THE Guernsey Football Association are not overly worried that half of 16-year-old players have left the sport

A major part of a four-year plan which they launched last year saw the under-21 development league replace the U-18 Youth One and one of the senior leagues.

GFA county secretary Neil Laine recently released a report on the plan’s first six months.

In it he expressed concerns that of the 82 players registered as 15-year-olds for the 2007-2008 season, only 44 had re-registered again for this year.

This will no doubt give ammunition to the critics of the plan and especially of the U-21 development league, who argued that players going into their late teens would leave the game in droves because there would be no Youth One competition.

‘I’d prefer to look at the positives,’ said Laine. ‘It is a worry if kids drop out, but you’ve got to balance the argument. Eighteen- and 19-year-olds who would have slipped away have carried on playing.’