Two different shaped balls

Anyone who follows rugby will be aware of the decline in the English national game culminating in some shameful behaviour during the last World Cup and the replacement of the manager.
 
The new broom has sought to bring pride back to wearing the white shirt and has returned to basics; hard graft and stay out of trouble. 

For a new team, the results have been encouraging. Encouraging enough to make the new manager’s temporary job more permanent.
 
He may not be the most experienced national coach but he has a lot more going for him than the last one who was hailed a national hero before taking the job with zero experience. I’d suggest the new guy has done enough to prove himself already and things can only get better. He should keep the job.
 
How is this relevant to Guernsey?
 
Well, English rugby’s administration still seems to suffer from the old boy network which at times seems to have held the national team back. A few team managers have come and gone, some not quick enough, and performance has suffered.
 
Locally, and in the round ball game, the players and like minded folk took the matter into their own hands and created a club side worthy of competing at a higher level than the usual parochial game.
 
Has this met with universal approval?
 
Not in the slightest.
 
Guernsey football is far more political and divisive than our own dear States and any threat to the established power bases is not well received. Guernsey FC do not fit into their system and don’t even play in a local league. The administrators don’t know how to deal with it and have struggled to accept the new order of things.
 
Even after nearly a full season of stunning success, the new club still faces setback after setback. Guernsey football has now got something else to be proud of and has attracted a whole new level of support. This club’s efforts should be applauded and supported by the higher echelons of Guernsey football.
 
Instead we continue to have arguments of their effect on the official national side who’s biggest competition is the inter-insular Murratti.
 
The answer is easy. Let Guernsey FC represent the Island. They are doing that already in the UK on a regular basis.
 
Of course that won’t happen. It upsets the applecart and does too many people out of a job. There is a loss of prestige involved here. 

Pride for the wrong reason.
 
There is another argument that tries to defend the many and long established local sides. Why should Guernsey FC swoop in and steal their best players?
 
Wake up and look at the real world. It is happening all the time. If a player is good enough, then they will want to rise as high as they can. If that means changing clubs on a regular basis, then so be it. 

Just because we have a small goldfish ball here doesn’t mean that our successful fish can’t jump out of it.
 
In the past, this has been encouraged and praised. We’ve taken pride in our sportsmen and women who are successful on the national or international stage.
 
So, what’s the difference now? Too many players at once?
 
The trouble is that those who should be banging heads together to create some common sense are the same people who need their heads banged.
 
It just won’t happen.