Island Games Photo Gallery

The Isle of Wight repulse a Gibraltar attack at East Cowes

A gallery of images from the group stages of the 2011 NatWest Island Games can be found at InBedWithMaradona.

The photos feature matches involving Aland, Alderney, the Falklands, Gibraltar, Greenland, Gotland, the Isle of Wight, Minorca, Saarema and the Western Isles.

St Pierre et Miquelon

The opening ceremony at the 2010 Coupe de l'Outre Mer

This article appeared earlier at InBedWithMaradona.com

The reach of the Fédération Française de Football (FFF) stretches far beyond the shores of North Western Europe.

As debut matches go, St Pierre et Miquelon’s first international did not augur well, ending in an 11-0 tanking, but the match could be the start of something bigger.

An archipelago of eight islands located off Canada’s eastern seaboard, St Pierre et Miquelon (SPM) is the last vestige of France’s one sprawling North American empire.

SPM might be a historical anomaly, but that status led to the islands’ FA being invited by the Fédération Française de Football (FFF) to play in the second edition of the bi-annual Coupe de l’Outre Mer.

The FFF started the competition – otherwise known as the Overseas Cup – in 2008 at the behest of Christian Karembeu, who was born in New Caledonia but won the World Cup with Les Bleus a decade earlier.

The aim of the Coupe de l’Outre Mer was to provide an outlet for French overseas departments or territories that are mostly unable to emulate Tahiti and New Caledonia and join FIFA.

French Guiana, Guadeloupe and Martinique are all associate members at CONCACAF but prevented from taking the next step up by French politics. Those five sides plus the Indian Ocean islands of Reunion and Mayotte contested the first tournament in Paris. Two years later, a side drawn from St Pierre and Miquelon’s tiny 6,000 population also made the trip to Paris.

Money was not an issue as the FFF stumped up €900,000 to cover the cost of the now eight sides bringing 18 players and seven officials apiece to Paris from the Diaspora of the remaining French empire.

In his first international fixture, Yannick Lafonte’s SPM side faced holders Reunion in the first of a double-bill of group games at the Michel Hidalgo Stadium in Saint-Gratien, eastern Paris.

In an attempt to put the opposition off their guard, SPM sent the youngest players out for the warm up then switched to the first choice XI just before kick-off, but gamesmanship was never going to be enough.

That St Pierre and Miquelon’s ponderous defence was out of its depth was obvious early on, but brave goalkeeping from Gino Bonnieul and truly atrocious finishing from Reunion’s number nine Jean Michel Fontaine kept the score down to 2-0 at half-time.

Reunion were constantly offside in the first half and no better on the re-start. For 12 minutes, captain Stanislas Beck and his kept Reunion out but when Pascal N’Gongue stabbed home on 57 minutes, the game was literally up.

A defender, Beck had a dozen team-mates from his club side, AS Ilienne, keeping him company in Paris. SPM only has three teams and the Coupe de l’Outre Mer squad also included four players from AS Miquelonnaise and a brace from AS Saint-Perraise, the territory’s oldest club.

SPM initially overcame lack of quality by getting a foot into most tackles but in the second half, their opponents’ superior fitness prevailed. Reunion ran in eight more goals but for the SPAM FA’s phlegmatic secretary Herve Huet the result was of little concern.

“This is the first time we play in this competition, the first time in any official FFF game because we are such a small island,” says Huet with a nonchalant Gallic shrug. “I am very happy just to see our players here. Our level of play is very different to teams like Reunion. We only have 600 players.”

The bulk of the population live on St Pierre with 700 people on Miquelon and lack of players is not the only obstacle. Harsh winters mean the season only runs from June to September. “After that, it is not possible to play because of the weather is so cold,” adds Huet. “The snow arrives and it is not possible to play before April too because the field is frozen.”

In the long winter months, SPM’s players play futsal – the short-sided version of football popular in continental Europe – and the islanders have been entering a side in France’s National Futsal Cup since 2008.

In their next group game in the Coupe de l’Outre Mer, SPM were again only 2-0 down at half-time against French Guiana and only lost 7-0 but succumbed to 10-0 to Mayotte in their final group game. With 28 goals conceded and none scored, the 2010 Coupe de L’Outre Mer was not an auspicious start for SPM but Huet’s islanders plan to return.

GB United? Reviews

'GB United? British Olympic football and the end of the amateur dream' has received some good press coverage including the following reviews:

"A fine book!" --The Guardian

"Menary carefully explains how amateurism or 'shamateurism' gradually became unacceptable in this country, with everyone being declared just 'players' in 1974. He recounts not only the sad decline of Vivian Woodward, a superb centre-forward and a member of the British team in 1908 and 1912, but also the exploits of Pegasus, who galvanised the amateur game in the early 1950s. It is a valuable contribution to football literature." -- The Olympian

"Excellent!" --InBedWithMaradona.com

"A fascinating insight into the trials and tribulations into what was, for many years, a murky world of under the counter payments." --Bob Bevan, the Non League Paper

"Delightful chronicle... an excellent addition to Olympic lore." --Journal of Olympic History

"Menary does an outstanding job. GB United? is a historical tome telling a story that has been forgotten and overlooked elsewhere. This story is as much about a class struggle in twentieth century Britain as anything else, but in this case it was a struggle that the ruling class were always going to lose. Those that ran the game at the start of the twentieth century may well look at modern football and wonder what on earth it has become, but GB United? tells a part of the story that is seldom looked at elsewhere with a keen eye for historical detail, a dry sense of humour and a mixture of disdain and respect for those that ended up shaping many of the paths that modern football would end up taking." --Twohundredpercent

"Excellent!" --Keir Radnedge, sportsfeatures.com

"Inspiring tales of those who considered the Games to be the ultimate make this a worthy read." --Four Four Two magazine

"Steve Menary brings to life the world of the amateur and highlights in a very real way the characters that were dominating the British Olympic team from 1900-1972. If you are a football fan and have any history with the amateur game, this is well worth a read." --Graham Neale, son of the 1948 GB captain Graham

"Well informed and lively ... a quality work." --Soccer History

"Thorough and interesting work." --When Saturday Comes

"One will find no better account of the complicated business that has been Great Britain's involvement in Olympic football." --Groundtastic

"Exemplary research, grasp of his material and eye for a quirky fact keep up the interest." --Independent on Sunday

Read the first Chapter of GB United

The first chapter of my new book, GB United? British Olympic football and the end of the amateur dream, has been published exclusively by Play The Game.

Anyone interested can read it here.

New Book

The London 2012 Olympic Games will see the return of a football team that the world has not seen for more than forty years.

Only in the Olympics have the four Home Nations of the UK managed to unite and a century after last winning the Olympic football tournament, the British side will return for London 2012.

GB United? British Olympic Football and the end of the Amateur Dream is the first and only book to tell the full story of the UK’s Olympic efforts – which saw the team
twice crowned world champions before petering out in the qualifiers for the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

Now, four decades on the Olympic team is being revived as a one-off for London 2012 and the side will be one of the most talked about in world football.

GB United? author Steve Menary said, “The team for 2012 is supposed to be only English players but the British Olympic Association have not given up on the idea of a united team.

"With the tournament following directly after Euro 2012 and Fabio Capello being increasingly pressured to use younger players for the England team, there’s going to be a lot of strain on resources if England qualify for Poland and the Ukraine as the Olympics is an U-23 event, and there’s also still the issue of who the manager is going to be.”

Featuring scores of interviews with Olympic players, GB United? also traces the history of the amateur ethos of the game’s founders and how that credo died ofering up a long-lost world that contrasts starkly with today’s over-commercialised football industry, but still provides an essential insight to the problems facing the current Olympic team.

Examining the successes and failiures of previous managers of the Olympic team, including some of football’s leading names, such as Sir Matt Busby and Walter Winterbottom; while also featuring the leading amateur players, such as Vivian Woodward of Spurs and Chelsea, Bill Slater of Wolves and Jim Lewis, who won the league with Chelsea in 1955 while still an amateur – and wrote the book’s foreword.

Pohnpei record first win

The national XI from the tiny Micronesian island of Pohnpei has won their competitive game after English coaches Paul Watson and Matthew Conrad led them to a commanding victory over club side Crushers on October 3 during a tour of Guam.

The world's youngest international manager Watson and assistant Conrad, both 26, took charge of Pohnpei in July 2009 and after 15 months of hard work, a young Pohnpeian squad travelled to Guam on tour to play their first competitive matches in over a decade thanks to a sponsorship deal with London-based cargo airline Coyne Airways.

In the first match of their four-game tour, Pohnpei lost 3-2 to club side Rovers 3-2 but they bounced back to thrash Crushers 7-1 at the Guam Football Association Complex in Dededo in front of a large crowd of Pohnpeian expats, who invaded the pitch at the final whistle to celebrate with the team.

Teenage strikers Ryan Johnson and Matthew Carlot scored two apeice, while gifted midfielder Nick Santiago, speedy wing-back Mike Selikar and giant defender Tom Mawi also hit the net for a team that has never received a penny of funding from football's governing body FIFA.

"It's just amazing how hard these lads have worked," said Watson, whose squad had an average age of just 22. "We have put them through 5.00 AM sessions before work as well as a tough gym routine, not to mention the hours spent on our waterlogged pitch at PICS Field."

On an island with an obesity rate of nearly 90%, Watson instigated strength and conditioning and nutritional programmes for his squad that was picked after last autumn's inaugural Pohnpei Premier League - a five-team league competition won by the local Island Pit-Bulls.

Pohnpei were beaten 2-0 by the Carpet Masters the day after their historic win and lost their final tour game 3-0 to a Guam side mainly featuring U-18 players but with five players above this age limit and three full internationals.

The hope is now that Pohnpei's success with aid the Federated States of Micronesia - Pohnpei and the neighbouring islands of Chuuk, Yap and Kosrae - in their bid to join the East Asian Football Federation, providing huge development grants and creating a long-term future for the game in the region.

Team captain Dilshan Senarathgoda is now set to take over the reins in Pohnpei while Watson plans to look for a football role in the UK or Europe and Conrad plans to make a documentary about the team's epic journey.

Strain at new regional federation

A version of this story appeared in a recent edition of Soccer Business World

Tensions between the six national football associations in the Indian Ocean that have clubbed together to form a new international association are delaying plans for a regional tournament.

The federation comprises Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Reunion and the Seychelles and a champion’s league featuring the top club sides from each territory should be staged before the end of 2010.

A tournament featuring the national sides from all six countries is also being planned. This will be staged regionally with the Comoros, Madagascar and Mayotte in Pool A and Mauritius, Reunion and the Seychelles in Pool B.

Although the club competition is highly likely to be staged this year, getting the regional version started will prove harder due to tensions between the six associations, which have very different political status. “Madagascar and Comoros are in FIFA and want all the power,” said the Mayotte manager Frederic Suflaj.

The Fédération Comorienne de Football representing the Comoros was accepted into FIFA five years ago, while the Fédération Malagasy de Football representing Madagascar has been a member of the world body since 1964 – the same year that Mauritius also joined FIFA.

The Seychelles Football Federation was welcomed into FIFA in 1986. All four are independent states, unlike Reunion and Mayotte, which cannot join the world body due to their political status.

Reunion is a French department, while Mayotte is a French territory. Reunion is an associate member of the Confederation of African Football and can enter clubs in CAF competitions but not a national selection in the World Cup qualifiers.

Like Reunion, Mayotte is affiliated to the Fédération Française de Football but only a French territory. Teams of local players from both islands were recently in Paris at the moment for Le Coupe de l’Outre Mer – otherwise known as the Overseas Cup – (pictured) which is an eight team, bi-annual tournament staged by the FFF for its overseas departments or territories.

Reunion, winners of the inaugaral tournament in 2008, reached the final again only to lose to Martinque on penalties, while Mayotte finished fourth behind Guadeloupe.

Pohnpei to tour Guam

Coyne Airways have flown in with a sponsorship deal that will enable the Pohnpei State team to tour Guam from October 1 and 8.

A new Pohnpei shirt will be produced for the short tour bearing the Coyne Airways logo and the air cargo firm, which serves the Caspian, Middle East and Asia, will give updates on the team's progress at www.coyneair.com. "We are delighted to help the team fulfill their dream," said owner Larry Coyne. "We understand how distance and logistics can pose such a challenge to a remote island like Pohnpei and we are proud to be the ones to step in and help."

An 18-man squad has been named for the tour but only 15 players will make the journey. Dutch-born winger Yafeth Konings, who previously represented Indonesia, and SDA FC striker Matthew Carlot have joined a squad that will be trimmed on September 21.

The squad train twice weekly at 5.00 am on top of evening sessions at PICS Field, while friendlies are played against an Island All-Star XI made up of overseas players on Pohnpei but the state of the island’s only pitch is causing concern with injuries to several key State players.

Poor weather and an inefficient drainage system can cause flooding to a pitch often full of frogs. Divots – not frogs – have injured Pohnpei State players Roger Nakasone (pictured), Denson Fairfield and Brian Taylor but with Pohnpei – one of the four islands that makes up Micronesia – not a member of FIFA, the island has no fund to repair the pitch or improve the drainage so training was briefly shifted to Daini Field, the College of Micronesia’s baseball field.

To join FIFA, Micronesia needs to show that football is flourishing on all four islands and the Federated States of Micronesia Football Association (FSMFA) has been in touch with the Oceania Football Federation over the possibility of joining and is working to encourage the game in the other islands of Chuuk, Kosrae and Yap.

Paul Watson, the FSM’s English head coach, and his assistants, fellow Englishman Matthew Conrad and the Nepalese expat Dilshan Senarathgoda set up a league in Pohnpei and want to do the same in Chuuk and Yap. Conrad and Senarathgoda visited Chuuk on August 18 and will join Watson on a trip to Yap for a week in October.

Yap was the home of Micronesian football in the 1990s, when a national team took part in the Micronesian Games but with no funding, the game lost momentum and fell apart. In 2011, Pohnpei will host the Federated States of Micronesia’ games and the FSMFA want all four islands to enter football teams to demonstrate to FIFA how the sport is progressing.

FIFA membership a decade away for Kosovo warns ex-manager

This story has also been published by When Saturday Comes

In the last week, football in Kosovo – Europe's newest country – should have received a real fillip after tacit acknowledgement by FIFA and the United Nations. Football's world body agreed to regulate the sale of players from Kosovan clubs even though the Football Federation of Kosovo (FFK) is not a member, while the UN's highest court ruled that the country's declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008 did not break international law.

International transfer certificates will be issued for Kosovan players, a move welcomed by the country's clubs, who are losing players without transfer fees. But another FFK plea, to play international friendlies, was rejected as the world body underlined the lack of recognition. "The FFK recognises that from [this] agreement there is nothing from which a favourable view of its wish to join FIFA and UEFA can be inferred," said FIFA in a statement.

The FFK cannot join UEFA or FIFA until full statehood and membership of the UN is secured. So far 69 countries, including the US and most of the European Union, consider Kosovo a country. Spain are among several European countries who do not, along with Cyprus, Greece, Romania and Slovakia. All of these states have internal issues, such as the breakaway Turkish state of Northern Cyprus and the predominantly Hungarian-speaking areas seeking greater autonomy within Romania; recognising the Kosovans would only fuel their own problems.

"Qualifiers for Euro 2012 begin in September and Kosovo will not participate," says former Kosovo manager Edmond Rugova (pictured). "Time is going by and the youth of Kosovo is being ignored and discriminated against. Who would have thought that this was going to continue even when Kosovo [was an] independent and democratic country?" Rugova, a former Yugoslav youth international and later a striker for New York Cosmos in the NASL, returned from the US to take charge of Kosovo.

Struggling to find fixtures, Rugova focused on holding training camps for young Kosovans who had fled his country during the 1999 war with Serbia. At a camp in Basel in 2008, Rugova came across a talented 16-year-old striker called Xherdan Shaqiri. To the surprise of many Swiss fans, Shaqiri joined two other exiled Kosovans – Valon Behrami of West Ham and FC Nuremburg's Albert Bunjaku – in Ottmar Hitzfeld's squad that went to this summer's World Cup.

Discouraged by the stasis that Kosovo's footballers have been left in, Rugova has returned to the US and does not expect any change until the opposition from Serbia, Russia, China and Spain is overcome. "Kosovo will have to watch Kosovar players represent other countries and wonder," says Rugova. "I said it would take at least ten years until Kosovo is recognised by FIFA, now I say it will take ten years if Kosovo is lucky."

FIFA to regulate Kosovo transfers

This article appeared in yesterday's issue of Soccer Business World

The Football Federation of Kosovo (FFK) will be allowed to issue international transfer certificates for all the players transferred to and from Kosovar clubs in a breakthrough for the former Yugoslav republic.

Kosovo has been lobbying for international recognition since declaring independence in February 2008. All but five European Union countries accept Kosovan independence but the FFK needs their country to be a member of the United Nations before being accepted into UEFA and FIFA.

This has isolated Kosovo and players are being poached by clubs that do not have to follow FIFA’s rules but that is about to change. “The FIFA have signed a so called contract with KFF for these cases,” a source close to the talks told SBW. “For the first step they have invited secretary general [Eroll Salihu] for an up-coming workshop of [the] transfer matching system (TMS) of FIFA. Although, this have been done on the good will of FIFA for the Kosovar players, this have been considered as the first step of the full membership of KFF in near future by the KFF president, Fadil Vokrri. KFF have signed the contract and after the FIFA signed it, there will be some 60 days to take effect.”

A second request to permit the national team of Kosovo to play friendlies was not passed. FIFA insist that the move is not a precursor to recognition for the FFK. “The [FFK] wishes to be admitted as a member of FIFA and UEFA as soon as possible, but is aware and recognises that membership is not possible at this moment in time,” a FIFA spokesperson told SBW.

“In view of its duty to prevent methods and practices, particularly in association football, that might jeopardise the integrity of matches or competitions or give rise to abuse of association football, FIFA granted to football clubs that belong to the Football Federation of Kosova the right to invoke the relevant provisions of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players in relation to the maintenance of contractual stability between professional players and clubs in connection with the transfer of players to a FIFA member association and to request adjudication from the competent FIFA bodies according to the applicable regulations.

"This means that clubs belonging to the FFK undertake to comply with and respect the relevant provisions of the aforementioned Regulations as well as the relevant procedural rules. Furthermore, clubs belonging to the FFK expressly recognise the right of clubs belonging to FIFA member associations to lodge claims against them with the pertinent FIFA bodies or to request any investigations that may result from the application of the above-mentioned Regulations. In summary, the clubs belonging to the FFK were granted the rights in relation to the maintenance of the contractual stability, but must also assume the respective duties.

"Finally, it is important to emphasise that the FFK confirmed that it is aware and recognises that from the above-mentioned agreement there is nothing from which a favourable view of its wish to join FIFA and UEFA can be inferred.”

FIFA tried late last year to bring together the associations of Serbia and Kosovo in Zurich but this failed after officials from Belgrade pulled out. Serbia’s football association had confirmed on 3 November that the president of the association, Tomislav Karadzic, would talk with representatives of the football association of Kosovo but Serbia told FIFA five days later that its representatives would not attend.

In a letter to FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke, the Serbian FA wrote: “Regarding your call to the meeting, we would like to inform you that talks on the issue have been held with all the relevant figures within the Serbian FA. According to the stances, which were expressed on the issue during the talks, we inform you that we are unable to accept the invitation for the proposed meeting.”

The issue of transferring players from Kosovo was due to go to a vote of the FIFA executive committee in December but no progress was made. The European Parliament recently called on the last five EU member states yet to recognise Kosovo's independence to comply but European Parliament members admit nothing will happen before an International Court of Justice ruling on the legality of Kosovan independence this summer.

So far, 69 countries recognise Kosovo, including the US and most EU member states with the exception of Spain, Cyprus, Greece, Romania and Slovakia. Cyprus, divided since the Turkish invasion in 1974, rejects Kosovo's declaration of independence owing to its stance on territorial integrity and the lack of UN approval. It is backed by Greece, while Spain – which has its own regional tensions – cites lack of respect for international law as justification for its opposition. Romania, home to an ethnic Hungarian community in 'Székely Land' that is pushing for a higher level of autonomy, and Slovakia, with its own significant Hungarian minority group, have also rejected the legality of Kosovo's secession from Serbia.

Viva World Cup 2010

Kurdistan vs Regno della due Sicilies. Image courtesy Miléna Kit NFB (c)

This article also appears on Play The Game

Padania completed a hat-trick of successes in the Viva World Cup for non-FIFA nations at the weekend but the latest tournament in the Maltese island of Gozo was a far lower profile affair than last year.

In 2009, Padania hosted the tournament in a blaze of publicity, including live TV coverage of some games, but Sunday’s 1-0 win over Kurdistan – a repeat of last year’s final – was not screened after Kurdish television decided against screening the tournament.

This year’s VWC did see the highest number of entrants with six teams playing and sponsorship from Vellone Sports and Bank of Valletta.

The tournament was also staged without interference by the Malta Football Association and a full international took part for the first time with Danijel Bogdanovic of Sheffield United and Malta captaining hosts, Gozo.

The tournament also featured Provence, Occitania – a side of players, who can speak the medieval language of Occitan - and Regno della due Sicilies representing the ancient kingdom of southern Italy.

The first VWC was held in 2006 in southern France and nine different teams have played in the four tournaments but Monaco, a team representing Sweden’s Aramean Suryoye minority and the Sami tribe from Scandinavia did not travel to Gozo.

The Sami played in the first three tournaments but missed out after internal disputes between the Swedish and Norwegian elements of the tribe.

The next VWC will be in Kurdistan in 2012 after the organisers, the New Federation Board pushed back the tournament by a year to try and attract teams from the Island Games football tournament, which will be held in 2011 on the Isle of Wight.

Monaco quits NF Board

A version of this story appeared in Soccer Business World.

The Monaco Football Association has quit the NF Board for non-FIFA nations, which later this month holds its fourth Viva World Cup (VWC).

As a member of the United Nations, the Mediterranean principality is eligible to join UEFA but has not done so for fears that this could jeopardise the position of AS Monaco ASM) in France’s Ligue 1. Opportunities for Monegasques are rare at ASM and local players that started there, such as Guy Platto, Renaud Connen and Gregory Campi, have invariably left.

A national team was started in response to these lack of opportunities but, excluding tax exiles, Monaco only has a population of around 8,000 and there are only 60-odd eligible players.

Monaco were one of the founder members of the NF Board and played in the first VWC in 2006 but the growth of the organisation and inclusion of teams such as Kurdistan and Padania has created problems for Monaco.

“We didn’t participate to the [2010] Viva World Cup as we are not anymore member of the NF Board,” explained Yohan Garino, one of Monaco’s most capped players. “For political reason, we are not authorized by our Government to play against some teams.

"We also had some problems with the NF Board and teams of the association who used pictures of the national football team of Monaco and the Prince Albert as advertisement for their many exhibitions without authorisations. We were very disappointed about this last point which deserves us.”

Monaco have written to the NF Board explaining their decision. The organisation’s secretary general, Jean-Luc Kit, expressed his disappointment but hopes that some solution can be produced to prompt Monaco to return but with the next VWC scheduled for Iraqi Kurdistan in 2012, this may create further political problems that keep the Monegasques on the sidelines.