DESPITE having beaten the county’s two top Colts teams earlier this season - Havant and Worthing - Jersey’s under-18 rugby team will not be allowed to play in next season’s Hampshire Colts League.
At a meeting called to discuss the set-up of the league - which was also attended by the secretary of the Hampshire RFU - none of the clubs were in favour of Jersey’s participation.Dave Marsden, the league’s organiser, said: ‘The issue is simple.
The league operates on a home and away basis and there is no funding for clubs to travel to the Channel Islands.
‘Even if we could secure the cheapest air fares possible, the costs would still be way outside that which any Colts team could sustain.’For Jersey coach Mick Curzons, the decision came as no surprise.
He said: ‘I thought we would have difficulties with it, but it is a pain.
We currently have two players in the county under-20s team, and if we want our players to be considered for the Hampshire side we have to get them across to the UK early in the season, otherwise they won’t get a look in.’Assistant coach Mick Mayo also expressed his disappointment.
‘Although our players compete locally, they are playing against adults.
If we had been accepted into Hampshire they would have been able to play against kids the same age.
‘I reckon that the Island’s current under-18 players are better than they were in our era.’While participation in the league is now out of the question, Marsden did offer some words of comfort: ‘The only way forward that I can see is for me to recommend to all the league clubs that they should do all they can to host Jersey Colts next season.
The costs would be Jersey’s, but you would be able to test yourself against the league sides in Hampshire.’He added that the national Colts knock-out competition, organised from the East Midlands, might be another way forward, and that is one route that Mick Curzons wants to follow.
‘If we were to get in to a cup competition, I believe I could find some sponsorship,’ he said, ‘even if it’s only for two or three rounds of the competition.’
Article posted on 25th February, 2004 - 12.00am
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