Jersey football - UEFA delegation inspection postponed

Friday 04 November 2016

A planned UEFA visit to Jersey looks likely to be shelved next week.

UEFA delegates were set to visit Jersey on November 10th as the Island continues its bid to become an international footballing nation.

But that looks certain not to go ahead due to the unavailability of one of the two UEFA delegates, and the European footballing authority's visit looks set to be postponed. 

The Jersey Football Association have appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after UEFA decided not to allow their congress to discuss the Island's bid.

Jersey applied for membership last December, but were refused as the Island is not an independent nation, although JFA officials would argue that neither are nearly half of all UEFA footballing countries.

Jersey want to emulate Gibraltar, who became full UEFA members in 2013, although to it took ‘the Rock’ 12 years to fulfil their ambition.

JFA President Phil Austin says the UEFA delegation party, expected next week, now looks likely to be shelved.

He said: “We received some communication from UEFA that their delegate, Tom Gorisson, would not be available because he has just been elected onto FIFA, so we were hoping we could get another delegate from UEFA to come along. Unfortunately, we have not yet received any information regarding a replacement, so we are assuming the meeting will have to be postponed. At this late stage I would think that is by far the most likely outcome. 

“However, this is far from a setback. We are ready for the long haul and these things will happen.

“It took Gibraltar many years to get their application approved and I think it is fair to assume we are not going to get ours next year, or even the year after that, but we are hoping that our case is heard with a sympathetic and fair ear and we eventually get to our goal.

“At the moment we know this is going to be a long process and this is only a small part of that. We will re-arrange a delegation meeting and give it our best shot.”

Kosovo have recently been accepted as a UEFA footballing nation and many other ‘countries’ have been competing at international level for years.

Mr Austin said: ‘We have the Faroe Islands, Andorra, San Marino and of course, you could argue Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England.

“There is a lot of inconsistency involved with this whole international status issue. I think we accept that our case is going to take a long time, but we are determined to push it through because we believe the benefits Jersey will get from becoming a UEFA footballing nation would be enormous. The revenue that it would bring in would allow the sport to really flourish in the Island, from grass roots, to women's football, to the men's game.

"Football is in a really good place in Jersey but it could and would be so much better if we became part of UEFA's party. It would transform the game in Jersey." 

Mr Austin explained that Gibraltar were granted international status by UEFA as their application came before the governing body changed its rules, saying only sovereign nations could now achieve full status.