SHOULD Guernsey FC become a reality, and all the signs are that it will, the face of domestic football will change forever.

Well, I for one, cannot wait.

There will still be a very meaningful place for the ‘race for the Priaulx Cup’, or shall we call it Division One, but the island team will become all powerful as it seeks to succeed week in, week out, on the UK league ladder.

Division One games may disappear off the Saturday afternoon sporting menu for good, as it would be very silly to put the fortunes of Guernsey FC directly against a club side. The domestic league fayre will move, most probably, to Sundays and midweek.

We will have a whole new set of sporting viewing habits to get used to, but cheering on Tony Vance’s side every other Saturday afternoon against another set of players we have never clasped our eyes on, is hugely appealing and it is clear the game’s elite players are excited at the prospect and their management certainly are.

Guernsey’s best players will finally get to test themselves in the only way that will truly improve them as footballers, by playing every week.

That, though, remains still some way off, a season away.

Guernsey FC, whenever it is finally born – my guess is some time this summer – won’t find a league to play in time for next winter when, handily as it pans out, we are otherwise engaged anyway with the Uefa Regions Cup qualifiers.

At least one overseas week-long tournament is guaranteed which comes at the end of September, by which time Division One will, normally, be in full flight and players fully focused on setting their teams up for a successful season.

But that scenario does not point to a proper preparation period for Vance and his men, who need every advantage they can get to improve on England’s sorry record to date in the Uefa event.

Guernsey need the sort of build-up they enjoy going into an Island Games, which is not too far away from what they can expect in Croatia. They need to prepare as a squad, play as a squad.

Obviously, something has to give and the GFA can help out here by delaying the Division One programme six weeks to the start of October.

What… no league football until October?

I can hear the apoplectic cries now from those who regard the start of a domestic season in August as too late already.

There are ways around this boys and girls and the answer comes in the form of the Stranger Cup, a competition that can be adapted to plug the gap until the Uefa Regions Cup commitment is over.

We can have the normal late August Martinez Cup curtain-raiser between the league champions (Bels) and FA Cup winners (Rangers), before five to six weeks of Stranger Cup round-robins in groups of four ahead of a final.

A simple draw to determine the composition of the two four-team pools, a final between the two group winners and that will keep September occupied in a meaningful manner between a set of evenly-balanced squads, minus those involved in preparing for Croatia. Thirteen club games in total.

At the same time Vance gets to prepare properly Guernsey’s best players who, with a couple of warm-up games, will be fresh and raring to go against the Turks, Welsh and Croats.

Yes, it will mean a concentration of the Division One programme and perhaps a later finish than normal, but that will surely be the best way to help our lads claim European glory.

And what do you do with the Rawlinson Cup?

One year off won’t hurt, will it?

ISLAND Championship week in golf is one of the best weeks of the sporting calendar for us guys in the sports department.

You get to watch quality golf at close quarters on a daily basis and now that Bobby Eggo is not quite the force he was at his peak, there is a real and lasting fascination as to who will emerge winner.

This year’s competition has been no less intriguing, even though the total entry and quality of field has been the lowest I can recall.

Yes, anyone with island team pretensions was there, but the field lacked depth and one or two eased through to the quarter-finals with no meaningful test.

I have heard it is too expensive for the man with no chance of a run in the competition to enter.

It has also been blamed on players in the finance industry unable to get the time off to get down to L’Ancresse and be ready for a 3.30 start.

Perhaps, it is simply a blip and the numbers will rise again next season.

Anyway, it has had leading golf officials scratching their heads this week.

Whatever the reason, the Guernsey Golf Union should look at the matter closely.

ANOTHER body with a problem is the Guernsey Cricket Association.

For many a summer they have warned clubs over the shoddy and occasionally unfathomable nature of incompleted scorecards.

Local cricketers love picking up their Press to see who is doing that through this still fantastically popular short format of the game, but that service is now under threat.

Your GP will pull the plug on the use of full scorecards unless there is a quick and marked improvement.‘Guernsey need the sort of build-up they enjoy going into an Island Games … they need to prepare as a squad, play as a squad