Le Tissier played international football for England

Matt Le Tissier has been named Guernsey's top sporting hero in a survey of more than 1300 youngsters.

The accolade, awarded by the Guernsey Adolescent Smokefree Project, came as Le Tissier hit the headlines for his part in a failed betting scam.

GASP's Alun Williams said: "All the good things about Matt's career, the fact that he's been such a great ambassador for Guernsey.

"I don't think any of that will be lost by this one rather silly incident."

"This one misdemeanour is nothing compared to some of the other concerns we've seen in sport, you know the awful business of 'bloodgate' in rugby and some of the awful incidents of drug uses in sport," said Williams.

"I think this pales into insignificance."

TOP 15 GUERNSEY SPORTING HEROES Matt Le Tissier Andy Priaulx Dale Garland Heather Watson Leighton Batiste Lee Merrien "Myself" "My dad" Alice Loveridge Matt Warren Ben Lowndes Paul Le Tocq Dominic Heaume Len Duquemin "My mum"

Racing driver Andy Priaulx and Olympics athlete Dale Garland came second and third in the survey of local heroes which questioned 10 to 17-year-olds.

Also making the list were rising stars Heather Watson and Alice Loveridge.

Rugby prop Leighton Batiste makes the top five, with local football legend Len Duquemin and runner Lee Merrien also making the list.

The importance of family role models sees the inclusion of "my dad" and "my mum" in the top 15, as well as some confident youngsters who think they are local heroes.

Another section of the survey focused on national sporting heroes with Liverpool's Steven Gerrard topping that poll.

Tennis star Heather Watson was the only person to make it onto both lists as she joined the likes of Wayne Rooney, David Beckham and Dame Kelly Holmes.

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