Averys - old and grumpy but not out of place

A FEW months ago you would have got pretty long odds on seeing the Avery brothers back in red and white and in the middle of a Priaulx match. Knowing Jarrod and Joel, they would have probably taken them too.

Joel, 33, was more than happy in his new role as Sylvans first team coach, propped against the dugout, cigarette in mouth, watching his charges - most of them old teammates - pick up that elusive 10th Priaulx title.

Jarrod did not play at all, while he was starting his own business. His main football role was as kit man for the island team.

'I did it to keep involved in football. I said I'd do it for the Island Games in the Isle of Man in 2001 and the juniors - it was my way of putting something back into football.'

Yet this season the duo have been starring in the Priaulx, inspired to don boots again by the mass retirements at St Peter's over the winter.

'But I don't want to play,' said Joel immediately as I asked what it was like to be back in the thick of things.

'You can't play and coach, but it's not really my choice. I'm not training regularly but though I'm obviously enjoying it, you can't coach and play.'

Part of the reason Joel quit playing regularly while only in his early 30s was long-standing knee problems. He admitted that he could have carried on, but it would have been in pain.

Jarrod, 36 early next year, is now one of the oldest players in Priaulx football. He last played it two years ago under Trim Morgan at St Peter's.

'I don't like getting up there for training, I'm past all that. I can't get motivated. I used to love it, but now I leave it to the youngsters.

'It's all a matter of time. You train twice a week, play at weekends, some weeks you have a game - sometimes it's hard.'

While nobody at St Peter's thought that retaining their title was a possibility this season - Joel has repeatedly said that a Wheway spot is his aim - the westerners got off to a decent start.

Since then results have deteriorated, but as long as he can keep a team together - John Bachelet's departure with a broken leg after Tuesday's clash with North won't help, but the likes of Matt Warren and John Nobes should return in the new year - Joel believes that his side will have a say in the destination of the Priaulx.

They still have to face North and Bels twice more - the club's senior cup hopes also rest in the hands of Bels, whom they are due to meet in the FA and Stranger Cups.

In my youth 20 years ago the Averys were pretty hot property in Guernsey football.

Partly blessed with the maverick tendencies and ability of their dad, Bob, the brothers started their careers at Northfield.

Both followed their father to St Peter's, Jarrod via a spell at Vale Rec, and then both returned to Northfield before settling at Sylvans.

Joel has been a constant throughout the boom times at St Peter's and the famous nine-in-a-row - Jarrod has been there or thereabouts, bar a short spell at Bels.

Both have kit bags full of medals from their time in football, but also a few regrets.

'I could have played more for the island, but I think it was a case that it was harder to get out of the side then than to get in it,' said Joel, who won seven Muratti caps.

Jarrod had similar island ambitions.

'If my attitude was right, I could have got a Muratti place, I think, somewhere along the line,' he said. 'But I played Island Games and the only medals I haven't got are an Upton and a Jeremie.'

The brothers are well placed to compare the modern game with the one they came into in the 1980s.

Both agree that the game was much better back then. They reel off the names of quality players - Peter Blondel, Kevin Le Tissier and Bobby Loaring. Jarrod namechecks former North midfielder Mark Bisson as the best he ever played with.

'It was a lot higher standard then than now,' he added. 'The passion and commitment haven't dropped, but the standard has.

'There are so many things going on nowadays for people to do. That's what's ruined a lot of football.'

They may sound like grumpy old men, but they still don't look out of place on a Priaulx pitch.