The Island Games team of 1985

EXACTLY 25 years ago this month, a group of athletes representing four sports travelled to the Isle of Man to compete against their counterparts from 14 other islands.

The ‘inter-island’ games were organised as part of the Isle of Man’s Year of Sport in 1985 with the idea of bringing together a number of small islands from around the world in friendly competition.

The Festival was such a success that it was agreed to continue it every other year – and the Island Games were born.

Guernsey hosted the Games two years later, in 1987, when 1,049 competitors from 18 islands competed in nine sports, and the event has grown in popularity since then to the extent that last year, in Aland, no fewer than 2,286 competitors from 25 islands competed in 14 sports.

But, as the event has grown, the main aims of encouraging high sporting ideals, fostering friendships and learning more about the history, traditions and customs of each other’s island homes have remained the same.

Since 1993, an award has been presented each year to honour the qualities of sportsmanship embodied and promoted by the late Bill Custard, whose long and distinguished career in sports journalism included many years as chief sports reporter at the Jersey Evening Post.

Other awards for special recognition at the Games now also include the Tony Richomme Memorial Award and the Bob Blake Memorial Trophy, honouring the memory of two Islanders, who themselves contributed greatly to the event.

But in 1985, when the Jersey team headed to the Isle of Man, there were no real thoughts about the future of the Games. There was simply the expectation of a sporting festival, involving athletes from as far afield as Iceland and Scandinavia in the northern hemisphere, the British Isles, the Mediterranean, down to St. Helena in the South Atlantic.

One man who was perhaps hoping for more in the future was Geoff Corlett, who was the Isle of Man Games co-ordinator and is now regarded as the ‘Father of the Games’.
He had written to various islands, including Jersey, to see whether an event was possible and it had fallen to Alan Cross, then the States PE adviser, to try to encourage sports to participate.

Island badminton players were enthusiastic from the start, but other sports seemed reluctant to commit themselves and it was only after an an appeal through the JEP, that the Jersey team grew to 36 representing also the sports of shooting, swimming and five-a-side football.

Sports such as athletics, cycling and football some of which later became very successful at the Games, decided against sending a team to the inaugural event.
The opening ceremony at the Summerland Leisure Centre in Douglas, was attended by competitors from Aland (Finland), Anglesey, Faroes, Froya (Norway), Gotland (Sweden), Guernsey, Hitra (Norway), Iceland, Isle of Wight, Jersey, Malta, Orkney, Shetlands, St Helena and the Isle of Man, who witnessed the Island Games Association flag being hoisted for the first time.

They were involved in competition over the next five days, and although
Jersey sent a relatively small team and participated in only four of the seven sports, they finished fourth in the medal table, with over 20 medals, including eight gold.

One of the most successful team were the Jersey Amateur Swimming Association team who won five gold, seven silver and two bronze medals with David Filiponi – a top Island swimmer, who represented Jersey at the Commonwealth Games in1982 and 1986 – winning four of the gold and Alison Christie – who went onto become a rugby international, representing Scotland – the other gold.

David, now the Bailiff’s secretary, recalled the friendly atmosphere at an event none of them realised would develop as it has done. ‘It was a bit of an unknown,’ he recalled. ‘No one knew what to expect, or where it would go.’

The badminton team were also successful, coming home with two gold and three silver medals, the golds going to Steve Watson and Ian Coombes-Goodfellow in the men’s doubles and Steve and Jean Lawson in the mixed doubles.

Steve, who works at Citibank, also has vivid memories of the first Games, especially a thrilling (and successful) mixed doubles semi-final match against a top Guernsey pair. ‘Obviously, we didn’t know what to expect – we thought it was a one-off – and had no idea about standards, but we knew Guernsey were going!’

He said that the weather was awful, but the hospitality fantastic and after a few days of competition, everyone felt it was something that had to be repeated. Guernsey immediately offered to host the next Games in 1987 and so it has continued every two years.

His men’s doubles partner, Ian Coombes-Goodfellow, also has happy memories of the Games, not least because he competed in all nine from 1985 to 2001, which was when the Isle of Man hosted it again, and has been involved in other ways since.

But Jersey’s very first gold medal of the Island Games was won by shooters, a sport which has claimed dozens, if not hundreds, more since.

Shooters John Renouf and Derek Bernard won the first gold in the free pistol team event in conditions far from ideal conditions with a force five wind blowing. They also went onto win a silver in the air pistol team event.

Jersey’s clay pigeon shooters did not come home empty handed, the team winning a silver medal in the team trap event and Mo Gotel finishing third overall over four days of competition.

But the Under 16 five-a-side football team failed to find their form when it mattered and came home simply with the honour of having represented Jersey at the first Games.
Since then, the event has been held 12 times, and as the competition and standards have increased, so has the bidding to host the Games. Jersey was the host island for the first time in 1997 and, in a very close competition with Gotland, won the right to host them again in 2015.

Not all sports can be accommodated, either. Netballers and gymnasts are among those bitterly disappointed not to be included in the Games to be hosted by Jersey in 2015, for example.

Over the years, the Games have also been held in the Faroe Islands, Aland, Isle of Wight, Gibraltar, Gotland, Shetland and Rhodes.

NatWest Offshore became involved in 1999, when the Games were held in Gotland, and recently announced their continued sponsorship of the event. Since 1999, to reflect the support given, the Games have been called the NatWest Island Games.

The team who represented Jersey at the first Games in the Isle of Man, with Alan Cross as team manager, were as follows:

Badminton – Men: Steve Watson, Ian Coombes-Goodfellow, Ian Lawson, Andy Gallichan, Andy Gibbs. Women: Jean Lawson, Sally Adams, Jane Humpleby, Carol Laurens and Jean Le Cornu. Team manager: Dave Worley.

Five-a-side football – Chris Hamon, Sean Coughlan, Nicky Corfield, John Brenan, Marcus Quérée, Philip Kellett and Martyn Le Guyader.

Shooting – Pistol: Derek Bernard and John Renouf. Clay-pigeon: Mo Gotel, Xavier Gotel, Mick Sangan, W Le Bourgeois and W Jones.

Swimming – Men: Greg Powell, Gary Tobin, David Filiponi, Stuart Colley. Women: Sanchia Crapper, Alison Christie, Janine Taylor, Heidi Corbet. Team manager, Richard Crapper.