A new £2.4m sports facility has been officially unveiled by the Isle of Man (IoM) minister for community, culture and leisure, David Cretney, near Braddan.

Ballafletcher sports ground and changing rooms features four full-sized pitches, which are designed for winter soccer or rugby use on two engineered platforms. The top platform also features synthetic and grass cricket wickets for summer use, while a mini-soccer pitch and two levelled areas for mini-soccer or training are also available.

IoM Sport has allocated use of the pitches to Vagabonds RUFC; Corinthians AFC; and Douglas Royal AFC. A Football Foundation grant worth nearly £352,000 helped to fund the project, which forms part of the IoM government's Sports and Recreation Strategy 2002-12.

Cretney said: "It shows what can be achieved by teamwork, with both government departments and sports clubs working together to make it happen."