Jersey Bulls target EFL place – yes, you read that right – the newly formed side have set their sights on getting to the Football League.
The club, who have won every match since the start of the season in their Combined Counties Division, spoke about how they’ve got on, their plans so far and that fact that they pay for their opponents to travel and stay locally.
Co-Director/Founder of the team Ian Horswell told Sky Sports: “So we pay for the visiting teams to come over, along with the referees and their assistants and again if they have to incur an overnight stay we have to put them up as well. So, costs vary but the first game of the season it was at the height of the season in Jersey’s tourism season and we played Ash United and it cost us north of £5,500 to bring them over for one single fixture.”
He explained that the team depend on corporate sponsorship in order to sustain this level of funding for their opponents’ travel and accommodation costs.
He explained: “I wouldn’t have got involved if I didn’t think it was sustainable. There’s no benefactor behind the scenes with a pot of money. It all comes from a lot of corporate sponsorship… We’ve all got to pull together to raise in the region of £260,000 a year just to break even.”
Co-Director/Founder, Russell Le Feuvre, added: “Two years ago we sat down we knew that the island had been blocked going down the UEFA route and competing as a nation and we thought ‘What else is there?’ We looked at what’s going on in other islands around Europe entering national leagues and we thought that’s got to be the next step for Jersey. We do it in rugby, we do it in netball – let’s offer it to the football players.”
The report also focused on how the team manages its away games – having to travel to the mainland for every fixture.
The Captain of the team, James Queree, was also interviewed for the report, where he said that they don’t have any mainland players as ‘back ups’.
“No, no there’s a big enough pool here. We’re quite lucky with the resources and the talent on the island to compete and I think that it’s great that we keep it ‘in-house’ for the moment.”
Jersey Bulls sit top of the league, with 54 points from 18 matches. They are already 23 points clear of second place Tooting Bec.
The Bulls’ ambitions of getting promotion to the Football League was also mentioned. Watch the interview for yourself below…
You must be logged in to post a comment Login