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Guernsey's formula for island football

As the mainland football correspondent for Radio Scilly (where the local league has just two teams) I am always interested in news of island football.

The Non-League Paper this week featured that unusual island football team, Guernsey. The Green Lions were formed in 2011. They began life in the Combined Counties League and won back to back promotions to the Isthmian League where they seem to have found their level at Step 4 of the non-league system. The catalyst for starting a new club came when the island team won the FA National League Systems Cup in 2010 and got the chance to represent England in the Uefa Regions Cup.

Initially, a lot of local clubs were unhappy that their best players had left to play for the island team. (There are nine teams in the Priaulx League). The team has to travel by plane for away matches which usually involves an overnight stay. Four players work for a scaffolding company and only two can be taken on each away trip.

There is one player who is not local and he flies over from Bournemouth for each game with a local airline company footing the bill. The club has to pay for opponents to fly over and I would guess that it is the number of wealthy residents who like football that makes this possible.

The club is chaired by Mark Le Tissier, older brother of Matt who played for Southampton and England (he played some matches for Guernsey towards the end of their 2013 promotion winning season). They hope to build a brand new stadium and a development centre for the successful academy.

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