About the Games

The news has come as a blow to some of the islands senior men's players who were keen to try and win back the football gold metal, which they lost to Shetland last year.

But GFA Chairman, David Nussbaumer, wanted to focus on the bright side as he said he was thrilled to learn that this will be the strongest ever ladies' team that Guernsey has sent to an Island Games, with only one player being unavailable to travel.

"It is quite extraordinary and a testament to our Ladies' commitment, their determination to develop their game and to the self evident spirit they possess within the squad that out of all of our strongest players whom we invited, only one lady has had to decline. My sincere thanks and best wishes go to them and I look forward to witnessing them achieving their goals in Rhodes next summer," said Mr Nussbaumer.

Ladies' Captain Lisa Sylvester in 2003.

Island Ladies' captain, Lisa Sylvester said, "We are delighted to be going to the Island Games and realise it is now up to us to put the work in between now and then. I am confident that the squad can all rise to this challenge and we appreciate the great support which we are receiving from the GFA, our coaches and medical team."

Unfortunately the news on the Men's front was not so positive and Chairman David Nussbaumer said:

"I am so disappointed for our men who wanted to compete in Rhodes. Unfortunately, we have not been able to secure enough players of sufficient quality to enable Island Manager, Steve Ogier and his assistant, Tony Vance to take a "balanced" squad."

Mr Nussbaumer hoped he could also take the opportunity to put the record straight on some of the negative media coverage he feels the GFA has endured during this period.

"There was only one director who was totally opposed to us competing in Rhodes and he was fully entitled to his opinion with sound reasoning behind his decision. At all times the main concern of the Board has been for the health, safety and protection of our players.

"Concerns about costs were overcome and the amount of deposit required had been reduced to £200 per player and was going to be further reduced to £100, and not payable until the end of the year.

"We had been successful in raising sponsorship from various companies and individuals and I am particularly grateful to Cable and Wireless, Stuart Falla and Derek Coates for their generous offers of financial support, including in the case of Stuart and Derek an offer to sponsor our medical team to travel to Rhodes with our footballers.

"For all the hype I have read about in certain areas of the media, no medicals have taken place as yet. However, because we do care about our players' health, these will still apply to our Ladies and will hopefully have been completed prior to the end of the year.

"Once we have received these reports, it will enable our medical team to receive the information they require to commence work on both the team's and the individual players' conditioning training requirements. I make no apology at all for insisting upon this."

Mr Nussbaumer was particularly disappointed with the coverage that the GFA had to endure from certain areas of the local media and said,

"Why the uproar from the Guernsey Press about asking our players to sign an indemnity waiver? We do exactly the same thing in Guernsey cricket without any fuss made at all and understand that the Guernsey Island Games Association will be asking all competitors travelling to Rhodes to sign a similar waiver anyway.

Guernsey play Orkney in Shetland 2003.

"Frustratingly, the length of time to be spent in Rhodes which we were asking for was again ridiculed by the Press. How can I contact the top medical officer of our governing body at The FA and go against his professional advice? Surely at the very least it would be negligent of me to do otherwise?

"However, having said that, we came to a compromise whereby if the amount of games were reduced from 5 to 4 in the 6 days of the competition, then we agreed we would join the charter flight and arrive in Rhodes at 5am on the Thursday morning, just 48 hours prior to the commencement of the tournament.

"Hardly ideal preparation, but another example of the concessions that the GFA were prepared to make if it meant we had a strong squad travelling.

"And finally, I had already put plans into motion to talk to the employers of our footballers, asking them as their contribution to the Island Games, that they give the players paid leave above and beyond what their normal holiday entitlements were."

In conclusion Mr Nussbaumer said, "We have read some very negative comments on football from the Guernsey Press over the last few months and it only right that its readers know the truth rather than much of what has appeared in recent months. The buck stops with me and in turn I hope that the Press will start printing more intelligent comments on Guernsey football in the future."

Team Manager Steve Ogier and Assistant Manager Tony Vance said, "We are naturally extremely disappointed that we will not be sending a Men's football squad to the Island Games in Rhodes next year after all. We would like to place on record our thanks to the relevant GFA Board members who worked hard to overturn the original decision and give the coaching staff and players the opportunity to compete.

"Unfortunately, their efforts (and ours) have proved to be in vain. For the record, once the decision had been overturned, we approached a large number of players who we felt were capable of playing at the required level.

"Unfortunately, a fair proportion of them were unable to commit due to various circumstances and we fully understand their reasons. The coaching staff has maintained from the outset that they would only enter the competition if the standard and balance of the squad was right. We are disappointed for those players who were keen to commit as they will now not be given the opportunity to compete."

Island Men's captain, Matt Warren was similarly disappointed but fully understands the reasons having been closely involved in all discussions in recent weeks:

"Understandably I am, as are all of the players, extremely saddened by the fact we will not be taking part in Rhodes next year. The players are grateful to the relevant GFA board members who listened to our feelings regarding our wish to compete at the games and effectively overturned their original decision.

"Sadly, during recent weeks a number of the players who supported our campaign are now no longer able to commit due to varying circumstances leaving Steve and Tony, as I understand it, with what would be an 'unbalanced' squad.

"The players fully appreciate these concerns and understand that it would be impossible to enter a competition of this stature on that basis. As a group, despite still being extremely disappointed, we would now like to fully focus our attentions on the forthcoming season and concentrate our efforts on regaining the Muratti Vase."

On a more positive note, the GFA is also pleased to announce that it has recruited top sports medical professional, Dr Tom Jenkins, to its medical team for Rhodes to work alongside Mike Thomas.

Dr Jenkins has worked with the British Olympic gold medal winning rowing teams, been involved in world rowing at the highest level for many years and worked with many world class athletes.

On this appointment, Mr Nussbaumer said, "We are most fortunate to have someone of the calibre of Tom available to us.

"He is 100% committed to our sporting cause and is looking forward to being involved with our Ladies' team straightaway, including attending as many training sessions as possible, being involved in the South and West Counties games, speaking to the girls about what is expected from them, giving them both essential and informative information, including diets, drinking out of bottles rather than glasses, alcohol, avoiding smoke, putting sun block on themselves from the beginning of April, getting them used to resting in the shade under trees etc., and getting their medicals processed by himself as soon as possible.

"Some of the main areas he will be looking at are cardiac, respiratory and hydration, and he is very much looking forward to working closely with Mike Thomas, with the two of them forming our Medical team."