Political football game to detriment of the players

The elite are alright, they have the super-drained Footes Lane to get some competitive action, but if you are Jonny Ordinary of the domestic leagues... well you may as well take up indoor bowls.

Football people will say it's nobody's fault and point to the skies.

It's raining like it's not rained since the last winter deluge. They are right, to a degree, and there is an element of sympathy for them.

All the while, though, the footballers suffer.

So, and surely it is a fair question, is the GFA and LMC fostering football as well as it should?

Forget the rain, clearly it doesn't in my view, because if it did the talented North under-18s, which features some of the best youth footballers in the island, would have played more than three league matches in almost SEVEN months.

And while it pours, the only games being played are sadly of the political variety and they centre on the use or, more specifically, non-use of the new King George V Field 3G pitch.

The full-size pitch has now been available for use and hire for three months, but apart from friendly social kickabouts, some senior club training, minis and the occasional high-performance squads utilising it, the GFA, who were supposed to be full partners in the redevelopment of the old ground but were scared off by the financial demands, look on as the senior clubs groan that it is too expensive to hire and give it the cold shoulder.

All the while, footballers, hundreds of them, suffer, possibly losing interest in playing a game which is not delivering what it is supposed to – i.e. regular matches. It has a largely imbalanced fixture list which has some teams, like the North Under-18s, playing once in a blue moon and will no doubt end in players being asked to turn out several times a week in late April-early May to complete a schedule which does not really look after the people who matter – the players.

KGV's 3G was up-sized for the specific reason to come to the rescue in these monsoon periods and rugby are making full use, playing competitive JRA League fixtures on it.

The GFA and League Management Committee, in contrast, look down their noses at the pitch and argue it is not FA sanctioned, so you folks can't use it.

Yet, surely, if the GFA wanted to play on the pitch then they would be pro-active and approach the national body to get it sanctioned for this season.

Meanwhile, I repeat, the players suffer.

In the background, the GFA explore developing their own 3G facilities and, the word is, so too does a prominent senior club.

With that in mind, it begs the question: do GFA particularly want KGV to take potential future business from them by becoming successful?

Probably not.

And if another club were to go down the 3G route, no doubt they would want it used day and night, to make it pay. The fact that KGV has got in first, is most likely an irritation.

Mind you, the local game's stance on 3G football is no worse than that of the national body which had its idiotic side highlighted this week in a terrific article by The Times chief sports correspondent, Matt Dickinson.

Among many other facts, Dickinson notes that currently the team which lies second in the Ryman Premier (just one league above GFC) – Maidstone United – will be denied promotion because Conference rules do not allow for the use of 3G pitches.

That, then, should scupper any thoughts GFC may have had of laying a 3G pitch if they push for their own ground.

Maidstone, meanwhile, shake their heads in bewilderment and anger having transformed their fortunes by laying a 3G pitch and becoming a community hub able to make their pitch the centre for a thriving academy, a venue for coaching courses and junior teams, all creating a buzz around the town.

It is more than paying for itself and, you have to wonder why, something similar could not happen here at old Le Blanc Bois.

But, while their Gallagher Stadium could stage a Fifa international or Champions League fixture, it would be banned in the Skrill South, where 'The Stones' are intent on heading by winning the Ryman Premier.

Dickinson highlights that winter deluges are now a perennial occurence, which means up and down the country football, below the professional level, comes to a standstill.

The sport of football really does look stupid sometimes and while artificial pitches are now being used in Italy's Serie A, France's Ligue Un, the Dutch Eredivise and the Vancouver venue for the 2014 Women's World Cup Final – not to mention top-flight rugby clubs such as Saracens and Cardiff Blues – little-minded, muddle-headed football leagues, snub them.

Even Jersey is going to have one and the 2016 Muratti Final will be played on it, as well as the NatWest Island Games gold-medal shootout in 2015.

KGV, meanwhile, which has all the same potential as Maidstone, remains out of bounds for organised senior football, a situation that is plainly ridiculous.

On behalf of all those idle and fed-up footballers, somebody please sort it out now.

Next month Nic Pothas takes a national squad to do combat at the World League Five level which, at first glance, gives the impression of being just out of the sixth form.

The presence of veteran Lee Savident, a real old stager at 37, pumps up the average age of the 14-man squad to a shade over 23 years old, which in a sport where you don't ever stop learning your trade at no matter what age, is remarkably young.

Pothas, just like Craig Hogan did with the Jersey squad, has had no choice but to take a rebuilding route, which in its own low-profile way is just as challenging as the one facing James Whitaker and whichever automaton the ECB chooses to replace the had-it-up-to-here-with-Pietersen Andy Flower.

And just like it will take time for Flower's predecessor to restore the England team to the levels of 18 months ago, Pothas needs time to make Guernsey tick as they did under Stuart Le Prevost in Malaysia 30 months ago.

The hope is that the Malaysian experience will make men out of these boys who, in all honesty, are only just starting out on senior careers and, potentially, have 15 years of top cricket ahead of them.

They are a refreshing, highly-keen, dedicated and promising bunch who are, quite probably, a development phase or two behind the Jersey side.

Pothas will get it right, I have little doubt, but we may need to be patient as a shed-load of experience is now sitting on the sidelines.

EIGHT more islanders were this week confirmed as bound for Glasgow and the Commonwealth Games.

That brings the total tally to 19 and, credit where credit is due, the selection process has yet to get the sports desk falling about in laughter, while we shout: 'You must be joking'.

Down the years there have been many a laughable pick as member sports got the better of the selectors, but the chances of that happening in 2014 are remote as the tougher validation process is doing what it should do,

ensuring against a cheap, undeserved ride to a major international event where the opposition are very largely far more accomplished than the Sarnians have ever come up against.

As the weeks go by the list of hopefuls shrinks as the more exacting standards are not being met through a shortfall of commitment or proven ability. That is the way it should be.