Muratti meeting pushed back again
THE Springfield fences may be coming down – in height anyway – but one major barrier remains in the way of Muratti Vase resumption, Covid-19.
The 2021 final is due to be played on the much-maligned new Springfield with its steel-fenced barriers, but the chances of the game actually happening remain slim.
With cases of cornavirus increasing almost daily in the sister isle, the Guernsey FA chief executive, Gary Roberts, has revealed that a planned pre-Christmas virtual Inter-Insular Committee meeting will now not take place.
‘The Inter-Insular Committee was due to reconvene next month, but due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in Jersey it has been agreed that it would be better to delay the meeting, and any decision about inter-insular fixtures, until the New Year when hopefully the situation has improved and the committee is better placed and informed to make any decision,’ said Roberts.
With the 2021 Island Games football tournament also off, it adds up to even more frustration for the Channel Islands’ best footballers and the Guernsey manager Chris Tardif, who is desperate for some Muratti revenge after losing his first two finals in charge.
‘I sit here with my fingers crossed, but I’ve got to be realistic,’ said Tardif yesterday.
‘I will still plan as if it is going ahead and leave no stone unturned, but we will have to wait and see.’
The Guernsey boss described the pandemic situation as ‘bleak’ and a difficult situation the like of which the modern world has never seen.
‘Football comes right down the pecking order,’ he added.
Tardif said his intentions are to offer his services to all Priaulx clubs to go along and either watch training or conduct sessions and to see for himself how players perform in a training environment and not just out on the pitch.
