FOOTBALL may still be hobbling along without a development officer, but the current campaign is sure providing some intriguing and unpredictable entertainment at Priaulx and Youth One levels. While it’s not unusual to have three sides vying for the senior title, it is not the norm and is to be welcomed.
To have four mounting serious challenges for the under-18 crown is rare and very refreshing.
In fact, I can never recall four teams vying for a place in the Junior ‘Upton’.
My eyes on the grounds suggests it will be Clive Bateman’s Sylvans who will ultimately come through to win the title on the grounds that they have a bigger squad in terms of number and size.
Ross Cameron’s North and Ray Queripel’s Bels are more dependent on a couple of players and do not have the depth, while Andy Bougourd’s yellows may suffer from a shortage of firepower but still cannot be ruled out.
At senior level, I still have a hunch St Martin’s will edge out Bels for their first title in four seasons.
The hunger seems to have returned to Blanche Pierre Lane and the acquisition of little Jason Winch has given the side a real lift and the spark of creativity they desperately needed.
Winch is a flashback to Saints’ glory days, a reminder of that wonderful winger, Wally Torode, who, like Laurence Graham after him, was a great outlet for the side and could provide quality ball into the box.
The only difference is that while Torode delivered to the heads of either a John Loveridge or Henry Davey and Graham likewise to Colin Fallaize and Neil Hunter, Winch has no obvious target man to hit and it is that lack of a real No. 9 which may ultimately cost Saints come April.
Where Winch ranks among Saints’ list of all-time great wingers, only time will decide. At the moment, probably at No. 5 as aside of the other two great outside lefts already mentioned, there are the flyers of the right, men such as Tony Williams and Arthur Pugh.
The real shame is that we will have to wait until next season before Winch can pull on a Guernsey shirt, being ineligible for both the National System Cup campaign and the Muratti final.
As he is only 19, the former Woking player is ruled out of the Systems Cup. That does not bother me in the slightest.
But to be disqualified from the Muratti after playing a full season in domestic football, just cannot be right and, may I suggest, is an out-dated piece of sporting legislation.
It’s high time changes were made to the Muratti eligibility rules. They were made for an era when social and career mobility was nothing like it is today.
In 1950, inter-insular football was for locals only because next to no non-locals were coming into the island. Nowadays, with the international job market being what it is, particularly in finance, sportsmen and women are moving about all the time. The Muratti qualification period should be no more than three months, six at most.
Cricket has recognised that and for a player to be eligible for the Guernsey-Jersey game, the simple proviso is that the he is actively playing in that island’s domestic league.
It’s a ruling that allowed Guernsey to field and local cricket fans enjoy seeing the superbly talented South African, Ryan Bishop, play against Jersey.
But poor old ‘Winchy’, who was in the island early enough to join Saints’ pre-season preparations, cannot play in a Muratti until 2009, nearly two full years since he set foot in the island. Ridiculous.
Rugby and the Siam Cup is slightly different in that the match is, in reality, a private inter-club fixture.
In effect, it is a full-blown ‘Muratti’ that allows either island to field anyone, as long he is a member of that club.
Jonny Wilkinson could his contract with Newcastle Falcons on 31 March, sign for Guernsey on 1 April and kicking Guernsey to Siam glory within a month.
The rugby qualification is, perhaps, a little to loose for football to follow, but certainly what is in place now is plainly unfair to the individual, coaching team and those who wish to see the best footballers in Guernsey play the best in Jersey.
That Winch has not one millilitre of blood in him, should have nothing to do with it.
And to make the ruling look even more stupid, Winch’s younger brother, Luke, will be able to play in the new unofficial under-16s Muratti which has a qualification period of just 13 weeks.
* ALL today’s Business League matches have been postponed due to waterlogged pitches.
This article posted on December 8, 2007 at 12:00 am, filed under Sport.
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Muratti eligibility rules so outdated
By Rob Batiste
FOOTBALL may still be hobbling along without a development officer, but the current campaign is sure providing some intriguing and unpredictable entertainment at Priaulx and Youth One levels. While it’s not unusual to have three sides vying for the senior title, it is not the norm and is to be welcomed.
To have four mounting serious challenges for the under-18 crown is rare and very refreshing.
In fact, I can never recall four teams vying for a place in the Junior ‘Upton’.
My eyes on the grounds suggests it will be Clive Bateman’s Sylvans who will ultimately come through to win the title on the grounds that they have a bigger squad in terms of number and size.
Ross Cameron’s North and Ray Queripel’s Bels are more dependent on a couple of players and do not have the depth, while Andy Bougourd’s yellows may suffer from a shortage of firepower but still cannot be ruled out.
At senior level, I still have a hunch St Martin’s will edge out Bels for their first title in four seasons.
The hunger seems to have returned to Blanche Pierre Lane and the acquisition of little Jason Winch has given the side a real lift and the spark of creativity they desperately needed.
Winch is a flashback to Saints’ glory days, a reminder of that wonderful winger, Wally Torode, who, like Laurence Graham after him, was a great outlet for the side and could provide quality ball into the box.
The only difference is that while Torode delivered to the heads of either a John Loveridge or Henry Davey and Graham likewise to Colin Fallaize and Neil Hunter, Winch has no obvious target man to hit and it is that lack of a real No. 9 which may ultimately cost Saints come April.
Where Winch ranks among Saints’ list of all-time great wingers, only time will decide. At the moment, probably at No. 5 as aside of the other two great outside lefts already mentioned, there are the flyers of the right, men such as Tony Williams and Arthur Pugh.
The real shame is that we will have to wait until next season before Winch can pull on a Guernsey shirt, being ineligible for both the National System Cup campaign and the Muratti final.
As he is only 19, the former Woking player is ruled out of the Systems Cup. That does not bother me in the slightest.
But to be disqualified from the Muratti after playing a full season in domestic football, just cannot be right and, may I suggest, is an out-dated piece of sporting legislation.
It’s high time changes were made to the Muratti eligibility rules. They were made for an era when social and career mobility was nothing like it is today.
In 1950, inter-insular football was for locals only because next to no non-locals were coming into the island. Nowadays, with the international job market being what it is, particularly in finance, sportsmen and women are moving about all the time. The Muratti qualification period should be no more than three months, six at most.
Cricket has recognised that and for a player to be eligible for the Guernsey-Jersey game, the simple proviso is that the he is actively playing in that island’s domestic league.
It’s a ruling that allowed Guernsey to field and local cricket fans enjoy seeing the superbly talented South African, Ryan Bishop, play against Jersey.
But poor old ‘Winchy’, who was in the island early enough to join Saints’ pre-season preparations, cannot play in a Muratti until 2009, nearly two full years since he set foot in the island. Ridiculous.
Rugby and the Siam Cup is slightly different in that the match is, in reality, a private inter-club fixture.
In effect, it is a full-blown ‘Muratti’ that allows either island to field anyone, as long he is a member of that club.
Jonny Wilkinson could his contract with Newcastle Falcons on 31 March, sign for Guernsey on 1 April and kicking Guernsey to Siam glory within a month.
The rugby qualification is, perhaps, a little to loose for football to follow, but certainly what is in place now is plainly unfair to the individual, coaching team and those who wish to see the best footballers in Guernsey play the best in Jersey.
That Winch has not one millilitre of blood in him, should have nothing to do with it.
And to make the ruling look even more stupid, Winch’s younger brother, Luke, will be able to play in the new unofficial under-16s Muratti which has a qualification period of just 13 weeks.
* ALL today’s Business League matches have been postponed due to waterlogged pitches.
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