WATCH: Sky’s not the limit for the Bulls!

Monday 09 December 2019

The Bulls’ ambitions for promotion to the Football League, and a strong start to their division, has earned them a spot on a national sports broadcaster’s ‘Soccer Saturday’ TV show.

The popular Sky Sports segment followed the Bulls as they went into their fixture against Farnham Town at the end of last month.

Having won every match since the start of the season in their Combined Counties Division, the Bulls are now setting their sights on the Football League.

In a report titled ‘The Jersey Bulls are flying high!’, Sky Sports caught up with the promising team.

Video: Sky Sports' 'Soccer Saturday' caught up with the Bulls (YouTube/Sky Sports).

Hailing the Bulls as the division’s “table-toppers”, the report tracks logistical matters for a Jersey home game – including the fact that the island team pays for their opponents to travel and stay locally for their home games. 

Co-Director/Founder of the team Ian Horswell told Sky Sports: “So we pay for the visiting teams to come over, along with the referees and their assistants and again if they have to incur an overnight stay we have to put them up as well. So, costs vary but the first game of the season it was at the height of the season in Jersey’s tourism season and we played Ash United and it cost us north of £5,500 to bring them over for one single fixture.”

Later in the report, Mr Horswell explained that the team rely on corporate sponsorship in order to sustain this level of funding for their opponents’ travel and accommodation costs. 

He explained: “I wouldn’t have got involved if I didn’t think it was sustainable. There’s no benefactor behind the scenes with a pot of money. It all comes from a lot of corporate sponsorship… We’ve all got to pull together to raise in the region of £260,000 a year just to break even.”

His fellow Co-Director/Founder, Russell Le Feuvre, added: “Two years ago we sat down we knew that the island had been blocked going down the UEFA route and competing as a nation and we thought ‘What else is there?’ We looked at what’s going on in other islands around Europe entering national leagues and we thought that’s got to be the next step for Jersey. We do it in rugby, we do it in netball – let’s offer it to the football players.”

The report also focused on how the team manages its away games – having to travel to the mainland for every fixture.  

The Captain of the team, James Queree, was also interviewed for the report, where he said that they don’t have any mainland players as ‘back ups’.

“No, no there’s a big enough pool here. We’re quite lucky with the resources and the talent on the island to compete and I think that it’s great that we keep it ‘in-house’ for the moment.” 

The report also documents the Bulls’ ambitions as they work towards their goal of promotion to the Football League.