A day for sport to come first
LATE today, as a very special week for Guernsey draws to a close, thousands of us who have been immersed in the Island Games will feel mixed emotions. Happy and privileged to have experienced them, but slightly sad this carnival of sport and the camaraderie it has brought with it can’t last longer.
Guernsey knew how to put on this show. But at most venues crowds have been far larger than anticipated. In several sports the island’s medal haul has exceeded expectations. Almost every event has run as smoothly as organisers dared to dream. The island has welcomed 23 other islands and 14 sports with at least as much warmth as in 2003 and 1987.
There is something about the Games which shows Guernsey at its best, physically, culturally and emotionally.
Of course, there have been disappointments for the hosts, perhaps most notably in men’s football.
In the previous seven Island Games entered, Guernsey have won three gold, two silver and two bronze medals. This week, in their own backyard, and for the first time in nearly a quarter of a century, the island side failed to survive the group stage.
Manager Tony Vance’s own study of Muratti results indicates a pattern of decline. It is clear that local football needs serious reform which won’t be achieved overnight.
There are also unresolved questions over funding for sport which our politicians will debate as soon as next week.
But today those challenges can wait.
‘Now we want to go out on a high,’ says the Games director on today’s front page.
Undoubtedly, the only finale these Games deserve is large crowds along the seafront and in grandstands wherever there is sport still to be played, cheering, encouraging and celebrating a week we probably won’t see again for a generation or more.
This newspaper wouldn’t go quite as far as one Australian Prime Minister after a great national sports event – ‘any boss who sacks anyone today for not turning up is a bum,’ he said – but nevertheless this is surely a day when sport and community can come first.