Another league will boost our game

THE Norman Piette Youth leagues kick-off at the beginning of September and the introduction of a new Youth Three league will enhance the progress of our under 14s. This is the opinion of many coaches I have spoken to pre-season and many believe this campaign promises to be one of the best in terms of development.

North secretary Garry Le Sauvage has welcomed the YDC's decision to widen the net in the search of young talent and make it more competitive for our under 14s with a league format.

'It's competition for the youngsters; it gives them more to play for and our coaches are all for it', said Le Sauvage.

Belgraves Youth two coach Martin Totty believes the new league will be a success and is pleased that former president of the club, Hilary Sarre will be coaching their promising under 14s this term.

Meanwhile, the usual summer transfer market has been mostly quiet among the GFA clubs with many youngsters staying loyal to their respected clubs, with the exception of Rangers whose exodus of players has been well-documented and may lead to their Youth Two side withdrawing.

Among the departures, Ollie Smith, Jack Cowens and Luke Vidamour have all moved to St Martin's.

North's Ben Thompson has also found his way to the Blanche Pierre Lane club.

Glyn Smith, the former Muratti player, has followed his son to Saints and has been installed as the Youth Two coach for the new campaign.

The 2003-4 season promises to be a good one and it has become predictable to tip the Youth One contenders for the past two seasons; Belgraves, North and St Martin's will again mount the most serious challenge for the title but beware of Sylvans who are quietly putting a healthy squad together.

The league will have a good balance to it this season and every team will have to earn their points.

The same principal will happen at Youth Two level as the lower teams are catching up on the big guns.

Already I have seen the progress that clubs are making; examples of this were evident at the Rothschild's summer tournament at Port Soif at which the Everton Academy were present.

Teams such as Vale Rec and Rovers, who have struggled for the last couple of seasons at youth level, are now equipped with some excellent young players.

The island under 16s' impressive win in Amsterdam pre-season underlines the enormous array of talent we have in the island.