Speaking after Sunday’s draw the former Muratti defender said: ‘It is surprising – [the players] have already met two of the three teams in our group, with the JFA having played Panjab FA twice and us having played Chagos. I don’t know much about Kurdistan, but a [ConIFA] committee member tells me they are a very strong team.
‘It’s a challenging group – but that’s what you want and hopefully it will put us in good stead. We’ll see what happens after that.
‘We’re happy to be there – it should be a great experience to take all the lads over to North Macedonia this summer.’
As for the weekend in general, ConIFA’s agm on Saturday was as you would expect, elections and lots of voting – generally boxes that needed ticking.
The executive committee was taken around the Island, visiting hotels along with several grounds.
Said Scott: ‘We’re hopeful that we can get Jersey’s football onboard to help host a tournament, while we’re grateful to Senator Steve Pallett for giving ConIFA a ministerial welcome and getting involved generally this weekend.’
The Island, represented by the Parishes of Jersey FC – a relative newcomer to ConIFA, having played just three games under their banner – were among the top four seeds in an undeniably colourful collection of teams.
The hosts of ConIFA’s annual general meeting had the distinction of being the first name drawn, topping Group A for the 16-team tournament to be held in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia, this summer (30 May to 7 June).
Although relatively few of the 16 names will be recognisable to the general public, two of the three teams to join PoJ in Group A are, conversely, well known to Jersey’s players and manager James Scott. Panjab FA, based in England, have played a JFA team twice in recent years (winning 2-0 and drawing 1-1), while the Chagos Islands (south the Maldives archipelago), from the bottom end of the ranking pool, were put to the sword 9-2 by PoJ during a small tournament in Yorkshire last year.
The Island club’s other group opponents this summer will be Kurdistan.
More in Monday’s JEP.
