THE Queen’s Baton Relay will visit Guernsey next April on its journey to the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Australia. It is only 19 months until Melbourne plays host to the next Games and it is hoped that the relay will visit all 72 Commonwealth nations which participate in the Games.

‘This will include Guernsey in April time next year so pencil that in your diary and look out for the actual date which we will pass on when we know exactly ourselves,’ said Ron Gee, chairman of the Commonwealth Games Association of Guernsey.

He and the GCGA treasurer Owen Le Vallee have just returned from Athens where the Commonwealth Games Federation held its annual meeting.

Mr Gee said that the meeting provided a sudden realisation that the next Games, which start on 15 March 2006, are less than two years away although he reported that preparations in Melbourne were well advanced.

‘I have seen the majority of venues there and they are very worthy of the host nation and such that the competitors will have every facility for showing their sporting skills and abilities.’

Before then, though, there is the Commonwealth Youth Games to look forward to for two of Guernsey’s young athletes in particular.

After a successful experimental invitational event was held by the Scottish CGA in Edinburgh, the Australian CGA has organised another Youth Games this year in Bendigo, Victoria, for competitors born in or after 1986.

Kylie Robilliard and Erica Bodman will represent Guernsey at the event which is being held from 29 November to 4 December.

‘We in the Guernsey CGA are very grateful for the assistance we are receiving for this event from the CGA of England and their coaches at the end of the season,’ Mr Gee said.

As with recent annual meetings of the CGF, once again there was discussion on the article of the constitution defining eligibility for participation by athletes in the Games and which country they may be qualified to represent.

And, contrary to some media reports, the situation for the Channel Islands has not changed dramatically.

The decision requires the satisfaction of certain conditions set out in this article, for example, country of birth, passport of the athlete, place and length of normal residence, together with some detail with regard to family relatives in cases of a common passport.

In cases of difficulty, there is provision in the constitution for submissions to be made to the executive board of the federation for a decision.

If an athlete satisfies the conditions such that they are qualified to represent two different Common-wealth countries, then the athlete may choose. If there is a doubt or dispute again, the constitution allows for appeal under the terms laid down in the same document.

‘These instances are rare but here in Guernsey as in Jersey, the Isle of Man and other CGAs, there can arise the problem with, for example, boarding schools, universities and colleges of further education, which are off-island,’ said Mr Gee.

‘We are mindful of these apparent breaks in continuity of residence and have made the executive board aware of our situation.

‘I appreciate that in a situation like this governed by definitions of conditions in the constitution, a blanket permission cannot be granted and we will continue to place the facts before the executive board to be judged on merit as required by the currently approved constitution.’