Island Games: Jersey to bid to host 2035 event

Jersey last hosted the Island Games in 2015

Jersey will bid to host the 2035 Island Games, according to the island's minister with responsibility for sport.

Andy Jehan says the island will make a bid for the games in 11 years' time which will be 20 years after Jersey last hosted the event.

The 2035 games will be the 50th anniversary of the multi-sport event for small islands around the world.

"We're going to write to the Island Games Association offering to host the 2035 games," Jehan said.

"I think the 2035 games, whilst it's a bit further away, gives us longer time to get our infrastructure back up to where it needs to be to host the games," he added to BBC Radio Jersey's Sport Matters podcast.

Jersey has twice hosted the Island Games - first in 1997 before hosting for a second time in 2015.

Guernsey hosted the last games in 2023 and Orkney will hold the 2025 games.

Faroe Islands are set to host the 2027 event with the Isle of Man planning to have the week-long event in 2029.

"I was in Guernsey last year, they did a great job of hosting - their athletics facility and where they played the football final was first class," added Jehan, who was in charge of transport and infrastructure at Jersey 2015 while working as Jersey Post's director of postal operations.

"We haven't got anything like that - we've got a running track with six lanes, not eight lanes, so we need to see how we can provide facilities to host the games.

"The games themselves are fantastic, but if we put the stake in the ground we will have to invest in our infrastructure to enable us to host.

"That's the reason behind putting up for the games, so that we can invest in the sporting infrastructure that locals and visitors can enjoy for many years before and after."

'Jersey needs to take its responsibility'

People lined the streets for the opening ceremony of the 2023 Island Games in Guernsey

The biennial event has grown in size and recent games have seen concerns over the cost and availability of accommodation for around 2,000 athletes and more than 1,000 other visitors that an Island Games can bring.

But Jehan says it is important that an island the size of Jersey plays its part to keep the event going, especially in the light of the Commonwealth Games struggling to find a host venue for 2026 and 2030.

"If we're going to be part of that family we have to be able to host the games because some of the member islands will never be able to host," he said.

"Jersey needs to take its responsibility and offer to host the games - the games may look different, the events we put on may have to be judged by how many people we can accommodate.

"It cost us £1.5m in 2015, you can easily double that for 2035 and the cost of the infrastructure - if we need to provide a new swimming pool, if we need to upgrade the athletics facilities - then you're talking tens of millions of pounds.

"But those facilities aren't there just for the week, they're there for decades."