This Is Jersey

By Carl Walker

THE door has been slammed in the faces of new sports hoping to participate in future Island Games.

Despite pleas from Jersey and Guernsey, the International Island Games Association restricted the list of core sports, eventually deciding to run with 18 from now on.

It means sports like netball, hockey and fencing may never have the opportunity to compete in future Island Games.

It is proposed that future hosts will now only be able to hold a maximum of 14 and a minimum of 12 sports from the chosen list of 18.

The Island Games Association of Jersey was represented at the international committee’s agm in Shetland at the weekend.

The association proposed that the number of core sports should not be limited to 18 as other, larger islands may wish to host more than the maximum of 14 allowed or even more than the 18 core sports listed.

Until a last-minute proposal from the floor, the IIGA was considering limiting the number of core sports to 16, but they relented and allowed squash and judo - out of the Games since Gibraltar 1995 - to be included.

Bob McGinnigle, chairman of the IGAJ, said: ‘We believed there should be an unlimited list as we could not see any reason why it could not be greater than the 18.

We thought that host islands should be able to decide how many sports they can hold and then suggest those to the IIGA.

‘We were in favour of not precluding any other emerging sports, like netball and hockey, from taking part in future games.

We were clearly disappointed at the decision but we can take something from the fact we supported the move to include squash and judo.’ Either fencing, netball, hockey and squash were all offered as sports by Shetland for next year’s games but following the IIGA’s decision to include judo as a core sport means that the other three will not be involved.

Also at the meeting, it was revealed that the IIGA is not signing up to the World Anti-Doping Agency Code.

However, competitors have been warned that this does not mean substance abuse will be tolerated.

‘If we suspect or hear of a potential case of substance misuse the International committee will take the appropriate action where needed,’ said McGinnigle.

It is understood, that the international committee intend to monitor WADAC as to sign up to it would involve random testing during competitions and training, which would prove to be difficult for member islands.

‘They may not sign up for the code but the IIGA could introduce its own adaptation for the Games,’ added McGinnigle.

Article posted on 15th July, 2004 - 12.00am