RIGHT now if there was a world foot-shooting championship about to take place, Guernsey football would be heading into it as favourites.
What an unholy mess we are in.
I knew 10 days ago this was going to be a bad week when a well-informed island football personality told me, ‘Watch out, they are planning to get rid of the board and install Tony Blondel as chairman’.
Two days later, while enjoying a cooling late Saturday afternoon drink at Port Soif, the knives were out again. ‘Nussbaumer should go and the rest of them,’ one diehard argued before pulling the whole GFA plan to pieces.
Like many dissidents regarding the board’s proposal, he was ignorant of all the important detail. But the sad truth is those people don’t want to know, because they have made up their mind and the old way will do, thank you very much.
At least one Rover, their former first-team coach, Graham Hockey, admitted something had to be done.
Within 24 hours, another contact had confirmed that the clubs were gunning for the board and the only management members they cared about were Garry Cortez and Neil Laine.
Why?
It’s simple. Those men do the paperwork and do it very well.
By Tuesday, the chairman had gone, fed up to the teeth with the back-stabbing and the impasse between board and clubs.
By midnight on 19 June, he just might well be followed by the rest of the GFA directors.
Football has less than two weeks to wake up and get real.
That reality is that the sport must change, the clubs must change, or it will all collapse in an unseemly mess.
The clubs need to understand that the English FA will not do an about-turn and fund Guernsey football in the knowledge that the plan it approved to develop and improve island football which is due to come into operation from 1 July, has been thrown out of the window by the clubs who stand to benefit.
The men who are paid to run island football will go.
Who will replace them, working voluntarily?
Nobody of course.
These are not idle threats being made to the clubs, it is reality.
Until yesterday I was finding it stupendously stupid that clubs are willing to play such a dangerous game on one small stumbling point – replacing Youth One with a 16 to 21 years league with scope to use up to three over-age players.
But I had not stumbled across the small print which states that what in affect will be the old Railway League, does not cater for anyone under-18.
A big mistake.
That should immediately be withdrawn from the GFA proposal to allow talks to progress and, hopefully, come to a positive conclusion.
But the development league proposal has to happen for the good of the game.
Widening the age gap from 16 to 18 to 16 to 21 will raise standards. It simply and logically must do, because you are allowing more players into the competition.
It will be better for the free-scoring previous season Youth Two star who will find it more difficult to succeed at the higher level because it is a better standard than Youth One.
If he finds it harder and is willing to work hard at his game to get better, then ‘Johnny Flashboy’ will be a better footballer in the long term than in an under-18 scenario where he simply slices through the opposition and cruises along with an attitude of ‘I’m a star, look at me’.
The development league, which should be titled Priaulx Championship sitting below the Priaulx Premiership, is designed to be of a higher standard than the existing Youth One, so will someone please tell me how than can be a bad thing?
But the system should, to a certain extent, look after the little 16-year-old currently not up to it and will quit the game when he can’t get a game.
His club need to look after him and that should mean playing him in the club’s third-level senior side, what we know as the Railway.
But if that avenue of opportunity is being withdrawn, I can see a fault in the proposal.
The overall plan, though, is not rocket science.
It’s all about raising standards at the top level and players should be expected to improve their game to achieve at the highest level.
As things stand it is all too easy for our best youngsters.
Article posted on 7th June, 2008 - 10.00am
Clubs pushing game close to the precipice
RIGHT now if there was a world foot-shooting championship about to take place, Guernsey football would be heading into it as favourites.
What an unholy mess we are in.
I knew 10 days ago this was going to be a bad week when a well-informed island football personality told me, ‘Watch out, they are planning to get rid of the board and install Tony Blondel as chairman’.
Two days later, while enjoying a cooling late Saturday afternoon drink at Port Soif, the knives were out again. ‘Nussbaumer should go and the rest of them,’ one diehard argued before pulling the whole GFA plan to pieces.
Like many dissidents regarding the board’s proposal, he was ignorant of all the important detail. But the sad truth is those people don’t want to know, because they have made up their mind and the old way will do, thank you very much.
At least one Rover, their former first-team coach, Graham Hockey, admitted something had to be done.
Within 24 hours, another contact had confirmed that the clubs were gunning for the board and the only management members they cared about were Garry Cortez and Neil Laine.
Why?
It’s simple. Those men do the paperwork and do it very well.
By Tuesday, the chairman had gone, fed up to the teeth with the back-stabbing and the impasse between board and clubs.
By midnight on 19 June, he just might well be followed by the rest of the GFA directors.
Football has less than two weeks to wake up and get real.
That reality is that the sport must change, the clubs must change, or it will all collapse in an unseemly mess.
The clubs need to understand that the English FA will not do an about-turn and fund Guernsey football in the knowledge that the plan it approved to develop and improve island football which is due to come into operation from 1 July, has been thrown out of the window by the clubs who stand to benefit.
The men who are paid to run island football will go.
Who will replace them, working voluntarily?
Nobody of course.
These are not idle threats being made to the clubs, it is reality.
Until yesterday I was finding it stupendously stupid that clubs are willing to play such a dangerous game on one small stumbling point – replacing Youth One with a 16 to 21 years league with scope to use up to three over-age players.
But I had not stumbled across the small print which states that what in affect will be the old Railway League, does not cater for anyone under-18.
A big mistake.
That should immediately be withdrawn from the GFA proposal to allow talks to progress and, hopefully, come to a positive conclusion.
But the development league proposal has to happen for the good of the game.
Widening the age gap from 16 to 18 to 16 to 21 will raise standards. It simply and logically must do, because you are allowing more players into the competition.
It will be better for the free-scoring previous season Youth Two star who will find it more difficult to succeed at the higher level because it is a better standard than Youth One.
If he finds it harder and is willing to work hard at his game to get better, then ‘Johnny Flashboy’ will be a better footballer in the long term than in an under-18 scenario where he simply slices through the opposition and cruises along with an attitude of ‘I’m a star, look at me’.
The development league, which should be titled Priaulx Championship sitting below the Priaulx Premiership, is designed to be of a higher standard than the existing Youth One, so will someone please tell me how than can be a bad thing?
But the system should, to a certain extent, look after the little 16-year-old currently not up to it and will quit the game when he can’t get a game.
His club need to look after him and that should mean playing him in the club’s third-level senior side, what we know as the Railway.
But if that avenue of opportunity is being withdrawn, I can see a fault in the proposal.
The overall plan, though, is not rocket science.
It’s all about raising standards at the top level and players should be expected to improve their game to achieve at the highest level.
As things stand it is all too easy for our best youngsters.
Article posted on 7th June, 2008 - 10.00am