February 23 – Jersey’s appeal against UEFA’s rejection of their membership bid will be heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on June 28.
The Channel island, a crown dependency of Britain with a population of around 100,000, believe they have just as strong a case as the likes of new UEFA members Gibraltar and Kosovo, but their case was thrown out by UEFA last year on the grounds that Jersey is not recognised as an ‘independent state’ by the United Nations.
However, the rejection came without the matter being passed to the full UEFA membership. “The key element of our argument is that the executive should have sent our application to congress,” said JFA president Phil Austin. “They didn’t do that, so we believe they acted in an ultra vires way [beyond their power].”
Confirmation of the court date follows a number of failed attempts to get both parties around the same table and it remains to be seen whether precedent ends up being on Jersey’s side. CAS were instrumental in Gibraltar’s long and ultimately successful fight for UEFA and FIFA membership after the British Overseas Territory had a series of applications denied
Austin believes UEFA could create a second tier competition for teams like his own. “We accept that Germany and England probably don’t want to play us,” he said. “But why shouldn’t we be in ‘division two’ playing against Gibraltar, Malta, Andorra and Liechtenstein?
“Our own view is that UEFA probably should divide itself in two and have a second division, if you like, for the smaller nations. We understand the position of some of the big guys, but we don’t see that as an excuse to keep us out of the whole programme.”
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