Sir Trevor Brooking was guest of honour at grassroots projects across Guernsey on Tuesday as Sylvans FC, Blanchelande Girls College and Vale Recreation FC gave The FA’s Director of Football Development a taste of sporting life on the island.

Guernsey has just seven major clubs and they don’t come much bigger then Sylvans FC. Based in the South-West parish of St. Peter’s, the club formed over 75 years ago and used to play in senior competitions on the mainland before rising expenses eventually took their toll.

But youth membership at the club is on the up which means that their Rue de la Corderie ground, split across two adjacent sites, is struggling to cope with the demand.

Sylvans chairman, Peter Roberts, is hopeful that the club can secure the necessary funding to turn their ground into a fully functional community facility: “We’ve got a road that divides our two pitches which isn’t ideal especially when you’ve got over 200 children to look after on a weekend training session.

“Ideally, we’d like to expand both our pitches and maybe purchase some of the adjoining land as well but it all costs money and you’re looking in the region of £14,000 to get the club another pitch.”

Roberts believes that Guernsey missed an opportunity when they hosted the Island Games in 2003: “The Government spent a few million on our main sporting venues but it was nothing more than a facelift really so there’s no long-term legacy for local people to use and enjoy.”

FA Regional Facilities Manager, Simon Wood, confirmed that a major facility expansion, such as Sylvans, is possible but with a phased plan of action: “You can’t really present a plan like this to the Football Foundation in one big hit as there’s just so much going on.

“It’s much better to put together a detailed development idea that shows a concise way of tackling the bigger issues step-by-step.”

One club that has benefited from Football Foundation money recently is Matt Le Tissier’s former youth football club, Vale Recreation.

The St. Sampson parish side’s brand new £80,000 changing room facility at Corbet Field was officially opened by Sir Trevor Brooking and includes brand new dressing rooms for both home and away teams plus a match officials changing area.

Vale received a grant of £40,956 from the Football Foundation and the refurbishment, built on the back of the club’s existing main stand, also includes a spacious room for club kit and equipment.

Football might be the most popular sport for girls on the mainland but the game is currently taking a backseat in Guernsey with netball, hockey and swimming all enjoying high participation rates.

The Guernsey FA have plans to up numbers by introducing a central football venue for girls using coaches from the island’s seven major clubs with Guernsey Rangers coach, Ian Wheatley, helping to push the project forward.

Rangers also run a successful school-club link project at Blanchelande Girls College and Wheatley is positive about the future: “The girls game has slipped behind in the last few years but we’re pretty certain that we can raise participation although it will probably take two full seasons before we see the results.”

Sir Trevor added: “It’s important that we combat issues such as poor physical literacy and give youngsters a basic opportunity to play the game.

“If they enjoy playing football then they might be able to take it further. If not, then hopefully they’ll stay in sport and keep active.”

Sir Trevor concluded his trip to Guernsey with a Q & A session for local coaches before watching Northerners beat Sylvans, 5-3, to win the U12 Corbet Cup at Vale Rec.