The unofficial ‘Worlds Smallest Football League’ takes place during the Winter months on St. Mary’s on the Isles of Scilly (28 miles to the south-west of Cornwall) and is comprised of 18 league matches and 2 Cup tournaments (one of which is a two legged affair).
The unofficial ‘Worlds Smallest Football League’ takes place during the Winter months on St. Mary’s on the Isles of Scilly (28 miles to the south-west of Cornwall) and is comprised of 18 league matches and 2 Cup tournaments (one of which is a two legged affair). The league is made up of two teams, the Woolpack Wanderers and the Garrison Gunners.
In recent years the club has struggled to get full 11-a-side teams week in, week out. This is mainly due to fact the majority of seasonal staff leave the islands in the winter months while the younger generation go off to College and University or move away to mainland to pursue career opportunities.
Radio Scilly’s Will Lethbridge was joined in the studio by Anthony Gibbons the Chairman of the St Mary’s Football Club to discuss the upcoming season. Anthony said ‘End of last season finished very well and I thought it was a pretty good season, not bad with numbers but this year we’re trying to go around and find people who are interested in getting up on a Sunday morning and having a kick about.’ This is to help ensure the club gets full 11-a-side teams.
He also went on to say ‘If there are any residents or seasonal staff on any of the off Islands who can get on a boat and make it down to St Mary’s on Sunday mornings they would be more than welcome.’ In the past some of the off islands had their own teams as they still do for cricket. But with a population of 82 on St. Agnes, for example, it is difficult to field a football side.
The Captains and Vice-captains have now been decided for this season and they want to get expressions of interest and gather numbers before the teams are picked, which takes place this Sunday September 11th.
The first of the pre-season warm up matches is due to take place on Saturday 1st of October against the Mal-De-Mer Club on the Garrison Field with the kick-off time to be confirmed, as is the first league game.
The Political Economy of Football web site has a slot on Radio Scilly at approximately 9.50 each Saturday.