GFLM itching to get going
FOOTBALL could be back with us in two weeks.
But while local officials continue to wait on the official nod from the English FA – possibly this week – the Guernsey Football League Management board have pressed ahead in announcing the structures for GFLM leagues and cups.
The FNB Priaulx League is set to start after the Rawlinson final, tentatively pencilled in for 8 August, and Lancaster Division 1 will start shortly after that.
Lancaster Railway Divisions 2 and 3 and all youth leagues, including Corbet Cup and Shield, will start after completion of group stages of new cup competitions.
‘It is hoped that these will be played during August and September with the use of the lighter evenings,’ said GFLM’s new fixtures coordinator Paul Hewitt.
One major change for the new season is the move – long overdue in many people’s eyes – to bolster reserves football by expanding its programme and tightening the eligibility rules.
GFLM chairman Phil Corbet has long been keen that Lancaster 1 [the old Jackson League] is restored as a proper reserves section, utilising the players on the fringe of the FNB Priaulx League football and best U18s.
Giving Lancaster 1 sides an extra round of games will surely help facilitate that target.
Re-establishing the integrity of the structure is important, said Corbet.
‘The last 15-20 years has seen that division been made a nonsense of clubs simply fulfilling fixtures and it’s added no value to the programme.
‘Guernsey football needs to have a pecking order again. The higher divisions deserve to have the most games.’
Across all the Lancaster Railway section, U18s, U14s and Corbet Cup, competing teams will enjoy a third round of games, home and away and one on a neutral ground, probably at the KGV.
Seven-a-side youth competitions will be the kick-start to the youth season and, if the FA gives approval, will be played over three weekends in August.
The aim is to start the group stages of the youth cups two weeks after their seven-a-side festivals.
GFLM, meanwhile, are waiting to hear back from the GFA as what to do with the Martinez Cup this season.
It is the traditional senior level curtain-raiser and Guernsey’s version of the Charity/Community Shield, but with last season being declared null and void with no champions, there are no obvious participants for the game.
GFLM, itching to get the new season going, have suggested staging the game as a charity event to support key workers as part of the Festival of Football bank holiday weekend at the end of August.
