The governing body rejected Jersey’s application to play international football by a majority vote in February, but Austin has since received praise from high-ranking officials for the nature of his speech at their annual congress in Bratislava. Nyon-based executives have insisted the door to membership remains closed, but there are emerging suggestions that funds could be made available for Uefa-led fixtures in co-operation with the English FA.
The latest development comes as Island players past and present highlight their interest in the ConIFA World Cup – a volunteer-run tournament for independent ‘nations’ including the Isle of Man and Panjab FA.
‘When we were in Bratislava in February I spoke to Uefa’s president, Aleksander Ceferin, and we said “we can’t leave it here”,’ Austin explained.
‘He [Ceferin] said “keep in touch”, so I did and I had a telephone call from Uefa’s national associations director Zoran Lakovic, who looks after the football associations of all their members.
‘It’s fair to say membership is not on the table for us at this moment in time, but I stressed that what we need is challenging games across the age groups, including our senior men and women, and I stressed how difficult it is to get these games.
‘Mr Lakovic asked how they could help, and he invited me over to Switzerland to discuss it. I had a tour of the Uefa headquarters and they said they would help in whatever way we need.
‘He [Lakovic] said Uefa has a responsibility to develop football beyond its membership, and in recent times they have helped other associations who are not members. They have a budget to help people like us and I asked if they might want to sponsor something like a small tournament between Jersey and other small nations. They said they’d be happy to talk.’
Despite Uefa’s latest offer, Austin says being handed international status remains the ultimate aim.
‘This is not the step we would have hoped for back in February,’ he added. ‘But they have got a lot to offer us and it’s now a question of working out what they can and can’t do in the short and medium term that’s of benefit to us.
‘We’ll keep pushing for membership, but for the moment we have taken one step back and we will see if it makes a meaningful difference for us.’
Discussing a potential move to join ConIFA, Austin said: ‘We’re obviously aware of ConIFA and I’m sure they’d be delighted to have Jersey as a member, but at the moment it’s not on our radar.
‘We have been going down the Uefa route and that’s the one we’re pursuing. However, if it did get to the stage where we didn’t think there was mileage with Uefa then we would look at it.
‘We have got to explore all of that which is on table to us before going off and talking to ConIFA.’
Forty-nine of the 55 Uefa nations voted against Jersey’s application in Slovakia earlier this year due to the Island’s failure to meet independency regulations. Iceland abstained, with five unknown nations not voting at all.
