Jackson pays for his own travel to train and play for Sussex Thunder

Sussex Thunder head coach Tony Stitt praised Guernsey's Matt Jackson after he made his British American Football League Premier debut last weekend.

Stitt made his first appearance for Thunder in their opening league 36-12 defeat by Farnham last weekend.

His first game followed training with the Guernsey Islanders and positive showings at two Great Britain try-outs.

"Matt's a real talent and a joy to coach. To see dedication like his from a youngster is tremendous," said Stitt.

Jackson added: "I am enjoying every minute of my experience with the Thunder - they are a great organisation who have made me feel very welcome.

"I got limited time, but that is to be expected, I hope that I will be able to demonstrate as the season progresses that I can help the team and will subsequently see an extended role."

Travelling for ourselves and opposition with 30 players in a team is expensive Guernsey Islanders head coach Steve Rains

Jackson travels at his own expense to train and play for Thunder, who are based in Gatwick.

Farnham were previously coached by the Guernsey Islanders head coach Steve Rains.

Rains said: "It was a day of mixed emotion for me, naturally I wanted to see Matt do well personally but it was difficult not to want my former club, which still contains many of the players and coaches from my time there to win.

Guernsey are currently not active due to difficulty finding somewhere to train and a lack of sufficient finance.

Rains added: "We still want to have a team here in Guernsey, but to do that we need sponsorship.

"The players are doing their bit as they have all bought kit and will play weekly subs to play.

"However travelling for ourselves and opposition with 30 players in a team is expensive and realistically we do not think it can be done without some help."

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