ELIZABETH COLLEGE could be a surprise entry in the first Guernsey FA Cup competition launched yesterday. ‘Mike Garnett, a sports teacher at the college, has been in touch and asked me whether we would accept an entry from them,’ said GFA secretary Matt Fallaize.

‘I don’t see anything in the rules to preclude them, although any application from them would have to go before the GFA’s cups, leagues and grounds sub-committee.

‘They are affiliated to the association through the Guernsey Secondary Schools’ Football Association,’ he added.

It was also revealed yesterday that Fletcher Sports is to plough £5,000 a season into the prestigious new competition which aims to attract teams from all aspects of local football, all in search of a giant-killing run and the biggest prize purse in CI soccer.

The winners will collect £2,000, not to mention a revamped solid-silver trophy originally presented to the Guernsey Football Association 50 years ago.

The Jubilee Cup was given by the Guernsey Athletic Club to the GFA in 1954 and was utilised, for a short period, as the reward for winning the lower half of the Priaulx League which, for a while, was split into two mid-season.

‘You can’t get a trophy like this these days,’ said GFA president Dave Dorey. ‘It’s great it is being used again.’

Early indications are that as many as 20 teams could contest the first Fletcher Sports Guernsey FA Cup.

‘All of the GFA clubs have indicated they are to enter. That’s 10 teams,’ said Fallaize.

‘And when we met the Business League and Sunday League representatives, they indicated that they would expect to field at least eight teams between them,’ said the GFA secretary.

‘We’ve got a target of 20; that would mean a preliminary round and, like the FA Cup itself, there will be no seeding,’ he added.

Fletcher Sports’ boss Terry Ferbrache is delighted to support the event.

‘It will be all about giant-killing and about people playing against players they wouldn’t normally do.

‘By injecting £5,000 into the game every year, it should be seen as a great community involvement,’ he added.

All that money will go back to the competing clubs in prize money and is ‘a terrific boost for the game’, said Fallaize.

‘I am sure the GFA and Fletcher Sports have established what will grow into one of the most prestigious and valued competitions in Channel Islands sport; let us hope that this year is the start of something special,’ he added.

The first Guernsey FA Cup final is likely to be on Wednesday 13 April at a venue still to be decided.

The GFA has also pencilled in the weekend of 17-19 September for the preliminary round; Thurs 21 to Sunday 24 October for the first round proper; the quarter-finals on the last weekend before Christmas; and the semi-finals on Saturday 5 February.

Entry forms are available from the GFA office at the Corbet Field and it costs £50 per team.

They have to be returned to Fallaize by 31 July.