HAD he not cracked it in law, you get a strong feeling Geoffrey Rowland would have dearly loved to enjoy the life of a top sportsman. A busy man he undoubtedly is, but our Bailiff wastes few chances to watch top sport and support the island’s teams everywhere and across all sports.

You will find him and wife Diana at Island Games around Europe – and Commonwealth Games all over the world – perpetually in motion and 100% committed.

Geoffrey also keeps fit by working out several times each week, blending into the background as one of the regulars at the Fitness Factory.

He is an active patron of the Guernsey Football Association and, not without justification, can claim to have been a very handy footballer in his pre-lawyer days, firstly at Amherst and then at Elizabeth College, St Martin’s and university.

By 1963, aged 15, he had broken into the College first XI and in the following two years he was a regular in the team.

His name popped up in 1964 in the football columns of The Times and The Telegraph.

Reporting on a college tour match against Westminster, one of those national reports referred to ‘right-winger Rowland rounding the Westminster left-back with ease’. Another stated: ‘When Elizabeth College brought Rowland into action they looked dangerous.’

The Times correspondent went as far as asking the young Sarnian winger whether he would be prepared to have his name put forward for trials with a professional club. The youngster declined, knowing full well that his parents would not have permitted it as they preferred him to concentrate on his studies and because he felt he could never achieve the desired level.

Young Rowland caught the eye of the Guernsey Press when, in 1965, the college won a home game against Victoria 4-1.

Victoria was ‘sparked by the quick dashes and sharp shooting of right-winger Rowland …’ wrote the Press reporter and the future Bailiff set up one of the goals and scored another.

Locally, he won junior medals with Saints and aged 17, before heading to university, made one senior first-team appearance, playing alongside Saints legends in the Stranger Cup under the assumed family name Smith because he should have been attending an event at school.

However, any prospect of establishing himself in the great Saints sides on his return was dashed when, in 1970, he suffered a detached retina, had it successfully treated and was cautioned against playing competitively in any sport risking physical contact.

Athletics was another area in which he excelled. Three times he made the school’s Hutchence Cup team to take on Victoria and he was Elizabeth College long jump champion in 1966, two years after becoming the GIAAC junior high jump champion and competing for Guernsey in the Candie Trophy fixture when Jersey was thrashed.

This would be the last junior inter-insular for many years.

When the Guernsey Press reported on a 1966 schools athletics match between Elizabeth and Grammar, the writer observed: ‘Their outstanding performer was G. R. Rowland, who completed a triple of high jump, hurdles and long jump successes.’

A close second only to Diana and ranking before law, sport has been the love and passion of the Bailiff’s life.

‘Sport can be, and usually is, an immense force for good in the world,’ he said.

‘I also believe in competitive sport. Life is competitive and competitive sport enables many youngsters to excel, be proud of their achievements and thereby gain respect.

‘This is particularly valuable at school for children who do not naturally excel academically or in other fields.’

His notable sporting ancestry lies with the multi-talented Arthur James Maunder, the well-known Pollet cycling shop proprietor of more than a century ago.

His obituary in The Star of 1934 highlighted Maunder’s sporting versatility but made detailed reference to his cycling achievements.

Eight years in a row in the latter part of the 19th century he won the island championship and distinguished himself also in Jersey and England.

One of his bikes weighed more than 70lbs and he also possessed a roadster fitted with iron tyres and heavy frame which was 53in. in height.

Goodness knows what Chris Boardman and today’s Olympians, with their light, aerodynamic bikes, would have thought.

Such was his reputation in Channel Island cycling that a corner of the old Jersey cycling track was named after him.

With the Maunder and Marley sporting genes, it was perhaps natural that Geoffrey was still enjoying playing football just eight days before his 61st birthday, but when captaining Government United against a media team he suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon.

The 27 December 2008 match, said Diana, who acted as his chauffeur for nearly 10 weeks afterwards, was his last game of football.

The Bailiff, with some reluctance, has agreed but wonders what Arthur James Maunder, who had taken up rollerskating in his mid-70s, would have thought of retirement at such a young age.

‘Perhaps in my enforced retirement I’ll take up competitive euchre or shove ha’penny.’ There speaks a Guernseyman.