THIS will be the year …

Fill the gaps in yourself as, dammit, I can’t.

At the start of another sporting year I would like to make nailed-on predictions on the outcome of a host of domestic sporting issues, but each time find myself snagged on the fence and unable to get off. Here are 10 issues that have left me scratching my bonce in the manner of Stan Laurel:

1. Who will win football’s Division One?

2. Will Heather Watson make the breakthrough we all hope for on the senior women’s circuit?

3. Can we end our Muratti misery?

4. Can we upset mighty Jersey and claim another Siam?

5. Will we win the cricket inter-insular in Jersey?

6. Will Dave Finn end the year still in his presidential seat at Northfield?

7. Which youngsters will come from nowhere to be the next outstanding sporting prospect?

8. Can Andy Priaulx regain that world touring cars title?

9. What stupid idea will come forward to make limited overs cricket more convoluted?

10. Will referee Brent Blondel ever have a bad game in the middle?

My answer to all 10 questions is: I really haven’t a clue.

All I will say, and put my house on, is that Martyn Desperques will remain Guernsey’s outstanding snooker player.

Some things are certain and, as excellent Adam Shorto is, Desperques is Guernsey’s best ever on the green baize.

No, I find it much easier to draw up a wish list of things that need to happen to make Guernsey sport rise even further than it has, a tough task in itself.

As we are already per square mile as successful as just about anywhere on this planet, it will not be easy.

But a few things come to mind on that score.

First football.

While the domestic scene has settled under Mark Le Tissier’s calm chairmanship of the GFA and the competitive nature at the top level has been lifted, there is still so much to do to take the game where it should be.

The authorities should not lose sight that the only thing that will really take the sport forward is to play on a regular basis out of the island. A place on the national league pyramid should remain the goal.

Event-wise, I would hope that organisers build on a very promising start to the Sportingbet Guernsey Marathon and as well as encouraging ever more Johnny Joggers to sign up in 2010, they also look to hook in a handful of top runners to give the event a bit of competitive pizzazz.

If a new major event can be fitted into the calendar, then might I suggest an outdoor swimming gala.

Having pawed over the old files and seen the stories and pictures of the big crowds that were once drawn to La Vallette’s floodlit specials, it seems with the facility undergoing a current overhaul, that a return is overdue.

Nowadays we have so many excellent swimmers would it not be a thrill to see the Ian Powells, Tom Hollingsworths, Ben Lowndes and Kristina Neves slugging it out in the chillier and darker waters of the old pool?

A bit of backing, a few dozen hand-picked top UK swimmers to add spice, turn on the floodlights and, given good weather, I’m sure a very worthwhile event can be staged.

On facilities, in general, Guernsey can no longer claim to be hard done by.

Today’s young sports men and women are spoiled in comparison to their parents and particularly their grandparents.

But should there be financial scope for further development, then how about it being pushed in the direction of the dear old KGV.

The potential down there is fantastic and, with the right direction, funding and management, the place could be the equal of Foote’s Lane and Beau Sejour.

The land is there and so are the basics.

Perhaps it time for the Sports Commission to step in?‘If a new major event can be fitted into the calendar, then might I suggest an outdoor swimming gala’