IF THERE is not a buzz in local football circles this weekend, the game really does have problems.

Guernsey – sorry I can’t get my head around all that Senior County League lark – take on Hertfordshire and a place in European competition is just three victorious games away.

And, if that was not enough, there is the juicy prospect of seeing the future stars of two Scottish Premier League sides doing battle in a unique four-team tournament at Foote’s Lane.

We, the media, get excited about it not only for its rarity value, but also the prospect of following our boys into battle. It stirs the patriotic juices.

Just imagine what it would be like if it were a weekly, or fortnightly occurrence?

How good would that be?

The problem of island life is that we don’t get to share the weekly thrill that home-town football provides hundreds of communities, some small, some big, up and down the UK on the national league ladder, above the worthy National System Cup which we hope to win but only comes along as often as a new Portsmouth owner.

On weekends like this we forget club allegiances temporarily and shout for the island.

Like that bloke King had, I have a dream and it is that Guernsey one day soon plays week in, week out, on the national league ladder, all local sides contributing to the cause, playing its role in doing what is best for the game as a whole here.

We need to do it, a: because it is right for the long-term development of the sport; and b: Jersey might beat us to it.

Where would we be then I ask?

If you think our Muratti run is bad now, then just imagine how bad it would become were we left behind the Reds in such a venture.

Jersey Rugby Club have shown what can be done with ample ambition, funding and organisation. They are flying up the national ladder and as a result the Caesarean rugby players of tomorrow, 2020 and beyond will be eternally grateful to those people taking their sport forward for the legacy they put in place in the early years of the 21st century.

It can happen in football, too, and we should not be scared of taking up the challenge.

A lasting legacy can be left by everyone in  football by casting aside personal self-interest and joining together to create our own, round ball version of the Jersey RFC.

I WAS asked the question this week: just how good is Dave Rihoy?

And my answer.

I replied he’s as a good a winger/striker Guernsey has had in the last 40 years, the measure of superb footballers such as Ray Blondel, Paul Nobes, John Loveridge and Kevin Le Tissier, but ….

The theme of my reply was that his place in the pantheon of all-time island greats is there ready and waiting for him, but he can’t be admitted until such time he has proven himself a match-winner and tormented Jersey in a Muratti final, or indeed tormented Caesareans in Uptons and Jeremie or Wheway finals.

Rihoy is class. His movement is almost effortless, his speed off the mark a killer advantage on defenders.

Like all top forwards he runs at pace with his head high and his finishing is so reminiscent of Ray Blondel, probably the best pure finisher I’ve seen.

The Belgrave star will, I’m sure, earn his place among the greats but he’s currently on the subs bench and merely warming up.