Gibraltar ruling a plus for islands

ALTHOUGH Gibraltar's football clubs are poised to celebrate entry into Uefa competitions following a landmark ruling on their eligibility in Lausanne, it does not necessarily mean the door is now wide open for Guernsey or Jersey to follow a similar route. CI football have been talking for some time about joining Europe's ruling body.

'We've been looking at that for a while,' said Guernsey Football Associa-tion board of directors chairman Dave Nussbaumer.

'We're in discussions all the time. We are very interested to see how Gibraltar get on.'

But Gibraltar's march towards being named the 53rd member of Uefa's footballing family - despite the objections of Spain - is unlikely to smooth the way for the islands to join.

Last week Gibraltar won their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against Spain's 'political' objections to their application to join Europe's top table.

Their application for full membership of Uefa will now go to the association's members at the next congress.

But the court of arbitration has decreed: 'The executive committee of Uefa is ordered to admit to provisional membership of Uefa the Gibraltar FA at its next executive committee meeting.'

And that is early next month.

The application is expected to be successful and as well as allowing club teams into the early rounds of the Uefa Cup, it would pave the way for the tiny peninsula's national side to take part in qualifying for Euro 2012.

Although both the Guernsey and Gibraltar FAs have much in common, such as having been in existence for more than 100 years and an affiliation to the Football Association, the main difference in their probable immediate destinies within Europe is one of timing.

Since 2004, countries applying to join Uefa have to be recognised as independent by the United Nations, but since Gibraltar's application precedes that date it has been allowed through.

The president of the Jersey FA, Ricky Weir, said he was more encouraged than discouraged over the news.

'I take it as a positive that an association similar to ours looks like being accepted,' he said.

'It does not change our position, which is to open dialogue with Uefa, through the Football Association. We need to do some research to see how viable it is to do.

'I certainly will be looking to speak to my counterparts in Guernsey.'

There has been a lot of media talk with regards to the creation of a Uefa smaller nations competition whereby the successful countries would gain entry into the European Championships qualifiers.

This follows the defeat of minnows Andorra by England and, more tellingly, Germany's 13-0 win over San Marino in the recent Euro qualifiers.

'A smaller nations competition is something we're actually looking at as well,' said Nussbaumer.

'If we're being realistic, there's more chance of that happening.'

Guernsey beat Gibraltar 2-1 in the Island Games of 1997.