JERSEY Cycling’s recent cancellation of their Cyclocross Championship race not only dealt a huge blow to local cycling, but also exposed the Government of Jersey Sports Booking’s issues.
How did we come across this issue?
Three weeks ago, on 17 January, the Jersey Cycling Association and its sub committee, Cyclocross Jersey, took the decision to cancel the following day’s Cyclocross Championship race on the grounds of safety concerns, affecting all riders from Under 6 to Veteran 60 brackets.
This followed confirmation from Government of Jersey Sports Bookings that ball sports would be taking place at Les Quennevais simultaneously with the race, despite the Cyclocross already being booked in the system.
Jersey Cycling stated in its immediate release at the time that the situation “highlights ongoing lack of support to sports through facility booking coordination, where overlapping activities can compromise safety of others.”
Andy Jehan interview
As an avid cyclist and keen all-round sportsman back in the day, Connétable Andy Jehan – Minister for Infrastructure and Assistant Minister for Sustainable Economic Development with Responsibility for Sport – was certainly sympathetic to concerns, understanding that changes are needed.
“We’re looking at further automation so that we can try avoid clashes, as the rules within the systems need to be changed. You just cannot expect somebody to be cycling a bike at 30 mph with someone hitting a softball towards them – that just doesn’t happen and it’s not safe,” said Jehan.
“I talk to people from all kinds of sports and I’ve been involved with running sports centres – here at St John and with St George’s School. As a former club official, I understand the challenges of the provider, everybody wants the peak times.
“It’s just about identifying if we’ve got the right sports in the right areas – for instance we have badminton at Oakfield currently, which could easily be played in a primary school hall and is limiting the time that team sports are playing on the larger courts.”
Jehan shared where he believes improvements could be made: “As you see in a lot of businesses, I’d like to see self serve. If the rules are in the systems, then I don’t think we need to have as much interaction with people.
“This is affecting sports as a whole, not just clubs. You often see on social media about cricket not having a dedicated indoor facility on the Island – which is a fact. But, there are a lot of halls where you can play cricket, so why don’t we dedicate one hall to cricket, as opposed to them moving around like nomads.
“I think the technology is there, it’s just identifying the piece of technology that will do that for us, ensuring that we have a smoother system where people get a good, equal and fair chance of booking facilities.”
Although improvements must be made, Jehan was clear about the standard of facilities already at our disposal: “There are so many facilities on the Island. We mustn’t forget not only the volume of facilities, but the quality too that we already have – and we have to try our best to utilise those facilities in a more effective manner.
“Yes, we want to do more, yes we want to do better, but let’s give credit to what has already taken place. A lot of it is reliant on volunteers who have done a great job, and Jersey Sport have been great in get organisations to obtain a standard of accreditation with the green flag.”
The Connétable left a strong parting message, exhibiting his commitment to finding solutions for Jersey’s sporting community: “07797 758086. That’s my number, I’m always happy to talk and my door is always open for sport. We don’t have a magic money tree and we can’t solve all the problems out there, but we have a lot of experience, enthusiasm and goodwill to try make things work.
“I won’t be happy until we’ve found the solution and I firmly believe there is a solution out there for us to improve. We want more people participating in sport in general, so we have to ensure our facilities are used more effectively and efficiently.”
