Jersey men withdraw with ‘big cost’ blamed

The Jersey men’s team have withdrawn from the competition weeks before the final call for athlete numbers, with their team manager Lauren Syddall citing ‘extortionate’ costs.

Competitors and officials making the trip next July face costs of about £800 each for travel and accommodation, though individual teams traditionally bring their own costs for the biennial event down through fundraising.

‘The guys are disappointed,’ Jersey men’s and women’s team manager Syddall said.

‘It’s unfortunate, but we can 100% understand where they’re coming from – £790 to go 20 miles to Guernsey, for the hotel and the boat, is extortionate in these times.

‘Nobody has extra cash floating around at the moment.’

Guernsey Basketball Association president Pete Beausire echoed that disappointment.

‘We are very disappointed that the men’s team have pulled out of the Island Games, largely because we enjoy playing them,’ he said.

‘They are our main rivals, really.

‘We have been really struggling to get an inter-insular set up again. That possibly could be one of the factors as to why they are not travelling, as well as the cost.’

Jersey still intend to send a 12-strong women’s basketball squad.

It will be just the second time since the sport was added to the Games roster – by Gotland organisers in 1999 – that Jersey will not be represented by a men’s basketball team.

Jersey Island Games Association chairman Steve Jacobs acknowledged that the trip was a ‘big cost’ and suggested that this could possibly be a wider issue.

‘We are assuming that other islands might be facing the same issue, and not necessarily just basketball players,’ he said.

However, games director Julia Bowditch has given her reassurance that the organising committee have been working hard to find options for competitors and officials.

‘As an organising committee, we are obviously bitterly disappointed to hear that the Jersey men’s basketball team have made this decision,’ she said.

‘We have been working closely with all of the member islands’ games associations for several months regarding their travel and accommodation requirements, and have been looking at available options with each of them.’

The final cut-off for teams to enter their numbers is 31 December.