Heel dragging on CI clashes so frustrating

FIFTEEN bouts. From that number you would expect a few crackers at Beau Sejour tonight as Cumbria come to town.

We welcome them, as we do the Manchester and Liverpool squads when they arrive, but I make no apology for repeating myself, wouldn't these open shows be even more appealing and easier to sell to the punters, with a bit of Guernsey-Jersey spice?

It's clear from watching the Report Sport segment on Jersey Leonis ABC's recent show, that there are some decent senior boxers in the sister isle, among them Jersey football manager Craig Culkin.

So why, given the proximity of Jersey and the rivalry that exists, can't we raise at least a couple of inter-island bouts for unofficial CI belts?

Of course, matching is not as straightforward as it seems, but it can be done.

Two years ago Graham Guilbert took up the issue and thought he had 12 inter-island scraps lined up for a Beau Sejour show.

Come the night only five went ahead and he was relieved to have such good UK contacts that he could still put on a show.

'I want it and our boys want it,' Guilbert said as recently as yesterday.

Guilbert, encouragingly, promises to get back on the case and sees the value of such area contests which could be promoted by the media in both islands.

Culkin v. Tom Duff in a CI area middleweight title bout would carry great expectation.

And would it not be good for all our up-and-coming youngsters, boys such as Tom Maunder, if they could pit themselves against a Jersey challenger should, of course, one exist and be of sufficient standard to make a match?

The thought of a whole night of CI area contests is appealing even if they cannot be billed as official title bouts in the way they once were when the CI was a bonafide area and not part of a wider UK one.

GOOD luck to Vale Rec this afternoon as they attempt to reach the quarter-finals of the Somerset Cup.

Quite how Vale qualify to play in Somerset is a bit of a mystery - perhaps it merely requires stocking the cider county's products in their bar as appropriate qualification - but regardless of the entry rules Vale Rec can rightly claim to be getting value for money from their involvement in the competition.

Of course, the competition does not have the quality of its Hampshire or Dorset equivalents but for a Guernsey club attempting to rebuild a big future, it has certainly worked for them as it has given their players new challenges and welcome new faces to play against, but also of a standard which offers them the chance of a real cup run.

It would have won the approval, I am fairly certain, of former club president Alf Priaulx, who died recently.

Alf had been out of the public eye for many years due to illness, but Vale Rec are indebted to the massive work he carried out in developing the club from the very early days and, aged 80, laid 80 blocks a day in the building of the extension that now houses the GFA headquarters.

He was president for much of the club's glory years in the 1970s and although a quiet, unassuming man, his value to the club was massive.

The club's first team wore black bands up until the time of his funeral but he should never be forgotten in the wider Vale Rec story and perhaps it should be 'Win for Alf day' today down at the Corbet.

WITH the Sunday League seemingly on its last legs and one leading IAG Saturday League club seriously considering a switch to the GFA ranks, is local football about for a sea change?

Already significant changes are afoot with the imminent arrival of Guernsey FC and the GFA handing over responsibility for the senior league to the clubs, but are we about to see the cultural change the ruling body have been seeking from the first day of their four-year plan: i.e. the social leagues re-affiliating and joining the mainstream league and a proper promotion-relegation system put in place?

Let's hope so.