WHAT makes a special year in Guernsey sport?

Not so long ago, winning the Muratti would probably suffice and if we could throw in an Upton on top or, heaven forbid, even a Siam success, it really was a remarkable sporting year.

But, thankfully, we’ve moved on.

It is no longer just about getting one over Jersey and 11 years on from the millennium, the sights are being set much higher and we are all the better for it.

Almost on a weekly basis one of our modern-day legends is making news somewhere in the wide world of international sport.

It is a golden era.

The proof is everywhere to be seen, but if one single event in 2011 underlined what Guernsey sport is all about, it had to be that one wonderful week in the Isle of Wight when the Sarnians stormed the 14th NatWest Island Games with a table-topping 41 gold medals.

Nobody could touch us.

What’s in our water that makes us so good, was a regular question being asked by our rivals at this biennial sporting extravaganza?

I’d like to think that the answer has nothing to do with water, merely attitude, application, a whole lot of foresight by many people, and a real desire by islanders to make the most of their talent.

Throw in facilities that are second-to-none, a healthy amount of financial support and a passionate,

knowledgeable umbrella body that is the Guernsey Sporting Commission, and the formula is complete.

It will soon be 2012 and another stream of challenges will have to be met, but before looking ahead let’s look back at what, other than the Island Games, made 2011 so special.

And the obvious answer to that is the formation of Guernsey FC, an initiative that will, I predict, have future generations cheerily reminiscing about the biggest and best thing to happen to island football in more than a century.

Ignore the scaremongers that claim that the end of our football is nigh, the Green Lions are here to stay and finally take the sport significantly forward.

Today’s pioneers will be legends in decades to come.

Sure, the Priaulx clubs will take time to adjust to the scenario, but they will and it will be good for them to have to work harder than ever not only to produce their talent, but also make best use of it and not be as wasteful as they have been in the past.

The Priaulx League of 2011-12 is akin to a freshly pruned rose bush. It looks stripped and a shade sickly, but give it a year or so and it will flourish healthier than ever.

If it doesn’t, the clubs will have failed themselves.

As for 2012, one looks forward to so much, not least how the Green Lions fare a league higher.

Be confident in their ability, I’d say, this is a talented team albeit one that somewhere down the line will need an injection of new young blood that I still struggle to see in sufficient quantity in our largely ailing youth football scene, one that seems to have lost considerable ground on Jersey.

In cricket, Guernsey’s finest have not only the World League Division Five tournament in Singapore to look forward to, but find themselves with the tasty carrot of a World League Division Four in Florida beckoning in the spring.

What it is to be a modern-day Guernsey cricketer?

Long before summer, Andy Priaulx will have put his foot to the boards and be mounting a challenge in the fast and furious DTM Series, while Lee Merrien will be making one more attempt to achieve that Olympic qualifying time in a top marathon somewhere.

More weeks than not, Heather Watson will be seeking to move ever nearer to a world top 50 spot.

International bowls tournaments, squash events, athletics, shooting, table tennis with Alice, swimming,

cycling and rowing. They will all make the headlines across the coming 12 months.

And to top it off, would it not be wonderful if somehow island sport could somehow find a way to celebrate what we have at our disposal with its biggest day out, an event to match the opening ceremony of the 2003 Island Games.

As it is Olympic year, I sense in my water something special may just happen along those lines.