Right place, wrong score as Jersey grab only goal at Track
Monday 4th May 2009, 2:30PM BST.
Forward Glyn Dyer, replacing the suspended Dave Rihoy, shares the local fans’ frustration. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0766422)
FOOTBALL and families merged in harmony at The Track yesterday afternoon.
The sun shone, the pitch was in good condition and the only thing missing – for Guernsey supporters at least – was the result.
Though the return to Guernsey’s traditional Muratti home for the first time in eight years did not bring the desired result for the home fans, most supported the switch from Foote’s Lane.
‘The people who were by me were saying that the atmosphere was a lot better as you were closer to the pitch,’ said printer Leighton Chainey, 33.
An average-sized crowd saw one of the more entertaining Murattis of recent years and Guernsey’s fourth successive defeat.
The winning team’s manager backed the return to The Track but said the supporters had been quiet.
‘I thought it would have been a bit more vociferous and that the crowd would have given our lads a bit more stick,’ he said after the game.
Jersey’s victory was secured by the only goal of the game, which came in the eighth minute from captain Stuart Andre.
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The non-partisan nature of an average crowd size doesn’t entirely surprise me I think the availability of live televised football has dealt a serious blow to the Muratti as a spectator event, in fact that’s probably true of local football as a whole.
My Dad used to remember Murattis that had crowds much, much larger than now however those were in the days before live professional football was easily available on TV. Nowadays the new generation of football fans is spoilt for choice with top professional football available live on TV almost every day either in the pub or at home. For example this year instead of going to the Muratti you could have watched Liverpool v Newcastle.
I’m not saying it’s right or it isn’t a shame for local football but times have changed and as time goes by I can only see Muratti crowds decreasing unless something dramatic happens to the Guernsey national mindset.
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On the way home we were chatting about how our parents and grand parents can remember when 4,000 used to turn out for some of the priaux matches let alone an inter insular. I think the diversification of entertainment is the issue. There’s now so much people can take an interest in (including televised premiership matches) that the murati is never going to get that number of people again.
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I don`t think TV is the only reason for the smaller crowd. With the World Aid Walk and the hillclimb on at the same time I would guess many people had a problem which event to attend that day!
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