JERSEY FA hosted their annual awards last Friday at the Best Western Royal Hotel.
Following a fantastic season of Jersey Football, the standout performers received plaudits through Player of the Year (POTY) nominations alongside the JEP Golden Boot awards.
JFA chief executive Tim Pryor was pleased with the evening: “We had a really positive turnout, around 120 people from the local football community. There were real positive vibes. It’s a good opportunity to get together and to celebrate all the successes and stories from the previous 12 months.”
Awards were presented throughout the evening. Three shortlisted POTY nominees per division meant it was a busy night. The Golden Boot awards were the two awards that were predetermined.
Following an immense season, the Women’s JEP Golden Boot award was taken home by St Peter’s Soraya Da Conceicao. The ‘Crosskeys’ star player netted an incredible 28 goals in 19 appearances.
The race for the Men’s JEP Golden Boot was a tightly contested one with just one goal in it. St Paul’s rising star, Callum Gilroy, pipped Grouville’s Harrison Moon to the post, bagging an impressive 25 goals in 19 starts. An excellent season from the young attacker saw him earn his Muratti debut in May.
Although Moon was edged by the young striker, his fantastic season was enough to earn a POTY nomination. His competitors in the Premiership category were St Clement’s midfield maestro, Darren Coyle, and Jersey Wanderers’ sharp shooter Josh Coutanche.
With all three players having fantastic respective seasons, the JFA refused to ignore Coyle’s consistency and prowess.
Coyle took the Premiership POTY, netting 20 goals in 21 starts from midfield, a superb return helping his side to a commendable second place with some silverware along the way.
Pryor is delighted with the standard of Jersey football currently: “In most of the divisions there were really good battles for the title. In Premiership 1, Grouville were crowned champions for the first time in their history, but they were pushed by the likes of St Clement and St Paul’s for a long time. There were really good battles throughout the other divisions too.”
Pryor continued to note the growth in participation on the Island: “Football is in a strong position. We’ve got over 3,500 participants playing football in Jersey, so it’s in a healthy place and the number of participants rises year on year. And I think it’s only going to increase over the next few years.”
An area which the JFA are consistently targeting is the growth in the women’s game. With female football participation becoming increasingly common, it is key to the JFA.
Pryor discussed his passion for growing the Women’s game: “We want to see 75% of clubs with either a women’s or girls’ team by 2028.”
“We need to make sure we are supporting clubs to make sure they’re welcoming to females and the idea of developing the female game. The introduction of the Jersey Bulls Women’s side is really exciting for those top players.”
Three of the players recently included in the new Jersey Bulls Women’s squad were nominated for this season’s POTY.
The nominees were three Muratti starters: Wanderers’ Ella Brennand was up against two ‘Seagals’ in Rozel Rovers’ Emily Le Page and Jersey skipper Holly Muirhead.
Following a brilliant goalscoring season, the young forward Emily Le Page took the kudos and won the Women’s POTY award. Netting a brilliant 21 goals was enough to prove her worth as this season’s elite performer.
Premiership 2 was home to a host of footballing talent this season. Nominees from St John, Carl Duncan and Jay Newton, both impressed in their promotion-winning season.
The third nominee was St Ouen’s striker and also the league’s top scorer, Elliot Hughes, with 23 goals in 15 games.
Hughes’ exceptional record, coupled with his team’s league triumph, saw him deservedly take home the Premiership 2 POTY award.
Championship 1 saw the league’s joint top scorers go head-to-head for the POTY award. Matthew Rawlings and Stewart Daynes netted 19 times this season to earn themselves a nomination each, with the third nominee Ben Cesar of St Ouen’s.
St Clement’s’ Rawlings scooped up the honours of Championship 1 after an emphatic individual season.
The final men’s division, Championship 2, was contested by two St Ouen’s C players following their league triumph. Jack Bara and Shane Carre were up for the POTY award, alongside Sporting Academics’ Kyle Devenish.
Carre shone in a bright St Ouen’s side enough to earn himself the Championship 2 Prize. Carre’s combined 12 goals and assists in nine appearances helped his side to the title.
The JFA are constantly increasing participation levels and doing so effectively through the Over 35 and Walking football divisions.
Pryor is proud of the sizeable increase that the two divisions have experienced over recent years: “The Alex Forbes and Hepburns Walking Football Division is one of our biggest divisions now, alongside the Over 35s.”
“So that’s showing that people want to play the game for longer, later into life. Our real motto is ‘football for all’, and with these two divisions, we are really delivering on that.”
The Over 35 Division POTY was won by Roberto Da Silveira, as his incredible goalscoring return dominated the division. 28 goals in 14 appearances, averaging a brace per 90, was enough to pip Michael Donoghue and Championship 1’s POTY, Rawlings, to this year’s award.
The Alex Forbes and Hepburns Walking Football Division had three nominees. However, there was an obvious winner in this category.
Trinity’s Noel Kernan took the league by storm netting 42 times in just 12 appearances, his incredible record resulted in a merited POTY trophy.
St Paul’s ran riot in the Under-18 division and there was no surprise that the Premiership 1 top scorer Gilroy was in with a shout. His teammate, Ewan Brodie, was a fellow nominee, whose individual brilliance also earned a spot in May’s Muratti squad. The third nominee was St Peter’s Rory Baines.
With St Paul’s immaculate season, the award was bound to find a yellow’s player, and as expected, Gilroy took the praise and his second award of the evening.
Football is impossible to run without officials. The JFA recognise the hard work and patience of match officials in Jersey football. Charlie Balcombe’s efforts did not go unnoticed as he was handed the Referee of the Year award. His quality officiating throughout the 2024/25 season was appropriately commended.
The JFA are constantly looking to improve the running of each league and cup competitions.
Pryor said that there was always room for improvement in Jersey football. “We take on board a lot of feedback from the football community about how we can make changes to competition rules, whose in which division, when matches are played. There’s a lot to consider.”
As another season drew to a close, the annual awards night acts as a brilliant way to applaud the quality and talent of which Jersey should be immensely proud.
