Could there, should there, be a Plan B?

They probably know how each other is feeling at present with Dame Mary’s plans for another Island Games to remember in 2021 looking ever doomed, while at the same time the Guernsey FC boss must now be acutely aware the chances of his team playing in the Isthmian League this winter are now as slim as a cigarette paper.

The Green Lions, who entertain FC Isle of Man today, have been holding on and on in the hope that somehow their season can be saved.

But, let’s face it, it is not going to happen. The project can be put in cotton wool for 10 months.

Meanwhile, the countdown clock to a final decision on whether the Guernsey games of 2021 goes ahead has reached 14 days.

The International Island Games Association will, Inside Track understands, make a final call on the biennial event at their annual meeting on 26 September.

The international health chaos points to a postponement, perhaps for one year, perhaps two or maybe even four if the choice is made not to disrupt Orkney’s scheduled hosting of the 2023 event.

I guess – and it is no more than that – Guernsey could lose the Games altogether if it can’t be staged in 2021.

Of course, it would be a huge shame to lose next summer’s big event.

Everything is in place for another week-long corker – and spare a thought for all those sportsmen and women who have worked so hard to qualify only to be faced with their efforts being partly wasted.

There is a way forward, though, and Inside Track’s Plan B would be for an offshore British Isles Games featuring every event planned, but merely contested by the likes of ourselves, Jersey, Alderney and Sark, our new sporting best friends in Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight and Anglesey.

And, if Ms Sturgeon allows, perhaps a Scottish isle or two.

Of course, it won’t be the same, but the infrastructure is there and it would no doubt prove a huge fillip to every sportsman and woman in all those islands. After all, we could do with it.