Bels rile GFA over thrashing
Friday 2nd October 2009, 2:30PM BST.
THE Guernsey Football Association chairman has slammed Bels for picking 11 first team players for their humiliating 11-0 Division Two defeat of Centrals.
Unsurprisingly, Bels hammered their lowly opponents at the Track on Wednesday night when they had island stars Sam Cochrane, Scott Bradford and Dave Rihoy, plus Brent Marquand, Marcus Queripel, Micky Ogier, Paul Ramsden, Matt Drillot and Chris King, in the starting line-up.
Meanwhile, sat on the bench, were two more Muratti men in Joby Bourgaize and Neil Le Cheminant.
‘I’m disappointed that they should decide to play all their first team players in the second division,’ said Le Tissier.
‘It really goes against the spirit of the competition. In the long-term, teams like Centrals will consider whether it’s worth playing in the second division if they play against teams like that week in, week out or they may consider playing in the social leagues.
But Ian Champion (pictured), Bels’ head coach, was unrepentant.
‘It’s unfortunate, but we’ve not done anything wrong, that’s just the way it is. We’ll play who we want, where we want.’
He said they had no option but to play their best players as a number of his club were ill or involved with the island under-21s, who are playing the Royal Naval Air Command this week.
‘I had to – there were no other players available in the club,’ he said. ‘We’ve got eight down with really bad flu. They are absolutely flat out. All the second-team players available played. I won’t play our first team players if I didn’t have to. We just felt we had to.’
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This comes as no surprise to those in the know in local football…
Its not a good situation & I feel very sorry for Centrals to be honest.
Ian Champions attitude & comments highlight exactly what is wrong with local football.
His comments to the Press “It’s unfortunate, but we’ve not done anything wrong, that’s just the way it is. We’ll play who we want, where we want” – That is just wrong… Its an amateur sport & for the club that were flying the flag for Guernsey in last seasons Upton to have this attitude absolutly stinks…
Not quite sure who you think you are Mr Champion but you are certainly not the football messiah…
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W H Bonney
People play sport with a view to being the best that they can at whatever it is they choose.
If you think it is fair to had a dig at successful winners then stay well clear from all things with a competitive nature.
Nothing wrong with being a winner in your chosen sport or even career. Unless one is an old winging sorry loser that is.
Good luck to them. Maybe the other teams will spend more time practising and less down the pubs so that they can compete for the next game!!!!
For the record Mr Champion is a coach that is doing a good job.
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Paul – I think you have got the wrong end of the stick, either that or you too have adopted the same buffoonish attitude that Mr Champion has….
Bels have the best first team in the island (FACT) & rightfully won the league last season & congratulations to them for doing that…
What I (& most of the GFA) had an issue with was the blatent abuse of the system by playing their first teamers in the reserves league…
Yes – everyone wants to win, however if you think playing the proven best first team in the island in a reserve game against a group of lads that have formed a team to play in the second division is the way forward, then you need your head examined!!
Players play in various leagues for a reason – ability… It doesnt take a rocket scientist to work out that any clubs first team would beat another clubs reserves…
The GFA are against it, the island coach is against it as his players put themselves at risk, every other GFA club are against it, the press are against it & everyone I have spoken to in the general public are against it – even members of Bels that I know that actually played say it was out of order!!
So that leaves you & Mr Champion that think its acceptable – & let me guess who you support??!!…
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I am astounded at Champions comments reported in the Press to the point that I wonder if that is exactly what he said. He has always come across as a decent enough guy who seems to have his heart in the right place when it comes to the game. This all seems a little strange to me.
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W H Bonney
Just relax a bit and be careful that you are not the one who ends up being the ‘buffoon’ – again there seems to be a little Guernsey exageration happening here and other errors in yours and other peoples statements – firstly Bels did not win the league last season and secondly I dont think that Champion fielded his full first team in this second team fixture
I gather that the first team players that Champion used in this fixture did not play in their usual first team positions, so I guess he beat the press to that idea. For example Sam Cochrane did not play at the heart of defence as the press reported and both he and David Rihoy were substituted at half time. Outside of Rihoy, Cochrane, Bourgaize and Bradford the rest were all second division players and I would suggest that Champion would not have risked his 4 Island stars in a game of this level if he really had not needed too.
Your point that the members of Bels who actually played in the fixture thought it was ‘out of order’ also seems melodramatic and obviously means that there are unsettled players at Bels who are not happy with Champion. Is that the case or is this just another attempt to make things worse for Champion – to be honest I am not sure that he has personally done anything to deserve all of this.
What happened last week was very unfortunate and if Champion did it on purpose he deserves all that he is getting and guidance/education on what is best for football for all.
The real truth is that a lot of the top clubs have been forced to do exactly what Champion did for differing reasons but they have not been personally hung drawn and quartered for it
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“Mr Champion but you are certainly not the football messiah…”
Correct WH Bonney, he’s just a very naughty boy !!
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This has been going on for years.The G.F.A. need to sort out some rules as to who can play in the second tier of local football. Later in the season clubs who cannot win the top division but have a chance to win the second division will have muratti players “returning from injury” and playing for the second team. Local football is full of medal hunters always has been always will be. By the way those of us who have played football will give Centrals players credit for not “doing” one or two of the superstars who played against them.Ask yourselves this question. What good came out of Champion’s team selection?
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without the silly people that did away with registrations, this would not have happened
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The real loser in this will be his players. With the gap between games, clubs know they can go for both league titles if they so wish and I am sure a local club did this before once the registrations were abolished. His other squad players may decide what is the point if they are not selected for the second team so maybe we will see some move on in the transfer window. How do you solve it? A quick fix is if you started the last two first team games you can not play the next lower league games. I suppose some of their ageing stars may play in the vets as well. Happy days..not
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I can see both sides of the arguement. If Bels have no first team games for a few weeks, as they did in this case, they would want their players to gain a bit of match practice. Is the purpose of the 2nd team not to feed players into the 1st XI & ensure they perform their best?
On the flip side if I was a 2nd team player who was dropped for an island player (& I can’t believe that these island players where the only ones available) I would be questioning if this was the right club to play for. My choice would probably be to play business or Sunday league instead where I could guarantee a weekly game.
But that’s a whole different issue & in my mind the cause of all these problems.
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I have stood up for Champion and given him a chance but I cant believe that he did it again last night versus North!! Rihoy hits another hatrick but this time in Div 2. Surely Bels should step in and stop Champion from doing this – as stated in other comments there must be a lot of players who are unhappy at Bels because they are obviously just not playing. Champion is making a mockery of local football
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seems to like some of these island players should have the b**** to say to their coaches “I am a first team player I am fit I am unavailable for second team fixtures.”
Nothing in sport is worth winning if it’s easy!
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Perhaps Mr Largo should check his facts first. Yes Rihoy scored a hat trick in Div 2 v North – it was John Rihoy
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Andy Robert
If this is the case I totally apologise. When I was told about Rihoy I was too quick to listen to local gossip, jump to conclusions and on the band wagon to blame Champion/Bels for everything that is currently wrong in Guernsey football!
I was taken in by another persons comments but I will not blame anyone else, I should have made sure that what I was commenting on was accurate and therefore I hope you will accept my apology
I wonder how many others should hold their hands up?
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