I ADMIRE those who stand up to defend what they believe in.
So to Richard Kowenicki, who lambasted this writer and the GFA board in the opinion pages this week under the headline ‘There will be no thuggery in the Business League’, I say: ‘no hard feelings’.
You have your opinion, I have mine. But, that said, I read nothing to change my feelings on social league football and reiterate that compared to the established GFA leagues, it is Mickey Mouse.
I was interested to read the paragraph where he writes that ‘the Business League has been in independent existence for a long time and has survived without the multiple calamities of thuggery, disorder and litigation’.
That’s strange, because a little research on my part found plenty evidence of bad behaviour from the mouth of Rod Hamon, stalwart of the Business League, an official who seems to have resigned, or threatened it, as many times as Frank Sinatra retired. The headline of Wednesday 22 March 2006: ‘I have never been treated with so much disrespect.’
Then, in his role as league secretary, Hamon said referees could not be found because they were fed up of being abused.
Lending strength to my argument that the social leagues are poorly administered on and off the field, the article stated that such was the paucity of refs he had had to whistle five games in two days so the league programme could progress towards a conclusion.
‘It is very to easy to say the referees are not being abused, but unfortunately saying that and the actual facts are two completely different things,’ said Hamon.
On 30 January 2007 came more evidence of behavioural problems under the headline: ‘Little angels’ force new ref into rapid exit.’
The nuts and bolts of the story was that two Business League teams were allegedly so abusive to a novice referee that he quit after 45 minutes and his replacement, one Rodney Hamon, took charge and abandoned the game 10 minutes early because he, too, had enough of the verbal lashings.
‘They were a pain in the butt,’ said Hamon. ‘They all think they were little angels but if they had behaved themselves, it could have gone on for 90 minutes.’
Comparatively, it has been a quiet year on the Business League front, but their social counterparts in the Sunday Soccer League have on several occasions given yours truly more ammunition.
Remember OCS?
They were the team who were losing a title-decider so walked off.
What is more, they had previously done the same thing a few weeks earlier in a cup tie that they were losing.
n I FONDLY remember the days when the All England Club decided the seedings for Wimbledon off their own bat.
Their ranking list reflected their opinions on the players’ proven capabilities on grass and track record at the event.
But then some bright spark(s) thought it would be much better to use world ranking as the fairest form of seeding and what you got was a draw which did not represent the very different skills of grass, clay and hardcourt specialists.
Sad to say, the Guernsey Golf Union has erroneously followed suit and, rather than back their own judgment on who should be seeded and in what order, have gone with a system which seeds the lowest eight handicaps and makes no consideration for past performances and whether the player is a strokeplay or matchplay specialist.
As we know, there are such things.
It was both ludicrous and unfair that Jack Mitchell, champion in 2007, should not be seeded and to add insult to injury, he had to endure a preliminary round tie while other, lesser players, received a byesinto the first round proper.
That Daniel Bisson should be ranked two, cannot be right.
As fine a player as he is in strokeplay, his game is so convincing that he was not considered worthy of a place in last year’s 10-man island team to play Jersey.
Prior to this year’s competition in which he reached the quarter-finals, his matchplay record at island level does not stand up to examination.
n JUST as the Guernsey Table Tennis Association deserves much credit for the way it has transformed indoor bowls rinks into a superb, purpose-built centre, Rovers Athletic Club and the Guernsey Cricket Board should also be praised to the hilt for their upgraded cricket facilities at Port Soif.
Popping down to the ground to catch a glimpse of the visiting Nepalese this week, I was instantly hit by the idyllic view of international cricket on a warm, bright, summer’s afternoon.
And to think it was a windswept, rain-lashed football ground not much more than a month ago.
The transformation is remarkable and on the evidence of this week in just two short years Port Soif is challenging for the mantle of Guernsey’s finest cricket ground. Now, who would prevoiously have thought that?
Article posted on 24th May, 2008 - 9.29am
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