A HUGE rent hike may force St John Football Club out of the parish’s community centre.

And the withdrawal could seriously affect the youth of the area as St John are already likely to reduce the number of age group teams entering the Coca-Cola Jersey Football Combination next season.

The parish club’s rent has just been increased to £1,500 a season, a rise of £450, while the Centre’s new management are also passing on the field’s mowing fees of £557.63 a quarter (a fee that is already subsidised 50 per cent by Education, Sport and Culture) on to the football section.

St John president Alan Tardivel said: ‘We’re desperate and we’ve got about three weeks to make a decision as the Combination needs to know how many teams we will enter next season.

‘Two of the mowing quarters are being back-dated which means we need to find nearly £5,000 for the year! We just don’t have the money.

Everyone is working hard trying to get us sponsorship but businesses recently have all started to cut back.

‘The situation is bleak.

We currently give around 120 parish youngsters regular football, they get coached and educated but that may soon be about to disappear.

‘What will the kids do then? I think we all know the answer to that and I seriously think driving us out and putting the kids on to the streets is not the answer.’ Football club secretary Paul Cotillard said: ‘We arebeing asked to find £3,000 extra every year and it is going to be hard.

‘If we move away from the Centre next season it will cost us £8,000 to run the nine teams we have run this season.

What ever way we go I’m sure we will be running fewer teams to minimise costs.’ Tardivel added: ‘We were fortunate the parish and a parishioner helped the ladies last week to go to Guernsey and win the Upton.

‘It we could find a field in the parish and get a bit of backing I’d move away from the Centre.

We could get it rolled and grassed and I’d be happy with a Portakabin in a corner.’ Centre chairman Angus Spencer-Nairn said: ‘The football club do a fantastic job in the community and we are certainly not looking to drive them out.

‘We want them here just as much as all the other sports but they can not continue to be subsidised by the centre’s other users.

‘I’ve recently returned to help out because the centre was heading for bankruptcy.

For some reason the previous management did not manage it properly.

‘I left in 1990 when the football was paying the same rent as recently, £1,050 a year.

Football members also used to pay a £40 yearly membership to use the centre as well but that, for some reason, does not happen any more.

‘The centre can not continue to subsidise football.

The rent has been inclusive of changing room use and cleaning, insurance, car parking and electricity for their floodlights as well.

‘Our source of income has severely declined from when we had 1,500 members in 1990 to around 250 today.

‘In our heyday we had the only indoor tennis facility while now there are 11 indoor courts in the Island.

Our two squash courts and the snooker room used to be popular too but both those sports have declined too.

‘The football club moving away I don’t see as an option for them because it will cost them £8,000.

If they stay here and pay £5,000 then they will have £3,000 extra to spread around their teams.

‘Football is in a Catch 22 situation in Jersey.

I’m told parents take their kids to private coaching sessions and pay £10 a day but when it comes to playing for a club team a £1 match fee is viewed as excessive.

‘This problem is way beyond St John Football Club.

The smaller clubs can not compete with the bigger clubs who have sponsorship, because when the players are asked for money they move on to where everything is free.

‘Numerous clubs have been lost in recent years and I feel more will go unless football puts a structure in place so that the smaller clubs can survive.’