Coaches can’t wait to get the ball rolling for Green Lionesses

The ‘Green Lionesses’ were announced at the club’s 10-year anniversary celebrations on Sunday night, before the news was officially released to the public on Monday morning.

Gauvain was made boss of the island’s representative side earlier this year ahead of the home Muratti and the Island Games, and says she is ‘extremely proud’ to be taking on the same responsibility for the new GFC team.

‘It’s amazing to be the head coach of this project – I have always wanted to give something back to women’s football and this is a great chance to do that.

‘The timing could not be better for us, as the Island Games has really helped to push the exposure of the women’s game before officially announcing this, and now a lot more people have seen us playing they can relate to it a little bit more.

‘We want competitive fixtures, we want the girls to improve, we want to win the Muratti and we want to compete for medals in the Island Games, that is what everybody is driven towards.

‘We also want to just raise the profile of women playing football in Guernsey, and we are looking forward as coaches to taking on these challenges and creating new memories and experiences to draw on.’

She will also be joined in the coaching staff at the Green Lionesses by her current assistants for the rep team, sister Katie Watson and Scott Ferbrache.

‘It’s obviously really exciting to be a part of this new project at an already established club, and I can not wait to get going really,’ said Watson.

‘We have had quite a few conversations with Tony Vance, Nic Legg and Julia Hands and everything that we need they are more than happy to provide for us.

‘There have already discussions about kits, matches, everything like that, so the support could not be better really from the club.

‘We have worked with this squad for a little while now and we know the talent is there, we have some great young players in our squad and there’s great players who will break through in the future.

‘We have girls who want to follow Maya’s path and they need a platform, so hopefully this gives them one.

‘It has been a bit stop-start in the last few years – we did have GLFC, we had Ormer and for a few years we had nothing at all. When we were younger there were eight or nine teams in the league and we aspire to get that back as well but for now the main thing is getting the girls some challenging games.’

Ferbrache has been involved in the coaching set-up for the Guernsey women’s side for a number of years, and says that they have an ‘exciting group of players’ at their disposal for the new era.

‘There’s been a real buzz about the Island Games and we have had a lot of people asking what is next for this group and we have not been able to tell anybody until now, so it’s really great to announce it finally,’ he said.

‘I am very excited to keep working with Anna and Katie, the experience they have from playing and coaching is second to none, so from my point of view it will be fantastic being alongside them.’