 male & female players. Seven players are on the field at any one time – three of them must be female. The game is played on an area ½ the size of a normal rugby pitch with participants wearing a belt with two tags attached to shorts with a velcro strip. To tackle a person and force the turnover of the ball to the opposing team one must detach a tag from the attacking player in possession of the ball.

The Westport event will cater for all levels of participants with a more serious section in addition to the fun section. Therefore participants with various levels of skills or indeed none at all, will be catered for at this event. Westport R.F.C. has the full backing of the Irish Rugby Football Union for this event. This is the first TAG rugby event to be held in Ireland which will be actively seeking teams from abroad.

The social element of this event will be prominent. To that end the event will start with registration taking place in Friday Night the 4th May in MoJo’s night club.

The competition proper will take place in League format over the Saturday & Sunday with finals taking place Sunday afternoon. In addition to entertainment being provided ‘on site’ during the event each night of the weekend there will be organised social events in prominent hotels in the town.

You are heartly welcome to join us for a great competative sporting weekend with loads of fun and social occasions for everybody. See www.destinationwestport.com for details