THE 2003 Island Games football tournament taught Guernsey one thing other than to be wary of angry Greek footballers: the sheer joy and community thrill that can be gained from sport involving a national team.

Recapturing that community spirit is the essence of the Guernsey United football project, which dominated the front and back pages of this paper yesterday.

Every bit as ambitious as staging an Island Games, setting up and funding such a project will be testing in the extreme and is perhaps even beyond the group of individuals who want it to work for the benefit of the game they so passionately support.

The founding group has looked at how rugby standards have risen and, to a degree, captured the island’s imagination by playing regularly on the national league ladder. But just imagine the extent of interest that could be reclaimed if the island had a football team playing week in and week out against fresh UK opposition?

Suddenly, like dozens of small towns and cities the length and breadth of the UK, Guernsey’s dwindling football following would have their own team to follow via a daily diet of games, reaction, injury news, potential signings and playing form.

They would no longer simply have a Muratti Vase final every other year to get behind and support.

But equally important is what effect it would have on all those dozens of young island footballers who currently find it impossible to stretch their ability to the full due to a system rooted in a more parochial past.

Guernsey United may never take off, but those behind it deserve support for attempting to break the mould and give more young island footballers a serious career path beyond playing for the Priaulx Cup.

As so many other local sports have shown in recent years, it is possible to break into the higher reaches of national sport and even perform on the international stage.

If island football wants to attain similar heights, players and managers need to raise their own ambitions – or risk falling further behind.