What is the Solution? (Guernsey fixtures)

[NCEL fan]

HKP - I'd quit trying to please everyone.

 

Clearly there are those on here that feel the league would be better off with GFC in it. That's fine, they are entitled to their opinion.

 

If I was a player who was used to playing in front of less than 100 every week in the CCL and I got the opportunity to travel to Guernsey to play in front of maybe a 1000 (not sure actually that the crowds will be 1000+ but they'll still be not far off), I'd go any day of the week and do whatever I could. If players/coaches/clubs have any ambition, it's a chance for them to show what they can do against a very good side.

 

Anything worth having is worth going the extra mile for. Sacrifice (family time, work, money etc) has to be made if you want to better yourself in sport - it doesn't mean you're wrong or bad if you choose not to do that, but don't choose not to and then sit there slagging off those that do.

 

The players and staff of GFC ask for nothing in terms of recognition from anyone for the commitment they put in and don't get a penny. For those who want to be the best they can be at this level or higher, they set a great example.

 

Those who want local football with less than an hour to travel to play against lads they know inside out can make that choice - I think by voting GFC in the league's members demonstrated that they are ambitious and want to push standards higher.

 

There are some great examples at other CCL clubs where the desire is clearly there to push on and raise the bar - those that don't can moan if they want to, it's what this forum thrives off I guess.

 

The rain is not a factor that can be controlled - maybe there are issues that could have been managed better but this is an extreme set of circumstances. I will say that I feel sorry for any die hard fans of CCL clubs who miss out on the experience because of this - they deserve days like that as do the people who give up their time for the good of the club and ultimately the players I guess. Those players have a responsibility to the aformentioned people IMO.

 

But as I said at the start of this post, those who don't want GFC will one day get their wish so just sit tight until then!

Edited January 2, 2013 by NCEL fan

[NCEL fan]

That first line should read without GFC in it - doh!

[JDSPFC]

 

 

2) I meant play there home games at footes lane but just have a back-up plan incase guernsey is unplayable. I'm sure for a bit of extra ££ a couple clubs would be willing to groundshare in Nov/Dec/Jan so if gfc's home game couldn't go ahead there but could here.

 

So what happens when we have another winter like this and every ccl game gets called off??

 

Guernsey only had a couple of games called off last season due to weather and they have been no different to any other club in ccl this season with regards to postponements, so I don't see how that would make a difference??

Could be wrong tho

[Krooner]

Krooner, I'm now thinking that Duncs is right about you. What a daft thing to say. Colliers will be at Cobham which is a damn site easier to get to than Guernsey!!

 

I appreciate that Chuck but they are just 2 teams in the same league.

[ormering]

What have GFC brought to the CCL? Well, let's have a little think. Increased press and media exposure for one. Articles in the NLP (and I'm not just talking the weekly roundup) about GFC are pretty regular, as are mentions on the Non League Show. An increase in attendances - matches vs GFC on the Mainland continue to be higher than the average, bringing in more revenue to the host clubs in terms of bar and refreshment sales, as well as money through the turnstile. That's without considering the fact that many clubs have had a night away on the island at GFC's expense. What about a bit of professionalism? Quality of football? Fun?The negativity on this forum is staggering - on our travels around the CCL following the Green Lions I can only think of a couple of occasions where individuals have been unfriendly or hostile. The warmth shown has been fantastic. People only seem to want to post here when they have something negative to say.

[Chubby Brown]

This isn't a debate as to what GFC bring to the league nor have I said that they aren't welcome or a breath of fresh air which they clearly are, this is a debate about the rearranged fixtures and all I have said us that I can thoroughly understand why the likes of Cove, etc feel aggrieved with what has happened. The process of making these rearrangements is what has upset some clubs. Why this has now resulted in GFC supporters reopening the debate about their place in CCL I do not know.

[HKP]

In response to a comment posted earlier asking what we brought to the League.

Edited January 2, 2013 by HKP

[Non League Nigel]

I can see arguments for and against but some of the stuff on here is embarrasing. Clubs can argue all they want but i know for a fact speaking to one or two players at the affected clubs that the biggest loss for them is a night out in Guernsey. It's Senior football so being able to fufill a fixture on a Sunday shouldnt be a problem at all.

 

What where the league to do? anyone got a better idea then lets hear it. If they had consulted everyone they would have all said no we want to go on a Saturday so in these circumstances the fixture secetary had to put his foot down and make some tough decesions. It's been a freak couple of months for weather and you would have thought clubs would rally round and not be difficult.

I have more sympathy for the clubs having to go on a friday evening. In hindsight maybe the league should have asked who would prefer a Fri or Sunday game. If it was a Vase game and the coach left friday afternoon to go up north i'm sure 99% would make it so how is this different. It's a wonderful experience over there and i'm sure all of us that have been would advise others to take the chance and do all they can to make it rather than sulk that its not on a Saturday. Did anyone hear South Kilburn or Guildford complaining? I can say for a fact that if we had to play on a Friday evening we would have no problem and take a near full squad - sure there may be one or two who couldnt make it but for those that are saying they could only get half a side up for Sunday game? please do us a favour.......... ( half the side probably play sundays anyway)

[Smudge]

im all for your venture always said it but i think the breath of fresh air factor is wearing thin mate it does seem the league are bending over backwards to help guernsey out when its your pitch that is the problem its a fact that teams travelling fri or sun will not be at full strength and are at a disadvantage against a quality side who wants to be a lamb to the slaughter mate

guernsey have upset me at the minute ive been trying to get a copy on dvd of our games against them as not everyday you get to look back at a game infront of 1000+ fans only to recieve a poor email stating that if i get permission for them to film at our ground they will then get me copies of our games im willing to pay for the copies i cant grant that permission .

 

Sean,you are correct,No Club has received a DVD of their game against Guernsey,as was promised.Easy Solution just bar the said person from your Ground,when they come over.Their is No Revenue in it for any CCL Club,and has massively hit attendances for their Away games.

[Chris Clapham]

Without prejudicing our meeting with the league next Monday which will be difficult enough, may I attempt to clear up the "Cobham/MV/Wood" situation.

 

Cobham and Mole Valley SCR have an agreed groundshare in place which we have to fit around. I met with some MV people last night (great pub crawl lads) and we cleared up a couple of issues re ground use, particularly Friday evenings, which MV are keen to have first option to utilise if their opponents agree. If that happened, then the Saturday would/may become available subject to the fitness of the pitch which we know handles many matches during a season.

We are at the begging table as far as using the ground (indeed any ground) is concerned and are the third choice and we are happy to have that at least as a point of reference in fulfilling our fixtures.

Our first target is to fulfil THIS season somehow and we have another solid offer of a ground which would involve Saturdays when free.

We will continue to update info re our matches as we get it.

 

My personal take on the Guernsey situation is that something had to be put on paper re their outstanding fixtures and I am sure that, by next May, it will all have resolved itself somehow. It may be that the logistics of having a succesful Guernsey in this league may have been overlooked on their entering of the league.

I just hope that the FA offer a little flexibility to clubs at our level re the freakish wet weather this season and, perhaps, look to extend the playing season to accomodate ALL club's issues.

[Smudge]

Can I ask this Question,what efforts did Guernsey make to get a Groundsharing agreement with another Club on the Island ie Bels.There would of been No need for this Friday/Sunday debacle.Guernsey could of played 1 week at Footes Lane,the following Saturday at Bels.Yes it would of meant,that all their away games,would of had to be played midweek,but are they not doing this already under the New Plan.This was mentioned by me on post 5 of this thread.The only reason I have raised it again is some posters have brought Colliers Wood into the equation,their plight is out of their hands,so they immediately took action to Groundshare.Guernsey it seems have not made any such attempt.I am sure Belgrave Wanderers would of been grateful for the Revenue this would of brought their Club.

[PORTSMOUTH]

Just a quick note would Guernsey rugby club be interested in moving there fixtures to a friday or sunday?????????????

[Windsor_Sec]

The current situations at Guernsey and Colliers Wood are totally different though. CWU have a problem with their pitch which isn't looking like being sorted out when it stops raining whereas Guernsey like many other CCL clubs are suffering simply because of the excess rain we're getting.

CWU took the action to seek other pitches to play on because of that and technically they are not entering into a groundshare deal but a short term hire of pitches at various clubs but, nonetheless, the grounds they are seeking to play on are established CCL clubs with the requisite ground-grading requirements. Guernsey [the island not the club] on the other hand [and to the best of my knowledge] probably doesn't have a 'graded' ground other than Footes Lane because none of the other clubs need a 'grade' to play in the Guernsey League. That's not to say that the other Guernsey clubs don't have the required facilities but why would they want to pay for an FA ground-grading visit and any further costs to meet the grading requirements when they have no intention of joining the non-league pyramid ?

[HKP]

Can I ask this Question,what efforts did Guernsey make to get a Groundsharing agreement with another Club on the Island ie Bels.There would of been No need for this Friday/Sunday debacle.Guernsey could of played 1 week at Footes Lane,the following Saturday at Bels.Yes it would of meant,that all their away games,would of had to be played midweek,but are they not doing this already under the New Plan.This was mentioned by me on post 5 of this thread.The only reason I have raised it again is some posters have brought Colliers Wood into the equation,their plight is out of their hands,so they immediately took action to Groundshare.Guernsey it seems have not made any such attempt.I am sure Belgrave Wanderers would of been grateful for the Revenue this would of brought their Club.

I personally doubt whether Bels would be interested in this, from what I hear on the grapevine they are happy to help whenever they can but they already have their own games on the pitch and these (correctly) have to take priority. And as posted above the grounds have not been graded. Not sure if other clubs would be in a position to help. You have to remember that Bels and all the other local clubs have their matches to play too. First team, reserve, Veterans League, three or four youth teams, Ladies teams, Mini's on a Saturday mornings. Most pitches are already heavily used. Clubs have also had plenty of postponments with the recent weather. This season the top League play each other four times rather than three times. The Priaulx needs to be completed on time so that the Upton Park Trophy against the winners of the Jer$ey can be played on the scheduled date.

Edited January 2, 2013 by HKP

[E&E Rich]

I think it's been raining across the whole island of Guernsey, Smudge. If it's been unplayable at Footes Lane do we expect GFC to trawl the two teams around the island looking for a pitch that isn't submerged?

 

 

I'm glad to see that the league have followed my suggestion from months ago for Friday and Sunday football. Yes it's inconvenient, but there is currently no better solution with the possible exception of shifting the GFC Saturday away fixtures that remain. However, progress in the cups could still lead to that requirement, so let's hope the rain finally stops or midweek football on the island will become a reality in April.

 

I had no idea that E&E were playing on a Friday night until the fixtures came out on here. Certainly I am also aware that the first our Manager heard of it was when I advertised the fixtures the other day, but whether anyone at our club was officially spoken to about it, I couldn't say for certain. We have already paid for an extra night which we were due to take back in November, so we will probably fly out on Friday morning and come back on Sunday. Again, yes, it's inconvenient but it's a rare event and we all have to get on with it. We are supposed to be playing at a fairly high level these days and enter National competitions. This comes with the territory.

 

I am committed to the idea that a club can come into our league and be welcomed, not sniped at all the time. I was at Epsom when Yeovil were elected into our League and everyone looked forward to that trip too, despite the round trip being four times the average distance. The League obviously had to rearrange Guernsey home fixtures and clearly would have had to liaise with them to clarify when the pitch was available. Other than that, I can't see in what way the League is "favouring" Guernsey. What else were they expected to do? However, I do have a couple of concerns.

 

1) What exactly was discussed at the meeting when they were voted in? Was there a consideration of what might happen with a backlog, or did everyone just blindly back it in the hope it would prove to be another AFC Wimbledon cash cow? I'd love to see the extracted minutes from that meeting and who voted for and against as it would give an interesting insight into how much the clubs really thought about it first.

 

2) What plans will Guernsey put in place to ensure that this can't happen again? Yes, they will probably be Step 4 where there will be a 24 team league (assuming Ryman 1 South) and whilst there would be no Vase, they will enter the FA Cup for the first time, something I'm sure they are really looking forward to.

 

If they stay in Step 5 though it could be worse, as they could have a big Vase run AND a big FA Cup run so they need to have a really good contingency. Otherwise, if someone actually proposed it at the AGM, they could technically be voted out as any member could if there are difficulties relating to their membership of the league.

 

I hope this isn't opening a big can of worms and I'd think it was really poor of the League members if that did happen. However, to prevent this, GFC could help themselves further by sorting out a few DVD's of all games and getting them posted to all clubs as apparently promised, not to mention making at least a token payment to all clubs (say £250 per game) for the filming at their grounds, seeing as GFCTV is clearly hitting attendances at those matches while it benefits as a result.

 

In summary, GFC need to be seen to be making every effort, maybe more so than other clubs, but like it or not, they are a special case and to accommodate this they need to go the extra mile themselves and I don't just mean airmiles.

Edited January 2, 2013 by bomaya

[BAD GUY]

At the end of the day, CCL clubs voted for Guernsey into the CCL - fact !

 

Think ! Could this seasons rainfull be a one off ?

 

Guernsey have been a breath of fresh air bringing much publicity to the CCL and their associated members.

 

Yes everyone has an opinion. Was the matter of having so many postponed matches and how to deal with this mentioned at the meeting when voting Guernsey into the CCL ?

 

Just lets get on with it. The CCL is senior football (apparently), so as a player, who wouldn't snap up the opportunity to play and be involved with the atmosphere that goes with +1000 spectators. Some players and mangement come to that,,sorry most have never experienced it and will never experience this. As a player, if it was me, I couldn't care less what day it was, I'd do my utmost to go over and experience it all as good (irrespective of the result) memories.

 

My first opportunity to see Guernsey will be this weekend, so I hope to meet a few Guernseyrites. Any of you coming over ? You must have some change left after Xmas as you haven't been to any games !!! I'll have my black Macron coat on,so come up and say Hi maybe even have a beer....

[HKP]

I know a couple who are travelling over and the ex-pat army will no doubt be in attendance. They will be the ones making all the noise.

 

I am coming over for the Vase match in a couple of weeks.

Edited January 2, 2013 by HKP

[Dessie]

Is it possible for the sides who are playing Guernsey at home on a saturday afternoon at the moment, to change the game to a friday evening,this would mean the game would probably be the only game on the day,which would result in a bigger crowd,meaning bigger gate receipts?

Edited January 2, 2013 by Dessie

[Smudge]

Is it possible for the sides who are playing Guernsey at home on a saturday afternoon at the moment, to change the game to a friday evening,this would mean the game would probably be the only game on the day,which would result in a bigger crowd,meaning bigger gate receipts?

 

How will it be a bigger gate,Groundhoppers dont hop no more.And GFCTV can be seen round the world for £2.99p,its even big in China now.Heard DVD's of past games are going on sale,to the General Public.Except in the Bedfont Currys.Price £9.99p.

[Neil Baker]

I think a lot of people put up obstacles for Guernsey, but if you asked most players, they would do whatever they need to do to play against them at their place, the reason as Bad Guy has already stated they will possibly not get the chance to play in a game like that again, so if it means taking one days holiday, I would be very surprised if people would not do it....

I know I would have done as a player.

From what I can see they have come in offered a fantastic experience for anyone that has been over there, and are a good side who look to be progressing through the leagues, so enjoy it whilst ou can, as something like this will probably never ever come along again.

How far they progress up the leagues only time will tell, but there will be a ceiling on where they get too unless they do start signing players from the UK.

Either way the weather has been a problem for everyone this year, and nobody could have foreseen ow bad it would be ( and may still get)

I wish them all the best, and if we don't get promoted to step 3 I would welcome them in our league, and would be happy to play them on any day!!