Centenary Siam Cup rescheduled for November
RAIDERS await confirmation of GFC’s league plans for 2021-22 as it will alter how they approach Centenary Siam Cup day, which is now back on.
Today, Raiders and Jersey Reds announced that they will contest the postponed Centenary Siam Cup on Saturday 6 November at Footes Lane, the same day as the Green Lions are due to host Thatcham United.
The rugby sides have been able to agree a new date after previous fixtures arranged for May 2020, May 2021 and August 2021 had to be postponed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
But Guernsey will now host three Siam fixtures on the first Saturday of November, with the Nash Cup for Veterans preceding the women’s and men’s Siam Cups.
Those plans have taken into account GFC’s booking of the facility and Thatcham’s insistence that the game is played on the allotted day and not brought forward to the Friday evening or pushed back to the Sunday.
‘We have been working with the States and GFC regarding this,’ confirmed Raiders chairwoman Andrea Harris.
‘GFC have agreed to an earlier kick-off of 12 noon.
‘The Vets and Ladies are scheduled to be played on the old pitch at 11am and 1pm respectively; the main Siam on the grandstand pitch at 5pm.
‘It will take a lot of effort and logistical management, however we are confident we can make this a success.’
If GFC’s fixture is cancelled, then all three Siam matches will go ahead on the main pitch throughout the day.
Harris is delighted that the centenary game will go ahead after all.
‘By the time we play this fixture, it will have been two and a half years between Siam matches, and it is incredibly exciting that we can now be in a position to play this match in November.
‘We fully appreciate that this is a big commitment for the players involved, to play a Siam mid-season, but we are looking forward to re-igniting the inter-island rivalry at Footes Lane, hopefully packed with a great community crowd.’
The Jersey Reds chairman of amateur rugby, Cliff Chipperfield, said, they were ‘really pleased to have identified a date that works for both clubs and put the logistics in place for three teams to make the trip over to Guernsey’.
There’s been a real hole in the rugby calendar for both Island sides since we were last able to play Siam matches in May 2019, and it’s fantastic to have been able to rearrange some of our league commitments so that we can renew this old rivalry.’
