THE Guernsey Football Association are set to meet next week to decide whether it will be too hot for the island team to play in Rhodes next summer at the NatWest Island Games. At present, the island team are not due to participate after the GFA council voted that it would be too much of a security risk following the problems between the two football sides at the 2003 Guernsey Games. Six players were sent off in a match that turned ugly and soured relations between the two islands.

However, the council was abolished under GFA constitution changes at last month’s annual meeting and it was expected that the executive committee would reverse that decision and let the squad go.

However, there is a new twist in the tale following a recent fact finding mission by the Guernsey Island Games Association to the Mediterranean island.

‘It is on the agenda for the board to discuss,’ said GFA director for commercial sponsorship and PR, Steve Dewsnip.

‘There is nothing to say at this stage which way it will go. The GFA are now considering Giga’s report.’

It is understood that the report not only looked at the security issues surrounding Guernsey sending a team but also the potential problem that the heat might pose.

The average daytime temperature in Rhodes for July is 31.9C and the humidity is 56.4%.

Word has it that other island football teams are also seriously considering not taking part.

Guernsey’s coach Steve Ogier is very keen that his side are allowed to try to win back the title that they lost to home side Shetlands in last year’s final.

Guernsey won the Island Games gold medal in the Isle of Man in 2001 and on home soil in 2003.

‘Everyone wants to go: all the players and all the coaching staff,’ he said.

‘The board knows that – I told them. But it’s out of our hands.’

Also to be discussed is whether the women’s team will feature in the Games.

‘We are looking at both teams,’ said Dewsnip.