ONE of the most famous club names in Guernsey football is to be revived.

With the name ‘Guernsey United’ deemed unacceptable by the Guernsey Football Association, the men behind the project to take a local team into the UK league pyramid have brought back the ‘Tics’ name, or ‘Guernsey Athletics Football Club’ to give it its full title.

‘We are really pleased that we can use one of the oldest names in GFA football,’ said James Blower (pictured) for the new club, which also has plans to run an under-21 development league side next season.

‘It is satisfying to know that one of the island’s oldest clubs is now Guernsey’s newest club,’ he added. ‘The Athletics name dates back to the late 1890s and played its first game in 1897, the same year Belgrave Wanderers Football Club came into business. It was one of the four original Amalgamated clubs, along with Bels, Rangers and North.’

The Tics were a successful club right up until its disastrous end in 1963 and won the Priaulx League once, in 1923.