FINALLY the day has come.

The waiting, preparation and fund-raising is done. Another Island Games – the 13th – will get under way this evening in picturesque Mariehamn.

It’s a fantastic thrill, always is, but a Games stalwart said something to me this week which should worry everyone with the biennial event close to their heart.

He would not want me to name him, but he has appeared in several Games going back 25 years and won medals. He was in Rhodes two years ago.

The thrust of his argument is that it is no longer the friendly Games, but simply all about winning medals, finishing prominently in the overall table.

For him, the early years of meeting and socialising with people from far flung places, have given way to the importance of winning.

He also made the point that elite performers such as Dale Garland, Lee Merrien, Alison Merrien, Ian Powell etc., virtual professionals in his eyes, should stick to the Commonwealth Games and at a level more suited to their abilities.

They were interesting observations, some of which I have sympathy for.

Certainly as far as the International Island Games Association is concerned, they have wrongly allowed the event to grow too big and become overtly professional.

The introduction of drug testing in Aland is wholly unnecessary as the event has no history or indication of a problem.

Just think of the fuss and humiliation if a naive Guernsey team player is pulled up next week for over-use of a Vic nasal spray, or not following the medicinal guidelines closely enough.

It could be your son or daughter, husband or wife, who is made to look a sporting villain, a cheat, when in fact he/she is merely an innocent amateur who can’t keep up with the over-officiousness of the IIGA.

There is just no need for drug testing.

As for Guernsey’s elite sticking to higher international competition, it should always be the individual to decide whether an Island Games is the event for him/her.

This time around, we have very few of the island’s elite on the plane for a variety of reasons, and while it will hit our medal tally it will give others welcome opportunities.

Each sport must do what is best for itself.