DAVE PIESING, the man who has driven forward Guernsey’s push for a position on the international cricket scene, backs the idea of an island football team on the UK league ladder. ‘It’s very clear that Guernsey football needs to have new aspirations at the top level,’ he said.

‘Guernsey rugby is benefiting enormously from UK league participation, although seemingly having to rely very heavily on an Antipodean influx to be competitive at that level of club rugby, but I understand that it receives very substantial support from the RFU re the participation costs.

‘I don’t think Guernsey football would get any such funding and so would have to rely on investment and sponsorship to cover the substantial costs.’

The chairman of the Guernsey Cricket Board believes island sports followers would ‘flock’ to watch ‘Guernsey United’ playing at home against competitive club opposition from the UK.

‘It would certainly add a lot of much needed interest in the local game and provide a highly visible and achievable target for all local footballers,’ Piesing said.

‘Some players would clearly struggle to manage the time commitment and so an element of semi-professionalism might be needed, but in many respects it’s probably ideal if the bulk of the players are from the under-25 age group and that’s more likely to be the case before family and work commitments take over.’

He does see problems ahead, though.

‘The one downside is that it would seem to be an exercise which will continually leak money with no prospect of revenue coming in as a result, apart from gate monies. Its ongoing success will therefore be totally dependent on ongoing sponsorship and backing.

‘Maybe the Ebbsfleet example of inviting lots of individual shareholders to participate has some merit, but not to the extent of having a day-to-day say in how teams are selected etc. That would be going too far and, it’s fair to say, is a totally unproven concept.

‘Shareholders should elect the board and the board should get on with it. If the shareholders don’t like the board’s actions, then they vote them out at shareholders’ meetings as in any other corporate structure.

‘Forget certain aspects of the Ebbsfleet idea – those are gimmicks and wouldn’t be necessary although the general concept is a good one in terms of raising finance to enable a Guernsey team to afford UK league participation.’

Piesing added that it’s a shame to rule out the international angle as ultimately, like cricket, that would be the source of substantial incoming funding.

‘Guernsey must continue to seek to join Uefa and Fifa and reap the resulting benefits,’ he said.

‘If I’ve understood things correctly, those efforts could independently continue because participation in a UK league would be as a club side and so would not affect it.

‘Therefore, if and when international status was to be secured, the participation in a UK league would play a vital preparation role and, ultimately, monies received from Uefa and Fifa would become available to fund it.’