Manager James Scott, the man responsible for entering a Jersey club into ConIFA – an international football organisation for independent regions – has named a 16-strong squad for the newly-formed tournament in Yorkshire, which has attracted interest from the Isle of Man and Cornwall.
Former Muratti captain Luke Watson, 2017 Junior Footballer of the Year Jake Prince and St Clement junior Tom Harris are the only players included who are not a part of Martin Cassidy’s 24-man squad for upcoming tournaments in Jersey FA shirts.
All but three of the team travelling to Yorkshire will have ended a three-game tournament under Cassidy – the Jacksons International Trophy – just five days earlier, and are also due to fly to Wales a fortnight later for the 2019 Island Games replacement tournament.
‘It’s a busy summer of football so I’m really pleased the boys have bought into what we’re trying to do,’ said Scott. ‘It is going to be a challenging three days, but they all seem up for it.
‘Not many players can get through three 90-minute games in three days so we will need to rotate the squad a lot, and with there being a tournament the weekend before I’ll be in the stands keeping fingers crossed that we don’t pick up any injuries.’
He added: ‘The players have gone away and got their own sponsors for the tournament, so we’re there from a finance point of view. We’re grateful that we’ve managed to pick up the sponsors needed to get us on the plane to the tournament.’
The Heritage Cup, scheduled to take place between 31 May-2 June, is offering ranking points and automatic qualification for the 2019 ConIFA World Cup. However, Scott has already ruled out taking a team to the global event, given British Foreign Office advice which warns against travel to host ‘nation’ Somaliland.
PoJ meet Yorkshire on 31 May, before playing Ellan Vannin (Isle of Man) and Kernow FA (Cornwall) on the following two days.
IQ-EQ are lead tournament sponsors for PoJ FC, with R&H signing up as co-sponsors. The squad have also received support from DIS Electrical Contractors.
Parishes of Jersey FC: Euan Van Der Vliet, Daniel Birrell, Luke Campbell, Jack Cannon, Harry Curtis, Jay Giles, Michael Weir, Jack Boyle, Adam Trotter, Luke Watson, Zeljko Martinovic, Jake Prince, Thomas Harris, Sol Solomon, Kieran Lester, Karl Hinds.
