Get ready for a hectic late August
FIRST-TEAM football in the guise of either FNB Priaulx League games or Jeremie Cup group ties, will flood the mid-to-late August schedule.
Phil Corbet, the Guernsey Football League Management chairman, said his preference was for a group-format Jeremie which would be a ‘great way to start the season’ following the FA finally giving Guernsey the go-ahead to play competitive football ahead of the rest of the country.
Either way, league or cup matches, Corbet said the GFLM was keen to take advantage of summer evenings and good pitch conditions and get players at all levels back in action as soon as possible.
‘We are trying to give them back something they missed out on at the end of last season. And if there is a second spike [of coronavirus] at least we will have made a start,’ he added.
One thing seems certain, there won’t be inter-island cup matches in 2020-21.
The Jeremie has already been declared a Guernsey-club only competition and confirmation that the Wheway will be all-Caesarean is expected after tonight’s CI Inter-Insular committee which will also deal with the issue of what to do regarding the 2020 Muratti Vase.
Although the Guernsey FA has yet to approve it, GFLM hopes it will be able to split the eight Jeremie entrants into two round-robin groups of four with semi-finals and a final to follow. Alderney have not entered, preferring to concentrate on the Guernsey FA Cup.
Guernsey can take two positives from the virus-affected football calendar.
One that they are operating ahead of Jersey, which still awaits the green light to play competitive games, and that for the first time in 10 seasons, a Guernsey side will win the Jeremie.
The last Guernsey team to lift the old trophy was Bels in 2012.
