This Is Guernsey

‘It’s the worst state it’s ever been for player numbers – it’s a bit sad to see the game disappearing before your eyes’ - Annie Knights, pictured (0445313)

GUERNSEY women’s football is in danger of disappearing unless it can get more women interested in the game.

That’s the view of former Guernsey captain and current St Martin’s skipper Annie Knights, 40, who has been playing football since she was 12.

At the weekend two clubs – North and Bels – were forced to hand a walkover, to Rovers and Sylvans respectively, as they were unable to field a side.

Knights believes the women’s game is at an all-time low in terms of the number of players.

‘It’s the worst state it’s ever been for player numbers – it’s a bit sad to see the game disappearing before your eyes,’ she said.

‘We have the same problems as other sports in keeping them in a single sport.’

‘We only have one pool of players to grab people from and next season teams are going to struggle,’ she warned.

‘After that we should see the progression from the soccer school to senior level, providing we can keep hold of them.

‘The older players can’t do it any more. I think it has just come to a head and I think next season there will not be many players left,’ said Knights.

She admitted the state of women’s football was ‘not good at the moment’ but she hoped to see it ‘improving’.

‘A couple of players have given up and some have said they sat on the bench for teams and did not get a game. We have looked at upping the number of subs from three to five, so you don’t get players getting fed up,’ she revealed.

‘It’s trying to get them interested.

‘With us also playing on a Sunday, it hinders some people because it’s a family day,’ she said.

Next season Bels are rumoured to be losing the likes of island player Natalie Grainger, who is reputed to be joining the forces, and a couple of others who are either pregnant, injured or going to university.

A meeting was held with the GFA a few years ago to address some of the issues and concerns about the women’s game.

A soccer school was set up with GFA backing for under-13s and under-15s, which currently attracts about 30 players in each age group, and soccer schools are held for school Years 4, 5 and 6 on Sunday mornings at Victoria Avenue.

‘We have the full support of the GFA but we started to do something about it too late. We should have been doing the work possibly three or four years ago that we are doing now to entice new players.’

It is also planned to stage an Easter football festival in Guernsey, including teams from Jersey.

‘We have full financial backing from the GFA and Garry Cortez and Neil Laine have been outstanding,’ she said.

Knights would like to see more being done with the island women’s team and sending them away on trips and fully backs inclusion on the South-West Counties league.

Paul Wheatley, who used to be involved in coaching women in the UK, has also been instrumental in trying to develop the game locally.

The GFA executive board reiterated that they are talking to all stakeholders of the sport locally to take the game forward during the next four years, of which women’s football is a part.

‘Clearly it is always disappointing when fixtures cannot be fulfilled, but it should also be noted that the [island] women’s team have improved dramatically in the past 18 months with a great performance in the Island Games followed up with a strong showing in the South & West Counties,’ said GFA director James Blower.