STITCHED-up by Jersey or not – personally I doubt it – the suspension of Dave Rihoy from tomorrow’s Muratti final is a worrying one for everybody who steps on the park tomorrow and in future Murattis.

The English FA ruling that such games do not come under GFA or JFA jurisdiction but are, in effect, county representative football games, could cost players very dear if they get sent off at the wrong time.

There is, of course, never a right time to pick up a red card but following the FA line over Rihoy, if you happen to be dismissed in a year when there is no Island Games to swallow up part of the ban and it is followed by your island being without a semi-final against Alderney, then the Muratti ban could be monstrously long.

As National Systems Cup games do not count for suspensions of the type Rihoy has been so cruelly slapped with, in future players could sit out two or three Muratti finals.

It’s plainly ridiculous, plainly cruel and in need of seriously looking at.

Rihoy is wretchedly unlucky. He missed last year’s Muratti because of injury and were he to pick up an injury in Aland, or were Guernsey to get knocked out of the tournament before he is free to complete the final game of his ban, he could also miss next year’s final in Jersey.

Regardless of Rihoy’s unavailability, I strongly fancy Guernsey to win tomorrow.

We might be entering the old gladiatorial arena that is the Track with the smallest attack in the 100-year history of the fixture, but I like the look of Tony Vance’s side and have fancied us to end this unlucky run of losses at senior level since the evening Kent County League were turned over so impressively in the Systems Cup.

The 3-2 defeat against a talented England University studies showed nothing to change my mind, in fact it gave me further encouragement.

He won’t be starting tomorrow but Tom Le Tissier’s arrival as a serious contender for the keeper’s jersey was another bonus going forward. There is life after Jody.

Le Tissier looked so composed, so capable against the universities that my nervousness about the future of Guernsey goalkeeping evaporated in the 60 minutes or so he was on the pitch.

Moving away from football it would be seriously amiss not to reflect on last weekend’s triple-whammy of a Guernsey hockey team winning a national club title, Alison Merrien landing yet another world title and Chris Simpson clinching the British under-23 squash championship.

There is a danger of becoming blase about Merrien’s achievements such is her sustained brilliance and there is surely no better all-round woman bowler on the planet.

Hers is a remarkable story of dogged determination, talent and a will to back her quest for success through her own savings, as unlike most top sportsmen and women she has no benefactor or major sponsor to take her around the world.

Simpson’s career is, I’m glad to say, back on an upward trajectory after a period when I doubted his capabilities after seeing him dismantled by the Jersey-based Welshman David Evans two years ago.

I doubted he had the attacking shots to make his mark at the very highest level, but it appears he has improved in that vital area and is steadily on the way up.

As brilliant a player as Mark Roberts was he did not win the British under-23 title, if I recall rightly he lost in the final, so Simpson’s achievement of going one better puts him ever closer to winning a place, one day, on the Sports Commission’s Sporting Heroes wall.

As for the hockey, their victory emphasises that here is a sport that has come a long way in terms of producing raw talent to supplement outstanding ‘outsiders’ such as Ben Allberry and Andy Whalley.

Hockey’s top league still leaves me cold but, like junior rugby, the sport is on the up  and, combined with cricket, it is forever putting pressure on football to deliver a better package.