Irish poke an oar in

'What we have to do now is study the constitution very carefully and see if there are any other loopholes we could fall into. That will be done when the new executive is put in place next Tuesday.'

Guernsey's netballers should have been pitting their wits against England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland this weekend, but instead they have been left at home and out of pocket.

As has been the case since netball was included in the Commonwealth Games, the regional qualifying event organiser, Netball Europe, had invited Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man to compete. The last two both accepted.

However, there followed a series of communications between Netball Northern Ireland, the Commonwealth Games Federation and the International Netball Federation questioning the islands' eligibility to compete in the qualifiers.

From those enquiries it emerged that it is down to IFNA to decide who can participate at the event rather than the CGF and the former ruled out the islands on the grounds that they are not IFNA members.

'That's the law, but the problem was, this had never been explained to Jersey, the Isle of Man or Guernsey. Having accepted both entries some months ago and with both islands having taken part in the pre-Manchester qualifier, it seems ridiculous that they can come up with a decision like this at this time,' Le Vallee said.

'If local netball writes to the GCGA on this matter, I feel certain we will have to take it up with the federation.'

Netball NI, who made the initial enquiry, were made aware of the ruling towards the end of January but Netball Europe did not receive confirmation of IFNA's judgement until Wednesday - the day before Guernsey were due to travel to Sheffield.

Unsurprisingly, it has left the island squad seething.

'Why were we not told immediately and given the chance to appeal?' said Guernsey team manager Gill Queripel.

'The players are extremely upset and we had supporters going as well. We have lost £1,600 in airfares, that is before the accommodation and car hire are taken into account. The Isle of Man are in the same boat as us,' she added.

Queripel said that others felt Guernsey were being given two bites of the cherry as the island competes in England netball competitions as a county.

If Guernsey were to become full members of IFNA they would lose those rights.

But this has left Queripel asking the question, 'Why were we allowed to enter in 1997 and 2001?'

Guernsey's player-coach Sonia Grant-Yendell was dumbfounded and saddened by the news that her team would not be competing in Sheffield.

'It was a chance play international-level netball and the girls were all raring to go, but they pulled the plug at the last minute,' she said.

'For me personally it is disappointing on two levels - coaching and playing. To be coaching on an international level is any coach's dream and with all the big European countries taking part it would have been a great experience.'

With Guernsey away next weekend for their final English counties league double-header, the FENA Open was to provide ideal preparation for the games against West and East Devon as well as acting as Commonwealth Games qualifiers.