For most of the game I was, as usual, on the bank on the southern part of the pitch, facing the stand.
Normally there are a host of Guernsey supporters there as well, and I’ve always enjoyed trading (well-intentioned) insults with them.
This time, however, I was in the middle of a dozen or so Jersey supporters, the oldest being around 13 or 14.
I’ll let Inspector Louis Beghin continue the story, from Tuesday’s JEP. He said that it was very pleasing that there had been so few arrests with such a large crowd . . . “We were really pleased with how it went and how good-natured the match was,” he said. “I think that the Jersey fans were a credit to the Island”.’
And they were, too. For within the group of youngsters in my patch of the ground, the strongest swear word I head was the ‘N’ word. A ‘N’ooligan’, when one of the Guernsey players fouled one of our lads. So unused was I by young fans not swearing, and making a conscious decision not to swear in front of each other, that I kept listening in to their conversation, fascinated by how restrained they were. And, you know, it is harder, at any age, to choose words which aren’t offensive rather than to choose words which so blatantly are.
Well done to you all. By comparison to former Murattis, it’s a question of the kids, rather than the adults, leading by example – and I’m glad that Louis Beghin also realised that too.
