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Vale are travelling to Shetland to compete for the Friendship Cup against a Shetland select, a challenge match first competed for last summer.
The coaches and management team will also take coaching sessions for Shetland youngsters after they arrive on Friday evening.
The match is one of the high spots of Shetland’s busiest time of the year, with festivals galore on during Vale’s visit.
The game is a highlight in Lerwick for Shetland Flag Day.
And Manchester United may have lost out on a ticker-tape Champions’ League triumph parade through Manchester, but Vale players will go one better, on the back of a lorry, joining their opponents on a decorated float after the game, in a parade through Lerwick.
In the evening, the Vale party are invited to a reception and presentation of gifts.
Shetland Flag Day is in the middle of Shetland’s summer festival, Johnsmas Foy, and their Midsummer Carnival.
Viking parades, and special German-themed events will mark Shetland’s connections to the Hanseatic League. There will be music and a local food festival.
Shetland put up a good account of themselves against Vale on last year’s visit to Banff, when they played four Highland League teams in four days, in a tour arranged for them by Deveronvale. That was no surprise as Shetland won the 2005 Island Games football championship.
It may not be the last time that Vale have to face the men from the far North this season, either.
Shetland have been allowed to enter the SFA Challenge Cup for the first time this season, with an away tie at lowly Fort William. Vale’s first round game is at Forres Mechanics on August 9.
Vale’s pre-season matches proper start in a month’s time, on Tuesday, July 15, with a visit from Peterhead.
They also play Aberdeen 19s, Ellon United, Edinburgh University and Culter.

banffshire-journal.co.uk