Guernsey involvement went wrong from day one

NINE seasons ago the games were billed as 'Super Saturdays' but not any more. The senior South & West Counties championship has lost its appeal with both fans and players and as a result the Guernsey Football Association has taken the decision to pull the plug on it.

Back on 1 November 1998 Guernsey took on Somerset at the Corbet Field in their SWCC debut. Sarnia Cherie, Guernsey's national anthem, was sung by Jerry Cobb before the game and the GFA had hopes of crowds approaching 2,000.

That size crowd never materialized and attendances have fallen steadily ever since.

The first game, originally scheduled for Saturday, had to be moved to Sunday morning because of heavy rain in the build-up to the weekend.

Vale Rec man Matt Falla was dropped from the squad for disciplinary reasons after not going to a pre-match meal on the Saturday night, while the game itself ended 2-2.

Ryan Tippett scored on his senior island debut to give Guernsey the lead, but Somerset hit back with two goals of their own.

Paul Nobes equalised midway through the second half and St Martin's Micky Smith was chosen as man of the match.

Guernsey coach of the time Phil Corbet looked upon the game as two points dropped, while Somerset coach Colin Skirton said the Guernsey side surprised him with their ability.

However, things did not go quite so well in Guernsey's second match at Northfield.

They were outdone 6-1 by an impressive Cornwall side. Guern-sey then went on to lose their first two away games in the competition to Devon and Gloucestershire 3-0 and 2-0 respectively.

The game against Gloucest-ershire was particularly disappointing for the greens with as many as eight regular squad members unavailable for selection, a predicament that did not surprise one unnamed Priaulx manager of the time who said local players would not want to travel all the time.

But the first campaign did manage to finish on a high as the green-and-whites recorded a 2-0 victory against Wiltshire at Blanche Pierre Lane with goals from Falla and Jan Renouf.

But what for the future?

The senior's best campaign in the competition occurred just two seasons ago when Guernsey finished joint top of the SWCC group with the Army but lost out on a final appearance because of goal difference.

Island captain Matt Warren, who took part in three of the first five SWCC games in 1998, would like to play in Europe.

'I imagine there's something lined up.

'We're playing in the FA National League Systems Cup next season so I'm looking forward to that.'

He was still unsure whether he would miss the SWCC.

'I enjoyed us competing in games like that but we didn't get enough games in a season. We'd only have three games a season as we never progressed further.

'There was also the factor of us playing Priaulx week in, week out and then having to raise our game for it.

'OK, we never won it but I've no got no doubts that if we were playing at that level regularly we'd beat anyone in that competition. The more we'll play together the better we'll get.'

SWCC vice-chairman Dave Dorey said he was disappointed on hearing the news that the senior men would not be taking part next year.

'I think it's been of great benefit to senior Guernsey representative football since they joined it nine years ago.

'My concern would be finding something to replace it with at senior level.

'There is no substitute for competitive representative football but I'm pleased the GFA have something in mind.

'Guernsey has made a major contribution to the championships in the nine years so far and I'm really pleased that the women and the under-18s are going to continue because it's vital in those two areas for their development.

'I can see the need for senior football to move on and I think it's vital it does move on.'