Battered and bruised by the Lions exercise

But arguably, and sadly, nobody is that surprised. It now seems certain that the British & Irish Lions, the biggest draw in world rugby, will be heading to Jersey in June, and not Guernsey. It’s a situation that probably a week ago most of us could have predicted with some accuracy.

As has often happened in Siams in years gone by, Guernsey entered this competition as real underdogs. Six weeks late to the party after Lions head coach Warren Gatland had visited Jersey, it could be argued that the island did well to even convince him to jump through various Covid hoops and visit for the weekend. One can be sure, at the highest level of elite sport, he took the recce seriously, tempting though a sandwich lunch with island dignitaries may have been on its own merits.

Now we have all but given up hope. Most islanders think that is a shame. Some will feel their initial anger and stance was justified. Some are looking for someone to blame, be that politicians, senior civil servants, social media nay-sayers, or even, and this from forum contributors to our own website, the Guernsey Press.

We have reported this news consistently and accurately, engaged thoughtful commentators, and, through this column, largely supported the visit and a pre-tour Lions camp.

With regards to our website, elsewhere in this edition we report the responses from deputies when we asked them about their activities on social media. Nobody will be surprised to learn that no deputy admitted underhand or unidentified social media activity. But their broader comments are of interest to a potential forthcoming debate on Deputy Chris Le Tissier’s future.

Some pointed the finger at the Guernsey Press’s own website forum, which is almost completely anonymous. It is a reasonable complaint and something we should review.

Reasoned and named contributions to that wider debate would be very welcome.