2023 Island Games: Jersey's women footballers out after administrative error

Jersey's women won bronze when football was last held at the Island Games in 2017

Jersey's women footballers have been denied a place in the 2023 Island Games semi-finals due to an administrative error by the organisers.

Jersey had expected to play in the last four after being told they were the best second-placed side.

But an error with the number of yellow cards, which were used as part of the decision-making process, saw rivals Menorca lodge a successful appeal.

Menorca won a subsequent coin toss to decide which island would progress.

With 11 teams competing over three groups, Jersey won two of their games to finish second behind Bermuda in their four-team pool.

Menorca finished second in their three-team group behind Isle of Man with one win and an inferior goal difference to Jersey, but played one less game.

"It's just a scene of devastated young players that were sure they were going on to a big game in the semi-final and had families ready to come over from Jersey," the Jersey FA's chief executive and general team manager David Kennedy told BBC Sport.

"All of that has been taken away from them so cruelly and they're struggling to come to terms with it all. It's such a hard, hard thing to get your head around."

With uneven numbers of sides in groups Jersey and Menorca were deemed to have been level on points and goal difference, with Jersey progressing thanks to one fewer yellow card.

But it transpired one of the yellow cards initially given to Menorca had in fact been given to an opponent, meaning the two sides could not be separated.

"The technical committee have explained the process, we've gone through everything, even referee's team sheets," added Kennedy.

"Overall, we knew there was very little we could do, we couldn't appeal the process because the laws wouldn't have allowed that for this particular situation.

"We were ultimately forced into a situation where we were walking into a room a with a 50-50 chance of getting into the semi-final."

It means Jersey, who heavily beat Aland and Hitra after an opening 4-0 loss to Bermuda, will take on Ynys Mon in the play-offs for fifth place rather than Western Isles in a semi-final on Thursday.

"They've really grown into the competition and after the game yesterday they were full of confidence and would like nothing more than a crack at Bermuda in the final," added Kennedy.

"There was genuinely a level of confidence that they could go into that game and do really well.

"That's been taken away and trying to comprehend that, particularly when we've got some very young players, emotionally it's so, so hard for them to understand."

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