2025 ISLAND GAMES: WESTERN ISLES 0:2 BERMUDA (MEN, DAY 1)

A gloriously sunny Sunday afternoon in Rendall provided the perfect backdrop to this match, which kicked off the action in Group C. Western Isles were cast as the group's whipping-boys before the tournament began, while Bermuda, represented in Orkney by their under-23 side, were amongst the favourites to win the tournament.

Bermuda started the game on the front foot, and kept up the pressure on the Western Isles goal for most of the 90 minutes, but they were frustrated during the first half by poor finishing and fine defending. Joshua Joseph had their best chance after 10 minutes, when he got on the end of a low Camaje Easton-Smith cross 8 yards out, only to side-foot the ball wide with keeper Jack Maclennan's goal at his mercy.

Western Isles played on the counter and showed some good approach play, but were unable to fashion more than a weak shot or two, leaving the vocal Bermudan goalkeeper Nathaniel Swan virtually untested.

The Hebridean defence had an excellent first half, but their good work was undone two minutes into the second half when Joshua Joseph latched on to a through ball from midfield, steamed through a defence which had evaporated in front of him, touched the ball twice, and the second touch was enough for him to guide the ball to the left of Maclennan to give his side the lead.

Andrew Armstrong missed a good opportunity to extend Bermuda's lead moments later before Maclennan denied Joseph by rushing out and smothering the ball just before the forward made contact. Western Isles couldn't take advantage of a melée following a corner on the hour mark, which ended with an attacker unable to turn and shoot before Swan dived in to retrieve the ball just in front of his goal-line.

The underdogs got a couple of shots in shortly after that through the impressive Luke Morrison and Sam Mackay, who saw his shot saved. Before they could trouble the Bermudan goal again, their opponents doubled their lead with just under 20 minutes to go, and it came from a defensive mix-up. The ball was headed past the stranded Maclennan by one of his team-mates and hit the crossbar, but Keyni Mills was first to react, pouncing to turn and fire the ball past the diving Maclennan.

Stephen Mutch fashioned a chance for himself just outside the Bermudan box after twisting and turning to get into position, but his attempt to reduce the arrears was unsuccessful with the ball going well over the bar. After a duel with DI Maclennan sent an inviting cross into the box, but the unmarked Luke Mackay could only graze the ball with his forehead and the chance was lost. 

Down the other end, Chance Eve, who had played well all game, had an injury-time opportunity to further increase his side's lead, but after going on a good run down the left and jinking his way into the box, he steered his shot inches over the bar. A Bermudan forward rounded Maclennan but couldn't steer a shot towards goal before Harry Bray got back to clear the ball.

A winning start to the tournament for the favourites, then, and manager Barry John Nusam was pleased enough with his team's performance after the game, saying that the Island Games was the first time that the current squad had been involved in a tournament, that they would be taking things game by game and hoped that his team would learn from being involved in the Games. They certainly looked to be a bright, ebullient and cohesive unit and will be a handful for any team they meet during the remainder of the competition.

Western Isles boss Eric MacLeod, meanwhile, said that he was delighted with the way his team had played, especially with their first-half performance. His defenders were excellent as a unit, and comfortably kept Bermuda at bay for long periods. The defeat virtually ensured that they would not be challenging for a place on the podium, but the team's display against one of the favourites to win Island Games gold would surely have given hope of a repeat performance against Ynys Môn on Monday.

WESTERN ISLES:

1 Jack MACLENNAN; 2 Donald MACLENNAN, 3 Harry BRAY, 4 Josh SMITH, 5 Eachainn MILLER, 6 Angus MACDONALD, 7 Samuel MACKAY, 8 Luke MORRISON, 10 Stephen MUTCH, 11 Michael JONES, 16 Robert JONES

BERMUDA:

12 Coleridge FABLER Jr.; 2 Andrew ARMSTRONG, 3 Brighton MORRISON, 5 Josj DUBLIN, 10 Joshua JOSEPH, 11 Hayden DILL, 13 Adrian TROTT, 14 Jace DONAWA, 15 Amir DILL, 16 La Zai OUTERBRIDGE, 20 Caleb McDOWALL

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Many thanks to the staff and volunteers at Rendall for their assistance and general good nature. They're a fine advert for the district, indeed. Thanks, too, to the match officials for their assistance.

ORKNEY MANAGER SENSES A CHANCE TO MAKE HISTORY

It is very easy to dismiss competitions such as the Island Games as an irrelevance, especially in this day and age when the football world's attention is firmly fixed on the exploits of those nations, clubs and players at the top table. But, with the 2025 edition of the tournament about to kick off in Orkney, anticipation in the archipelago just to the north of the Scottish mainland has reached fever pitch, and the locals turned out in force to watch the opening ceremony and athletes' parade through the islands' main town, Kirkwall, yesterday afternoon.

Ten islands will be taking part in the men's tournament at the Island Games, and twelve in the women's competition. The hosts will be represented in both tournaments, and the manager of the Orkney men's side, Charlie Alway, is hoping that home advantage will see an upturn in fortunes for Orcadian football.

Alway, a native of Bedfordshire, and his wife came to Orkney around twenty years ago, basically for a change of scenery, and he found himself getting involved with the island team via a fairly unusual route. He spoke to PFB about this and much else in the run-up to the Island Games.

"I’ve been up here in Orkney for about 20 years, and got involved with the local football scene and, through one thing and another, got involved via commentating and, refereeing and managing in the [local] leagues for a few years and I sort of picked up the Orkney job. 

"Myself and my assistant Colin “Paddy” Kilpatrick have been managing Orkney FC for the past ten years; first of all, we started off by entering a few cup competitions before we joined the North Caledonian League about ten years ago. 

As in most northern regions of Europe, most football in Orkney itself is played during the summer months, but Orkney FC bucks that trend. Alway: "We play in the [North Caledonian League in] winter, but the summer football is a slightly different entity. It’s like the international scene in the local world.

"We’ve got the North Caledonian League from August through Easter, with twenty-four games, and in the summer we [Orkney] play three games: Caithness, which is a county just across the water from us; Wick Academy; and Shetland. So, Orkney basically play three annual games against our nearest neighbours, and those are often1 the only three games we play every summer. Every second summer, we’ve got the Island Games.

Most of the Orkney squad taking part in this yesr's Island Games play for Orkney FC during the regular Scottish season and for a local team during the short summer season. For some of the players, that is a case of biting off more than they can chew, but Alway remains philosophical about it, and doesn't hold it against them.

"Between Orkney Football Club in the winter and [Orkney] in the summer, there’s probably about 75 per cent crossover. So, there’s a few guys who because of their jobs can’t commit to playing in the winter, and then there’s Wick Academy, the local Highland League club which plays at a level above us. Our captain and our best young player play for them, so I typically lose my best players from the North Caledonian League every year.

"That’s the pattern of development we have, that’s our opportunity ladder, and that’s just the way the world is. We just have to wish them well. They still have to train with us because of the travel. We get the benefit of a better player in our training pool helping everyone else get better.

"Typically, because of the amount of travel they have to do, the guys only stick it for about four years, as they basically have to go away on a Friday night and come back on a Sunday, home or away. Even the most dedicated lads do a four-year cycle of that and they’ve had enough.

Alway and Kirkpatrick took charge of Orkney after being in the hotseat at Orkney FC for a number of years, and the opportunity came after a dramatic defeat for Orkney against theor biggest rivals Shetland. 

"Paddy and I were taking care of the winter job, until three years ago. The most important game in the local calendar is the [Milne Cup] game against Shetland - that’s our local rivalry; it has been played over a hundred times and it’s important to the local footballing community. There are great links between Orkney and Shetland, as you can imagine; rivalry, friendship, all that sort of stuff.

"Three years ago, we lost 8:0, which was unprecedented and a shock to the system because the year before, we’d beaten then 2:1. This was bit of a seismic shift, and then Paddy and I got appointed to the summer job as well as the winter job after the [Orkney FA] asked the players [for their opinions]. 

The players asked for Alway and Kirkpatrick to take over the Orkney side, and the Orkney FA agreed to this, which, as Alway said, brought "a bit of continuity."

The two gentlemen's first assignment in charge of the Orkney team saw them lead the squad which went to Guernsey for the 2023 Island Games. Alway saw it as a generally positive experience: "We didn't do too badly. We drew 2:2 against Greenland which was a good result because Greenland were seeded, we lost 2:1 to Bermuda, which was also a good result as they are a talented nation, we beat the Norwegian side Frøya, and in our placement game, we lost 2:1 to the Isle of Man, which, in our world was another good result.

"Frøya and the Isle of Man are both drawn in our group again this year, which is quite nice. Our boys have looked at both those teams; we beat one of them by a goal and lost to the other by a goal, so we feel as though we should be competitive against both of them again."

Alway is quite hopeful that Orkney can improve on their best-ever result, especially as they are enjoying home advantage and are thus seeded. "What that means, on paper", contended Alway, "is that one team is better than us and another are where we would normally be. Isle of Man are better than us, Frøya would be the minnows Hitra are where we would normally be, and the Isle of Man, who are in Pool B, would normally be better than us, but they are unseeded.

"On that basis, we have the opportunity to get out of the group in a way that we have never had before. Every time we've played before, we have had to try and beat two teams that are better than us to try and get out of the group. Normally, that's very unlikely. Of course, it's possible, but its unlikely. 

"Our window of opportunity is enhanced by: A, we're at home and are seeded, and B, there are only three groups. One of the second-placed teams can progress, so we have a chance of getting out of the group if we do ourselves justice. It would be the first time Orkney have ever [qualified for the semi-finals].

Alway was cautiously positive about this team's chances of progressing to the last four, but he said that the locals were expecting more: "The expectation of the local footballing public is that we should be getting out of the group. Anything else would be seen as a missed opportunity, disappointing. 

"The players and I think we're in with a fighting chance. Once we [theoretically qualify for the semi-finals], the chances are we would be up against Anglesey, the Isle of Man, teams from islands with three or four times the population of Orkney.

"We'd have to perform incredibly well to get a result against one of them. The players aren't under the pressure of having to win the tournament because they're playing at home, but getting out of the group would be deemed to be a good thing to have done."

Orkney's women's team will be playing at the Island Games for the first time, and Alway noted that expectations for them are somewhat lower than for the men's team, and they're also a much younger squad compared to the one under his tutelage.

"It's their first Island Games; they're a fairly new team, a fairly young team and their best player is heavily involved im the athletics as well. She's a young sprinter, maybe about 17 years old, so she may be fatigued after running in the 100 and 200 metres and therefore not always available. They've got Frøya, Gozo and the Isle of Man as well in the group. They might br competitive in the first two games, but the Isle of Man would be a challenge.

"The girls play in the Highland League, and are mid-table, maybe potentially top four. They are a bona-fide women's team, but this will be their first Island Games. Apart from maybe three players, the average age of the squad would be about 20 and haven't played against a team of the calibre of the Isle of Man.

"Apart from two young lads, who are excellent, the vast majority of my players are between 22 and 32. There aren't many old men and young boys, and around fifteen of them have played before in the Island Games, so they're in a different space to the lassies."

One of of the two young players in the men's team Alway referred to is George Ewing, who plays for Wick Academy during the regular season and East United during the local season, and the Orkney manager reckoned he would be one to watch at the tournament: "He's 17, he's quick, he's sharp. He's not particularly flashy, but he does the simple things very, very well. His sister, Jess, is about two or three years older than George, and she'll be playing on the right wing for the women's team."

He mentioned a number of other players he hoped might influence matters on the pitch, including some real characters: "We've got Liam Delday from Thorfinn Kirkwall who played in Anglesey [at the 2019 Inter-Island Games], who's a bit of an idiosyncratic-looking player, a Pat Nevin-type who moves from side to side as much as up and down the pitch. He's a very effective player; when he reached a hundred games for Orkney FC, he scored his seventy-first goal that day.

"We've also got a couple of big, strong, traditional centre-forwards who will be sharing no. 9 duties: Jamie Flett from Stromness, who scored three goals for us in Guernsey, and Toby MacLeod, who's one of these guys who've got the big hair, the dreadlock-style look. They're both big, physically imposing guys with character. They're full of themselves and full of the joys of life [laughs].

"There's also the captain, Owen Rendall, who plays for Wick Academy, and he'll be in central midfield. He's an old-fashioned tackling, breaking the game up, setting up attacks type of guy. Big, strong, not really a footballer but jist someone you want in a football team. He's really good, and his sister, Amy Pickles, will be playing centre-back for the women as well if she's back. She's just had a baby, about six weeks ago. She's probably their best defender.

"We've also got Dan Hourston [Kirkwall Hotspurs], who comes from the island of Papa Westray. He captained the team against Bermuda at the last Island Games, which was nice when you consider he comes from an island with 75 people. [He also played in the first round of this year's Parish Cup competition with a couple of brothers and his father as their Papa Westray, or Papay, team made their bow in the competition.]"

The Orkney squad, big hair fans, Pat Nevin clones, new uncles and all have been busy preparing for the Island Games over the past few weeks. They started off by beating Western Isles by 3 goals to 1, then lost to Caithness on penalties after a 1:1 draw and most recently lost 2:1 against a Wick Academy side containing George Ewing.

They have also employed the services of sports psychologists and sports nutritionists in the hope of obtaining that extra edge, and the players have been doing extra training under their own steam, so they have been nothing if not thorough in their preparations. 

"I've been around most of these players for the past ten years, and I have a pretty good relationship with them. They're guys I trust as players and as men. We had an original squad of thirty-two players, and the first sixteen pretty much pick themselves, but you could have picked any four of the other sixteen, they're all good players. 

"But, you've got to get the balance right. It isn't about picking the best twenty, it's about picking the right twenty. We've got a fair chance of having a good crack at it. We aren't going to rip up any trees, but we aren't going to throw up on our own feet, either."

ORKNEY SQUAD

GOALKEEPERS

1 Liam VALENTINE (Kirkwall Thorfinn); 23 Cameron McCONNACHIE (Stromness Athletic)

DEFENDERS

2 Daniel HOURSTON (Kirkwall Hotspurs); 3 Jason SCOTT (East United); 4 Owen RENDALL (Kirkwall Hotspurs); 5 Wayne KIRKNESS (Kirkwall Thorfinn); 14 Lee RENDALL (East United); 15 Aiden DREVER (East United); 17 Kyle DREVER (Kirkwall Hotspurs); 18 Connan RENDALL (Kirkwall Rovers); 19 Jimmy CRAIGIE (Stromness Athletic)

MIDFIELDERS

6 Callan JESSIMAN (Stromness Athletic): 7 Joe WILSON (Kitkwall Hotspurs); 8 Jay FOUBISTER (Kirkwall Thorfinn); 12 Steven HELLIWELL (East United); 16 Liam DELDAY (Kirkwall Thorfinn); 20 George EWING (East United)

FORWARDS

9 Jamie FLETT (Stromness Athletic); 10 Toby MacLEOD (Stromness Athletic); 11 Owen YOUNG (Stromness Athletic)

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Many thanks to Charlie Alway for his time and patience; squad-list correct as of 26 June.

GREENLAND AND RUTKJÆR SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS, BUT THE BALL ROLLS ON

During the first week of June, Greenland's national football team went on a week-long tour of Denmark and Germany, and played three games against local opposition, winning one, drawing one and losing the other. It was a tour which had left manager Morten Rutkjær feeling very content indeed before the team left for home on 7 June, and they were all looking forward to going to England for a short training-camp in the first week of October. 

The national football association, the KAK, had been sounding out possible opponents - including national sides from within CONCACAF - and venues for at least two matches during the training-camp, which the KAK had been hoping to hold in or around London.

Three days later, however, the KAK's plans had been thrown into disarray after news had been received from CONCACAF's Extraordinary Congress that their application for membership of the organisation, which had been submitted in May of last year, had been unanimously rejected by CONCACAF's forty-one member associations.

CONCACAF's decision raised a wave of sympathy amongst football fans the world over, and a deal of curiosity amongst still more. There was also anger at the way the Greenlandic FA's application had been summarily dismissed in a terse statement, which had been issued without containing any explanation of CONCACAF's decision. It brought back memories of the Gibraltar FA's treatment by both UEFA and FIFA's from the late 1990s until their belated admission to both organisations in 2013 and 2016 respectively.

Rutkjær, a native of Denmark who has been in charge of the Greenlandic national team since 2021, told PFB the weekend after CONCACAF's decision: "We were surprised..we were shocked. We didn't expect to become member at the first time [of asking]..we expected them to say that we have to work on the football pitches or to change something before we can become a member, but they did not mention anything to us. they just sent an e-mail saying: 'You can not be a member of CONCACAF. Goodbye, good luck.'

"We received another e-mail from CONCACAF today saying that they had done everything by the book; they asked the members in CONCACAF to choose if Greenland should become a member or not, and forty-one members stuck their hands in the air and said that they didn't want Greenland to become a member of CONCACAF.

"CONCACAF will not change its decision. That's the first thing. But right now, we ask the world..this is not a victory for football, because FIFA said that they want every country to play football against each other and they want to spread football to every place on Earth. But, they respect the decision from CONCACAF that Greenland cannot play international matches against other countries. It is a big failure for football that, right now, Greenland cannot play against UEFA members and, right now, they can't play against CONCACAF teams. They can't play international matches against other countries, and that is a disaster.

"Small countries have big problems when they try to join FIFA, CONCACAF and so on. They haven't a chance of joining. CONCACAF haven't treated Greenland very well at all.

"But, right now, Greenland is ready. We are ready. We have talked to politicians in Greenland and we will build airdomes so we can play throughout the year. We have a good economy, and we want to go and play CONCACAF teams in the first years, so what is the problem?"

"At the minute, we are very surprised and a little bit angry. We don't know what we should do, because there's no way for us to play football matches against other countries. That's a disaster."

One thing going in the KAK's favour is that they can still take part in the Island Games, although they were not drawn out of the hat to take part in this year's edition, which kicks off in Orkney, Scotland, at the beginning of next week. Participation in the tournament is always something to look forward to, but that isn't enough for Rutkjær and Greenland's footballers. 

"Yes, we can play in the Island Games, but we have big ambitions. For Greenlandic football, the Island Games is perfect, but we want to play World Cup matches. We want to be part of something bigger. We can play in the Island Games, but we want more.

"During the past 48 hours, we [the KAK] have talked and asked ourselves what we can do now, but I hope that Greenland will go further with football. It's very important for the people of Greenland. They really love football. Twelve per cent of the population is playing football. That's a very high percentage. I hope that the KAK will succeed with a positive attitude to playing football. Now we are part of the Island Games, and we will try to [hold] our own tournaments, if we can.

"We hope we can play against other countries and show the world that we are ready, that we have a good national team, that we have talented young players who really want to play for their country. So, right now, it's very important to send a message to the world that we're still working hard, that we're still on a journey with this country and we want to build up football in Greenland.

Since CONCACAF's decision not to allow Greenlandic football's governing body a seat at their table, there has been a world-wide explosion of interest in the game there, especially on social media. Rutkjaer used the Greenland national team's Instagram account as an example of this.

"Three days ago, our Instagram profile had 2000 followers. Today, we have 70000 followers from all over the world. Now, we are going for 250000 followers, because I have had so many mails and messages from all around the world who said 'It's totally crazy! We love Greenland, we want them to be part of something'. So, right now, the world is with us. 

"Two days ago [12 June], I was on CBS [their Sports Golazo network's Morning Footy programme]. For a big game, 200 million people watch CBS, but on that day, 20 million people saw the interview with me. It was crazy."

There has been an increase in interest in the UK in Greenlandic football since the announcement was made that the KAK intended to visit England in October. Following CONCACAF's announcement, there is uncertainty as to whether the trip will still go ahead. Rutkjær: "I really hope so, but now, we are in a new situation for Greenland and what I hope for in the next 14 days is that we know what we shall do. But, I hope we will [be able to go to England] in October."

There was disappointment in Greenlandic football circles at CONCACAF's decision, especially as it has thrown the KAK's short-term plans up in the air, but Rutkjær remained hopeful for the future: "We want to build up football in Greenland. We can do so many things to build up football so that it will be much better, for the youth and so on. Greenland has a long way to go to being a good football country, so we have to look inside and ask: 'How can we do it better?' Again, we hope to remain part of the Island Games, and then to play some international matches if we can."

US president Donald Trump has made no secret of his desire to bring Greenland under American control, by hook or by crook. CONCACAF did not provide any reasons for their refusing to admit the KAK to the organisation, and a number of observers have wondered whether the American government had put political pressure put on CONCACAF's forty-one members to deny KAK membership. 

PFB put this to both the US Department of State and CONCACAF - the Department of State were also asked for their thoughts on the KAK applying for CONCACAF membership in the first place, and their application's eventual rejection - but has as yet received no response from either body. 

Rutkjær was also asked for his thoughts on the subject, and he repeated what he told CBS' Morning Footy programme a couple of days before this interview:

"I don't know. As you know, I am a football coach. I know a lot about playing football, but I don't know anything about politics. I don't know..maybe, but I can't answer that. You never know in this world. Football and politics are not good together. So, maybe, maybe not. I don't know, but I don't think so."

As mentioned earlier, Rutkjær and his charges had just completed a tour of Denmark and Germany a couple of days before CONCACAF's decision, and he was extremely positive about how it panned out: "It was a very good experience for us", he said, "because we had a high level for the first time in my time as national coach, and we played with a lot of young players. 

"We didn't expect anything from this trip, as we were due to have a training camp in Nuuk a couple of weeks earlier which was cancelled because of bad weather. But, when they arrived in Denmark, they were fit, they played very well, they understood my thoughts as a coach, so I was so happy. and we thought 'Yes, we're on the right road.' The Tuesday after, we got the news from CONCACAF. It was terrible."

During the Greenland team's tour-slash-training camp, they played three matches: they began with a 2:1 defeat against Danish fourth-level side Skaerbaek BK, and followed that up with a 1:1 draw against Superliga side Silkeborg's reserves, and finished off the tour by defeating a Sydslesvig (South Schleswig) selection in the German town of Flensburg by 4 goals to 3. 

Who stood out for Greenland as far as Rutkjær was concerned? "Søren Kreutzmann was very good, Rene Eriksen Petersen, Thomas Høgh, and Milo Biilmann, who plays for KÍ Klaksvík..they all played very well." 

Progress is being made on the pitch, if not off it, and Rutkjær and the Greenland team seem to be very happy together. However, his contract ends this month, and, although the KAK have offered him a new contract, th the time of writing, he is still waiting to see how things pan out but hopes to attend the final stages of this year's national championship, which will take place in Nuuk at the end of this month, a little earlier than usual.

"They have offered me three more years, but now it's a new situation and I don't know what the KAK want to do now, but I hope to stay. I want to fight, I really want to be a part of Greenlandic football. We are like a family. I have a wonderful wife and two wonderful sons. The Greenland players and everyone in the KAK, they are like part of my family."

One hopes that, for the sake of football in Greenland, Rutkjær's extended family doesn't break up any time soon.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Many thanks to Morten Rutkjær for his time and patience, and for supplying the photos used in the article, which were taken by Mikkel Tholstrup Dahlquist on behalf of the KAK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

WESTERN ISLES LOOKING FORWARD TO THE ISLAND GAMES

The 2025 Island Games will take place in Orkney next month, and the Western Isles will be sending teams to take part in both the men's and women's football tournaments. The Hebrideans first took part in the Island Games in Shetland in 2005, and began well, finishing in third place in both that tournament and the following, which was held two years later in Rhodes. 

However, since then, they have gone backwards, finishing between eighth and twelfth place in every tournament they have taken part in since, including the unofficial Inter-Island Games, which took place in Ynys Môn (Anglesey) in 2019, where they finished in ninth place. Last time out, in Guernsey, they finished in eleventh after beating Menorca in the eleventh-place play-off.

Eric Macleod has been overseeing the Western Isles men's team since February 2012, and, including the 2019 Inter-Island Games, this year's tournament will be his fifth at the helm. Macleod has been involved with football in the Western Isles for many years, but, club-wise, he has only ever represented Stornoway Athletic, the region's oldest club, which was founded in 1891, on and off the pitch.

His own journey started aged 10 with Athletic's youth wing, the Acre's Boys Club, and he progressed through every age group up to and including the first team. Unfortunately, his playing career came to a premature end when he suffered an ankle injury, aged 28. He has spent most of the intervening thirty-four years coaching Athletic's youth and adult sides, and has had two spells in charge of the first team.

Nowadays, though, he devotes his time solely to the Western Isles men's team, and five of last year's Stornoway Athletic title-winning side will be among the eighteen players donning the yellow shirt in Orkney. 

Macleod briefly shared some of his thoughts on the upcoming tournament with Pat's Football Blog early last month, and began with the withdrawal of one of the Western Isles' group rivals, Menorca.

"We have been drawn in the same group as Ynys Môn and Bermuda. Menorca were originally in our group but they have since pulled out of the football competitions. [The Menorcan Island Games Association withdrew both their men's and women's teams from their respective competitions in early January due to financial constraints.] 

"We were disappointed that they pulled out as we are now looking at playing one game less which, although is easier to manage in terms of player fatigue, is still frustrating in terms of the overall experience; we want to play as many matches as we can."

Macleod was under no illusions about the task facing his team after being drawn against two old advesaries, but he remained positive: "It is a tough draw, with both Ynys Môn and Bermuda being finalists and semi-finalists, respectively, in Guernsey. We have played Ynys Môn before and lost 2-1 so we know it will be another very tough match for us, but we are very much looking forward to it. 

"I watched about 20 minutes of Bermuda in Guernsey and I was very impressed with their athleticism and technical abilities, so we will have to perform to the very best of our own capabilities to be able to compete in this match. Fourteen of our squad from Guernsey will attend Orkney."

The Western Isles team which took part in the 2023 Island Games (Photo: Western Isles Island Games Association)

The team have been holding training sessions and will be playing friendlies in the run-up to the Games. According to Macleod, they will be approaching the tournament in a positive frame of mind.

"Our preparations have started and we play Orkney, the hosts, in one of our preparatory matches in June so it is going to be a very busy few months for us all," he said. "We are just really looking forward to heading to Orkney, our northern neighbours, and giving a really good account of ourselves, and I am sure that we will do that."

The Western Isles women's team, meanwhile, will be looking to go one better than their performance in Guernsey two years ago, when they surprised friend and foe by finishing runners-up. Their tournament began by their thrashing both Ynys Môn and Guernsey in the group stage, and they went on to dispose of Menorca in the semi-final before losing 4:0 to Bermuda in the final. 

Almost all of the players who were in the Western Isles women's squad in Guernsey were selected for the forthcoming tournament in Orkney, which begins on 13 July. An interesting group stage awaits them, as they were drawn together with Ynys Môn, Menorca and Hitra in Group 3. Much will be expected of manager Ewan Macleod's team this time around.

                            

WESTERN ISLES SQUAD INFORMATION (correct as of 17 April) 

MEN'S SQUAD

Harry BRAY (Tong); Michael JONES (Stornoway Athletic); Robert JONES (Stornoway Athletic); Dominic MacAULAY (Eriskay); Angus MACDONALD (Point); Euan MACDONALD (Melbost); Ross MACDONALD (Barvas); Luke MACKAY (Borve); Sam MACKAY (Borve); Robbie MACKENZIE (Carloway); Calum MACLENNAN (Gress); DI MACLENNAN (Carloway); Jack MACLENNAN (Stornoway Athletic); Eachainn MILLER (Carloway); Luke MORRISON (Stornoway Athletic); Stephen MUTCH (Back); AJ NICHOLSON (Barra); Josh SMITH (Stornoway Athletic)

MANAGER: Eric MACLEOD

ASSISTANT MANAGERS: Domhnall MACKAY; Graeme MILLER

WOMEN'S SQUAD

Krysta BRAY (Tong); Natalie CAMPBELL (Stornoway Athletic); Ann-Louise MACKENZIE (Back); Rosa

 MACKENZIE (Stornoway Athletic); Katie MACKINNON; Kirsty MACLEAN (Stornoway Athletic); Beth MACLEOD (Borve); Jessica MACLEOD (Harris); Sinéad MACLEOD (Stornoway Athletic); Shana MACPHAIL (Tong); Emma MACSWEEN (Tong); Grace MARTIN (Laxdale); Lisa MASON (Bragar); Kyla McMURDO (Back); Amanda NICOLSON (Point); CAITRIONA O'CARROL (Barra); Eleanor SMITH (Tong); Maimie ZIMMERMANN (Back)

MANAGER: Euan MACLEOD

ASSISTANT MANAGER: Hannah MACLEOD 

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Many thanks to Eric Macleod for contributing to the above article. Other information was gleaned from Facebook and Wikipedia. Any errors or omission shall gladly be corrected upon notification of same.

AN ENGLISHMAN IN NICARAGUA: REMEMBERING THOMAS CRANSHAW

The name Thomas Cranshaw will mean virtually nothing to the inhabitants of modern-day England, but, until recently, there was one little corner of Central America which bore the name of this particular Englishman, and for good reason.

Cranshaw was born in the town of Chorlton-upon-Medlock, Lancashire on 22 September 1892. He, his father William, who was a policeman, mother Agnes (who worked as a seamstress) and his four siblings, lived in Molyneux Street in the town until 1898, when his father died at just 36 years old. William himself was predeceased by his youngest daughter, who had died in infancy a couple of years earlier.

It seems that Thomas and his siblings were either interred in - or attended school at - Nicholls Hospital in Arndale, then an orphanage, from 1898 to 1901, when the five surviving family members moved to the south of Manchester.

Little else is known about that stage of his life, but it has been claimed that he moved to Nicaragua as early as 1914, where he worked in the import/export business for a company called Laberne and Thompson before setting up on his own in the city of Granada in 1917. He met a local girl, Isabel Ramirez Váldez, and married her two years later.

"Mister Cranshaw", as he was popularly known, proved to be an astute and successful businessman, and was well-liked by the locals, not least for his generosity towards the poor - he was a man who never forgot his roots - but also for his enthusiasm and sense of humour. At the start of the 1920s, he took up refereeing in his spare time as football slowly became more popular in Nicaragua, spreading outwards from its cradle of Diriangén (in the south-west) and the country's capital, Managua, where the game was first played more than twenty years earlier.

Thomas and Isobel had three children: Tom, born in 1921, William, born a year later, and Gladys, who was born in 1926, the year Cranshaw helped create the first proper football league in Nicaragua. The family was a happy unit, but tragedy struck in August 1930 when Isobel died in Managua, aged just 34.

A year later, in 1931, Cranshaw was instrumental in the creation of the General Secretariat of Football, which fell under the umbrella of the CNDO, the Nicaraguan National Sports Commission, and became its first general secretary. The Secretariat was renamed FENIFUT in 1958, and retains its position as Nicaragua's official football governing body.

Thomas Cranshaw (Photo: Salon de Fama Deportes Nicaragüense; photographer unknown)

Cranshaw later branched out into other sports, adjudicating at swimming meets and organising boxing matches in Managua, and, in 1935, not only competed in a tennis tournament but was a delegate in the Nicaraguan team at the third Central American Games, which were held in March of that year in El Salvador. (Nicaragua did not take part in the football tournament, however.)

However, football remained his first love and, apart from continuing to referee football matches - and being a founder member of the national referees association, the ANAF - he helped organise a friendly between Costa Rican side Alajuense and a team representing Managua.

Cranshaw helped organise sports competitons in both Nicaragua and Costa Rica during the 1940s while continuing to referee matches and work for the CNDO. He eventually retired from all sporting activity in Nicaragua in the 1950s - although he did become honorary president of the ANFA - and before he did so, wrote to FIFA in 1951 enquiring about the possibility of global football's masters getting involved in women's football after seeing women playing football across North America in countries as diverse as Costa Rica and the USA. 

He received the rather curt response that FIFA had no jurisdiction over women's football and had just as much interest in getting involved in it. 

After spending more than 35 years in Nicaragua and playing an integral part in the development of the country's sport scene, Cranshaw moved to Costa Rica in 1953.

After spending eleven years in the country, he moved to Los Angeles in August 1964 with the aim of helping kick-start football in that part of the United States, although there is no information as to which sector of the game he wanted to get involved in. 

Upon hearing the news of Don Tomas's impending departure for the States, in a gesture hardly showing a sign of appreciation of his life's work, the ANFA stripped him of his honorary presidency. 

Sadly, Cranshaw never got to achieve his latest dream. He died in Los Angeles on 4 October 1964, aged 72, felled by a severe stroke.

Thomas Cranshaw, just weeks before his death (Photo taken from his obituary in La Prensa; supplied by Javier Hernández)

Thomas Cranshaw is remembered to this day in Nicaragua, but only in a somewhat piecemeal fashion at best. Until earlier this year, his name lived on in a more real sense. In 1960, a newly-constructed stadium in what is now the Barrio El Boer area of Managua was given his name, and the Estadio Thomas Cranshaw became the city's premier football venue. Prominent clubs such as Juventus and Walter Ferretti used it as their home stadium. (A wake for Cranshaw was also held at the stadium when his remains were brought back to Managua for interment.)

In more recent years, the 2000-capacity stadium, which became more and more run-down as time went on, lost its status, especially after the Estadio Naciónal de Fútbol de Nicaragua was built in 2011. (International matches had also been held for many years at the old Estadio Naciónal baseball stadium.) 

The Estadio Thomas Cranshaw hosted lower-league matches and was used as a training ground until last year, when Managua city council announced that both it and the old, disused baseball stadium (the Estadio Denis Martinez) behind it were to be razed and replaced by a new sports complex under the name of Complejo Deportivo Dignidad. 

The Estadio Thomas Cranshaw, Managua (Photo: Javier Hernández)

The new complex will include a baseball stadium, two practice baseball pitches, two small-sized baseball pitches and a 1950-capacity football stadium named after Miguel Buitrago, a former Nicaraguan footballer of note from the 1960s and 70s. (Both Buitrago and Cranshaw, as it turns out, were inducted into the Nicaraguan Sports Hall of Fame in February 1995. The Salon de Fama Deportes Nicaragüense will also find a new home in the complex.)

The Estadio Miguel Buitrago, which will cost around US$10.9 million (€10.1 million) is already nearing completion, will host Segunda División and Tercera División matches as well as Liga Primera club Managua FC's home matches - although mentioned in local media, the latter is yet to be confirmed.

A new football ground was badly needed, but there was surely no reason to drop Cranshaw's name. It would have been a fitting tribute to the man, sixty years after his death, for the stadium to keep its name, even if it fell under the new sports complex. 

The façade of the old Estadio Thomas Cranshaw (Photo: photographer unknown; supplied by Javier Hernándea)

Thomas Cranshaw might not have been the man who introduced football to Nicaragua, but he did a massive amount to modernise and improve the game in the country, not to mention giving a leg up to various other sports. Don Tómas is virtually unknown in his native England, and little more than a name from the past for most Nicaraguans, but he left behind an impressive legacy which remains to this day and will be hard for anyone, anywhere to beat.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: The information contained in the article came from several different sources: La Prensa, Onda Local, The Blizzard, Facebook and the Salon de Fama Deportes Nicaragüense. Many thanks to Nicaraguan chronicler Javier Hernández for his assistance, which was considerable.

Attempts were also made to contact FENIFUT, La Prensa and the Alcadia de Managua (Managua City Hall), amongst others, for more information on the life and times of Thomas Cranshaw; unfortunately, none of them were successful. As ever, any errors and/or omissions in the article will be corrected upon notification.

IN PICTURES: WISMARI STAADION

It doesn't look like very much nowadays, but this little football ground is one of the most historic in Estonian football and it should have a little place in the hearts of every local football fan worth their salt. This is Wismari staadion, the oldest football ground in continuous use in Tallinn and in perhaps all of Estonia.

The Wismari staadion was originally built in 1916 at the back of what was originally a German poor school, the Toomvaestekool, which itself was constructed in 1867 and has its own rather interesting history, having been used as an Estonian primary school from 1917 until the outbreak of the Second World War, and later as an industrial school, an Oncology dispensary, the Tallinn Republican dispensary and, since 1985, a five-bed psychatric hospital dealing in alcohol and drug addiction. It is even a listed building (no. 1250) in the Estonian National Register of Cultural Monuments.

The Wismari staadion with the former Toomvaestekool to the right of the pitch, behind the dressing-rooms

The Toomvaestekool owned a piece of land immediately behind it, and it was rented out to local sports club Tallinna VS Sport in 1916, a gymnastics and sports club founded in June 1912, who built dressing-rooms, an athletics track and a wooden toboggan hill, which was used in winter along with a skating-rink. Both were dismantled a few years later and replaced by a football pitch. In winter, bandy and ice-hockey were played there.

The Wismari staadion was used only once for an international match, when Estonia took on Finland on 30 September 1923. According to records, the game was moved from the Kalevi Aed staadion (now home to the Viru Keskus shopping-centre) because the pitch at the latter was apparently "too muddy."

ESS Kalev : Kaiserwald (Latvia) at the Wismari Staadion, October 1922 (Photo: Karl Hugo Akel; held in the archive of the Eesti Sporti- ja Olümpiamuuseum)

Four thousand people crammed into the Wismari staadion to see Estonia win the match by two goals to one. Vladimir Tell put the home side in front just after the hour mark, but Torsten Österlund soon levelled for Finland. However, Ernst Aleksandr Joll scored the winner for Estonia with six minutes left.

In 1932, the Wiismari staadion was apparently taken over by Eesti Spordi Selts Kalev - which modern-day Tallinna Kalev claims as its mother club - and Tallinna Velodroom, with a 250 metre-long track, which was regarded as the best in the Baltic countries at the time, was opened on 15 May of that year. After only a few years, however, it, too, was dismantled.

The deciding match in the 1924 Estonian championship final series: Tallinna Sport 2:0 ESS Kalev, 2 November 1924 (Photo: unknown; held in the archive of the Eesti Sport- ja Olümpiamuuseum)

Most of those Estonian clubs which survived until the early 1940s were disbanded when first the Soviet Union and then Germany invaded and took over the country. Others, such as Dynamo Tallinn, were founded at around that time, and went on to win a plethora of titles in what became the Estonian SSR first division, using the Wismari staadion as their home base for a number of years in the 1950s and 60s.

In recent years, the ground was being used less and less  frequently and had fallen into a state of disrepair. Finally, in 2007, the Estonian FA took action and renovated the ground, replacing the artificial pitch seven years later.

Alongside an indoor training facility, the ground is currently being used by Esiliiga (third level) side Tallinna JK Legion as a training ground for their first team and the home ground for the club's reserve and junior teams.  

Sadly, the Wismari Staadion is once again looking rather run-down and in a state of disrepair, and tenants Tallinna Legion have been finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet, let alone find the money to do some much-needed repairs to the ground, which is owned by the Estonian FA, and now find themselves in the third level of the national football pyramid after two relegations in a row. 

The Wismari staadion is a very small ground which will most probably never again be one of Estonian football's premier stadia, but it does deserve some care and attention and it certainly should have a role to play in the future of football in the country, especially when one considers the role it has played in its past. The average historically-minded groundhopper could do worse than put the Wismari Staadion on their bucket-list

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Much of the information contained in the above article was taken from the Estonian FA website, Wikipedia and archive issues of Eesti Spordileht (via www.digar.ee).

Photos are author's own unless otherwise stated. Link to Karl Hugo Akel's photo:  

https://www.muis.ee/et/museaalview/3222246

Many thanks to the Tallinna Kesklinna Valitsus for their assistance.

B-67 BACK ON TOP IN GREENLAND

In a change from recent years, the final stages of the 2023 Greenlandic national championship was held between 10-15 August, not in north-central Greenland, but in the southern town of Qaqortoq, due to local club K-1933 celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. The club, the oldest existing club in the country, actually celebrated its anniversary on 15 June, and it was the first time they had hosted the tournament since 2013.

Also just for a change, unlike many Greenlandic football grounds, Qaqortoq Stadion did not - and does not - offer views of the open sea and icebergs, but it does offer a view of Tasersiaq (a local lake which provides Qaqortoq with its drinking water) and environs, which is also one of Greenlandic football's most under-rated and beautiful vistas.

One of the most picturesque vistas in Greenlandic football, and not an iceberg in sight - Taseriaq lake, seen from Qaqortoq Stadion

Eight teams - hosts K-1933 (naturally enough), last year's champions Nagdlúnguak-48, Nuuk representatives B-67 and IT-79, G-44 from Qeqertarsuaq, Upernavik side UB-83, the northernmost club taking part this year, Sisimiut's SAK and Ittoqqortoormiit AK, from Greenland's easternmost and most isolated settlement of any size - were due to take part in this edition of the finals.

There were problems aplenty before the tournament began. Just over a week before it kicked off, one of the dugouts and part of the technical area in front of it were destroyed in a fire which took the local fire-brigade around an hour to extinguish. Arson appears to have been the most likely cause of the blaze. 

Then, during the week before the tournament, four clubs, reigning champions N-48, SAK and Ittoqqortoormiit AK and UB-83, scratched from the tournament. N-48, themselves 75 years young this year, withdrew because the journey they faced to Qaqortoq would have taken a number of days and would have proven to have been prohibitively expensive. 

Ittoqqortoormiit AK, having been invited by the KAK (the Greenlandic FA) to take part, also had to decline due to travel issues. The club, which would have been the youngest to take part (it was founded in November 2018), informed the KAK that their travel itinerary would have proved a challenge to complete at the best of times. 

They would have had to have taken three flights - from Ittoqqortoormiit to Tasiilaq, Tasiilaq to Reykjavík and from Reykjavík to Narsarsuaq - and then undertake a two-hour (hired) boat-trip to Qaqortoq. 

All that with a squad of just twelve players due to a number of squad-members having to withdraw due to their jobs as "catchers" (as described by local newspaper Sermitsiaq), which presumably referred to their jobs in the hunting, fishing or trapping professions.

UB-83 withdrew because they were unable to book flights from Upernavik due to all flights in the period before the tournament being fully booked; many students originally from the town were returning home for the holidays, whilst others - and tourists, presumably - were leaving for Nuuk and further afield. The team were even unable to book berths on local cruise ships. 

SAK, meanwhile, were drafted in to replace Ittoqqortoormiit AK, but they also scratched because several of their squad were on a reindeer hunt at the time, and it was unclear as to when they would be returning to Sismiut, let alone being able to organise and undertake a trip to Greenland's deep south.

As a result of all of the late withdrawals, only five clubs were down to take part before Eqaluk-54, from Tasiusaq, down the coast from Qaqortoq, were invited to round the total of participants up to six; they gladly accepted the challenge.

K-1933, hosts of the final stages of the 2023 Greenlandic national championship, who finished in third place

Day one kicked off with IT-79 taking on Nagtoralik-45 in front of a sparse crowd, and although Nagtoralik took a very early lead, the Nuuk side came back to eventually win by three goals to one, with Allan Madsen scoring two of them. 

The second game of the day, featuring last year's runners-up and perennial title favourites B-67 and perennial chalengers G-44, lived up to its billing as the match of the day. The northerners took the lead after two minutes, but B-67 soon levelled; the remainder of the game followed a similar pattern, and after ninety minutes, it was G-44 who came out on top by three goals to two, Aputsiaq Andersen scoring the winner direct from a corner on precisely 61 minutes.

Hosts K-1933 took to the pitch to play Eqaluk-54 in the final game of the first day, and they soon took centre-stage, carrying on the theme of the first two matches by scoring in the first couple of minutes. Three up at the break, they soon scored a fourth in the early stages ofcthe second half. Eqaluk held on gamely for most of the rest of the match, but collapsed with injury-time looming and conceded three goals in the last few minutes of normal time and injury-time, before scoring a fine goal themselves with virtually the last kick of the ball.

The second day of action began with IT-79 up against B-67 in what many would have considered a prequel to the final, but B-67 took control of this particular Nuuk derby with the mercurial Ari Hermann putting them ahead after just 87 seconds with a brilliant goal, racing into the penalty-area, bamboozling a couple of defenders and deftly beating goalkeeper Malik Mikælsen at his near post.

Mikælsen performed heroics in the first half, denying B-67 on at least three occasions in one-on-one situations alone before being beaten by Rene Eriksen Petersen's crisp shot into the bottom corner in the dying seconds of the first half.

Outclassed in the first half, things quickly got worse for the Students in the second. Mika Jensen Thyssen was shown a straight red card for a last-man foul just outside the box in the 53rd-minute. Ari Hermann did the needful from the resulting free-kick. Fourteen minutes later, Milan Olsen attempted to boot the ball into the ball into the proverbial Row Z from almost on his own goal-line, but instead thrashed it into his own net with the outside of his right foot.

Angutimmarik Kreutzmann tapped in a fifth for B-67 before IT-79 finally got on the scoreboard with a sublime 40-yard chip from Kuluk Ezekiassen, which B-67 keeper Brian Rosing Kleist could only stand and admire as it flew over his head and into the net. Victor Philbert, making his debut at the national championship stage, scored his first goal at that stage for B-67 to compound the Students' misery. It would not be his last. 

K-1933's Alex Tillesen's 11th-minute volley was all that separated his side and Nagortalik-45 at the end of a dour first half in their match, but if the first half was a bit stale, the second was anything but. Flent-Frederik Petersen volleyed N-45 level before Nuka Mark Petersen put the hosts back in front two minutes later with a gentle daisycutter which careered into the roof of the net after the N-45 keeper tried and failed to dive and fist the ball away, volleyball-style. 

Kuluk Hermansen outran the K-1933 defence and rammed the ball into the bottom corner with just under twenty minutes left to level things up once more. Five minutes later, Nuka Knudsen back-headed the hosts back in front from a free-kick, and that was enough to seal their second win of the tournament and send their fans home happy. 

G-44's Niels-Erik Eriksen received all the plaudits after his first-half, five-goal haul against Eqaluk-54, but Inooraq Svendsen scored one of the goals of the tournament, a low piledriver from outside the right-hand angle of the penalty-area in the first ten minutes to get the ball rolling, as it were. 

It was just as well the net was there, otherwise the ball would have made a hole in the mountain at the far side of the lake behind the pitch (one of Greenlandic football's most under-rated vistas in the opinion of your correspondent), it was travelling so fast. Mercifully for Eqaluk, no more goals followed in the second half as G-44 took their collective foot off the pedal.

IT-79, who finished fourth at GM2023

G-44 had to put the pedal to the metal from the start in their next game against an IT-79 side smarting from their heavy defeat against B-67 the previous day. There were no goals in an evenly-contested first half-hour, but the fun started when the ever-reliable Kunuuteeraq Isaksen popped up in the right place at the right time to head G-44 ahead and this was quickly followed by a Lukka Svendsen goal to double their lead. 

Gerth Skifte soon pulled a goal back for the Students, however, and Allan Madsen went in where it hurts to bravely head them level early in the second half. Søren Kristiansen scored a brilliant solo goal to put G-44 in front once more before Madsen levelled again. Angutitaq Broberg scored a penalty to edge the northerners in front yet again, and Niels-Erik Eriksen scored from 20 yards out to re-establish their two-goal cushion. Hans-Karl Berthelsen reduced the arrears by whipping in a free-kick from the right touchline which flew over the G-44 keeper's head and into the net, but it wasn't enough to gain IT-79 a share of the spoils.

Bernhart Simonsen was at the end of a neat five-man move to put Eqaluk-54 ahead in their fixture against Nagtoralik-45, and Ian-Inuk Nielsen doubled their lead before half-time. Goals from Kikkik Dahl and Steen Kleist-Møller brought Nagortalik-45 level before the hour mark, and in the last ten minutes, either side of a fine Innunguaq Geronne goal (a lob from 40 yards), Kuluk Hermansen scored twice, finishing off counter-attacks on both occasions as N-45 gained their first win of the tournament.

K-1933's fans were raucous throughout their game agsinst B-67, to the point that every time their team crossed the half-way line, it sounded less like a crowd at a football match and more like a crowd at a boyband concert. B-67 silenced them on seven occasions, however, with Ari Hermann pulling the strings in midfield.

Four minutes in, Søren Kreutzmann fired them in front with a fierce shot from an acute angle which flew between the goalkeeper's hands and into the roof of the net, before Bentiaraq Ottosen rose to meet a corner-kick and superbly headed the ball into his own net after 18 minutes. Victor Philbert added a third a minute or so later, and scored his second of the game on 40 minutes after the move of the game, which started from the back and involved Hermann and Eriksen Petersen, among others. Kreutzmann got his second of the match just shy of the hour mark, before Angutimmarik Kreutzmann scored a late double to seal not only an impressive win for the title favourites, but their place in the final.

The host team's defence endured another torrid 90 minutes in the first game of day four, when they conceded eight goals to IT-79. Rene Thomsen scored five of them, four of them in the first half, with the first of them - surrounded by three defenders, he somehow managed to curl the ball into the far corner - the best of the bunch. Not to be outdone, Cuno Hammeken scored a scintillating hat-trick for K-1933, each goal better than the last. His second and third goals were virtual carbon-copies of each other; on both occasions, he outfoxed three defenders in an extremely compact space before thrashing the ball into the roof of the net. 

G-44's Aputsiaq Andersen and Aqqaluk Heilmann both rattled the crossbar at either end of their team's game against Nagtoralik-45, but Andersen, Søren Kristiansen and Mikkel-Kvist Villemsen all scored to ensure a comfortable margin of victory, and a place in the final, for the team from Qeqertarsuaq at the end of a match in which they never really had to over-extend themselves. 

The final game of the day was a case of David versus Goliath, with Eqaluk-54 up against B-67, and, to be frank, David didn't stand a chance. Keeper Rama Nielsen was in the firing line right from the start as Nikki Petersen put B-67 in front after three minutes and Angutimmarik Kreutzmann hit the crossbar moments later, before Viktor Philbert continued his rich vein of form in the tournament with a goal after eight minutes. B-67 went on to score another four goals to lead 6:0 at the break.

Kreutzmann and Philbert went on to score hat-tricks, and substitute Nicolai Nielsen, who came on just after the hour mark, hit five goals - three of which were tap-ins, the other two were shots from outside the box. Two penalties from Niklas Thorleifsen, plus Petersen's goal and one from Jonathan Rosing, completed the scoring. Despite conceding fifteen goals, Eqaluk-54 keeper Rama Nielsen made several good saves and couldn't be blamed for any of the goals. B-67 were just ruthless.

Qaqortoq Stadion

Day five began the same way day four ended, with another heavy, heavy defeat for Eqaluk-54, this time at the hands of IT-79. Ten different players scored for the Students as they racked up an 8:1 lead going into the break before scoring another six without reply in the second half. Rene Thomsen led the way with a hat-trick, while Hans-Karl Berthelsen and Lars Ole Olsen grabbed a brace apiece. 

Eqaluk's Ian-Inuk Nielsen had an interesting first-half, to say the least. He scored an own goal in the first five minutes, kneeing Rene Thomsen's cross into his own net, before seeing his penalty saved by Minik Andersen five minutes later and then scoring a fine goal himself just before the break. Team-mate Rama Nielsen had another torrid ninety minutes in goal, but once again saved his team on several occasions.

B-67 were already virtually certain of their place in the final before their last group game against Nagtoralik-45 kicked off, but they were made to work hard during the first half by their resolute opponents before Rene Petersen put them ahead in the forty-second minute after being put through by Victor Philbert, one of the finds of this tournament.

The second half threatened to be just as frustrating for the team in blue, but four goals in a 17-minute spell put paid to the frowns. Nikki Petersen, Karsten Møller Andersen - from the penalty spot after Philbert suffered a low-level assault from N-45 keeper Mika-Peter Hansen - Patrick Oteri Fredriksen and Nicolai Nielsen all got their names on the scoresheet. 

On to the final day, and Nagtoralik-45 condemned Eqaluk-54 to the wooden spoon after coming out on top in the fifth-place play-off, winning by the odd goal in five, but E-54's evergreen Kilaasi Ludvigsen rounded things off by scoring one of the goals of the day with moments to go, a superb effort from outside the box which flew into the top corner of Nukaaraq-Pavia Dahl's net. 

Eqaluk were always going to be up against it, a local side drafted in at short notice, and results unfortunately did not go their way at all. They suffered heavy defeats in most of their games, but they never, ever gave up and kept trying to play good football. N-45 - who ended up using four players as goalkeepers during the tournament - played better than their results suggested, and gave B-67 and IT-79 a good run for their money, although they didn't really get going against G-44. Both teams gave good accounts of themselves in their own ways and will hopefully be back gracing Greenlandic football's top table in the not too distant future.

Hosts K-1933 were looking to earn a place on the podium for the first time in fifteen years when they took on IT-79 in the third-place final. K-1933, five times winners of the GM, hadn't won a title since 2003, and hadn't finished on the podium since they lost to B-67 in the 2008 final. 

The Students, on the other hand, winners for the one and only time five years ago, had finished in the top three at every final tournament since they came third in 2014, and yet another third-place finish looked a distinct possibility when Marco Lynge put them in front early on with a header from a corner, but Hans-Karl Berthelsen missed a golden chance to extend their lead when he slipped just as he was about to shoot from the six-yard line, his tame shot saved by home keeper Arne Simonsen. K-1933's Alain Vetterlain was denied by Malik Mikælsen when keeper kept his point-blank effort out after 50 minutes, but team-mate Alex Tellesen beat Mikælsen seconds later with a deft chip from the edge of the area to level things up.

A five-man move from the back from the home side culminated with Allan Vetterlain pushing the ball to one side of Leik Mørch Eskildsen on the right, sprinting past him on the other before threading the ball between goalkeeper Mikælsen and defender Pauli Thomsen to Tellesen, who had toddled into the left-hand side of the penalty-area, and he stroked the ball into the net to put K-1933 in front with 23 minutes left. IT-79 huffed but eventually ran out of puff as the hosts ran the clock down any which way they could to finish on the podium for the first time in fifteen years to spark off wild celebrations amongst the home support.

And it was a deserved third place for K-1933, who, apart from during early defeats to B-67 and IT-79, had played pretty well, with Alain Vetterlain and Alex Tellesen spurring them on on the pitch, and a raucous support doing likewise off it. IT-79's run of podium finishes came to an end, and despite Hans-Karl Berthelsen, now approaching veteran status, playing as well as he has done in the last few years, the team as a whole was somewhat below par and at times looked defensively frail. 

G-44, runners-up at GM2023 and hosts of next year's final tournament

B-67 were strong favourites going into the final against G-44, and were looking to avenge their 3:2 defeat against them on the opening day of the tournament. It was a pretty staid opening first half-hour, punctuated only by G-44 keeper Peter Berthelsen admirably dealing with shots from Søren Kreutzmann and Rene Eriksen Petersen. Everything changed on the half-hour, however, when Nicolai Nielsen bundled the ball over the line from close range to put B-67 in front.

Six minutes later, they moved further in front, qnd it was a result of Ari Hermann once again doing, well, Ari Hermann things. His 36th-minute free-kick on the right was only scrambled clear until a few yards outside the box, and Hermann, who had cut inside from the right, ran on to the loose ball, struck it on the run with his left foot and curled a beauty in to the top corner.

He as good as put the game beyond doubt four minutes later, when he finished off a six-man move initiated by keeper Brian Rosing Kleist (and involving excellent work from Eriksen Petersen) by putting the ball through Berthelsen's legs and into the net from twelve yards. Berthelsen responded by sportingly giving Hermann a congratulatory pat on the back.

Any lingering hopes the team from up north had of staging a comeback were well and truly dashed three minutes after the restart. Ilasiannguaq Martinsen received a pass from team-mate Aqqa Lynge and went to pass the ball across the defence but failed to notice the backtracking Nicolai Nielsen, who intercepted, turned and lifted the ball over keeper Berthelsen and into the back of the net from fully thirty-five yards. 

In the fifty-eighth minute, Karsten Møllen Andersen powerfully headed Søren Kreutzmann's gently-floated cross from the left past Berthelsen to make it 5:0 for the title favourites, who had totally dominated since taking the lead on the half-hour mark. B-67 had two good chances in the remaining half-hour to further embellish their lead, but Victor Philbert and, in injury-time, Søren Kreutzmann spurned them, narrowly missing the target on both occasions.

In the end, the missed chances didn't matter as B-67 had completed their revenge mission on their northern opponents for their opening-day defeat in emphatic style, pretty much in keeping with their performance throughout the rest of the tournament, which saw them eventually bulldozing their opponets into submission. Some might say that the quality of the opposition was sonewhat diminished by the absence of teams such as Nagdlúnguaq-48, but, as the hackneyed old social media one-liner goes, you can only beat what's in front you.

B-67, winners of the 2023 Greenlandic national championship

One man who was understandably very happy with how things turned out was B-67 captain Patrick Oteri Frederiksen, who told PFB that he enjoyed the tournament, and that even the venue was "beautiful with amazing surroundings." He was also very positive about B-67's performance as well as his own, but he did have just one regret.

"It was just a shame that one of the best teams in Greenland [Nagdlúnguak-48] couldn't come..I think we showed really good class and team spirit throughout the tournament, even though we lost our first game in a very close and even game.

"Our goal from the beginning was to get gold, so I was confident about my play. I knew my abilities and that my team-mates trusted me. So, overall I am glad that we took home the gold and also [happy about] the individual awards players got - many of us were on the Team of the Year."

Kenneth Kleist, B-67 chairman and now the newly-elected KAK chairman, agreed with Frederiksen's thoughts, including those on N-48's absence, saying that "it wasn't optimal for anyone," and said that the championship felt a little incomplete without those teams which were part of the original line-up but had to scratch. 

He added that "B-67 was the best team and deservedly won the championship. [They] started the championship against G-44 and, although they were heavy favourites, they lost 3:2. It was a big surprise. 

"After this first scare, it was with more focus and dedication that B-67 [got through to] the final against the very same G-44. This was a very one-sided match, which B-67 deservedly won against [a young team]  from Qeqertarsuaq. B-67 had a lot of new, young players and quite a few national team players, so they had a super team and were probably impossible to beat [to the title] in 2023."

It was impossible to argue with the assessments of both men; G-44 caught B-67 cold on the opening day of the tournament, but the perpetual favourites roared back and swept everyone aside to deservedly claim their fourteenth championship. 

As ever, they had a strong spine from Brian Rosing Kleist in goal through defenders such as Patrick Oteri Frederiksen, Rene Eriksen Petersen, and Søren Kreutzmann in midfield, to Nicolai Nielsen and one of the finds of GM2023, Victor Philbert, up front. Not forgetting Ari Hermann, who was in spellbinding form. G-44 will still be smarting from their heavy defeat in the final, their heaviest since they lost the 2010 final 5:0 to..B-67, but their young, ebullient side played aawell throughout the tournament. 

Goalkeeper Peter Berthelsen impressed, as did old-stagers such as Kunuuteeraq Isaksen and Inooraq Svendsen, and young guns like Nuka Abia Broberg (who started the final), Kelvin Jessen and 16 year-old Norsaq Olvik all played their part. They formed part of what was a rather youthful squad; only Svendsen and Ilasiannnguaq Martinsen were 30 or older. 

Nine of the squad were 20 or under at the time of the tournament, and this augurs well for the future, especially if the squad can stay together. They were, as ever, followed by a group of faithful supporters; although smaller in number than at previous tournaments, they still brought a splash of colour to proceedings.

And, there was also a little piece of history made at the tournament. Qaqortoq native Tove-Katrine Egede Motzfeldt became the first woman to be part of a tournament list of match-officials when she was selected for this year's tournament, and she was the first to be part of the panel of a final when she was employed as fourth official behind referee Jens Gerner and linesmen Aputsiaq Larsen and Hans-Erik Enoksen.

Although B-67 and Nagdlúnguaq-48 will be the favourites to lift the title next year, G-44 will be a team to watch out for, when, due to their celebrating their 80th anniversary, they will be hosting the tournament, which will take place from 12-18 August at their picturesque Qeqertarsuaq Stadion, something which will delight football-loving iceberg-watchers everywhere. 

Sadly, the women's final tournament didn't take place this year, apparently due to the KAK being too tardy in planning not only it, but also the ladies under-15 and under-18 championships. Next year's edition is slated to be held in Nuuk - where it should have been held this year - between 29 July and 4 August. Just don't expect any icebergs, though.

GROUP STAGE

10/08/23 IT-79 3:1 Nagtoralik-45 (Allan Madsen 2, Hans-Karl Berthelsen; Kuluk Hermansen)

10/08/23 B-67 2:3 G-44 (Nicolai Nielsen, Ari Hermann; Søren Kristiansen, Lukka Svendsen, Aputsiaq Andersen)

10/08/23 K-1933 7:1 Eqaluk-54 (Alex Tellesen 2, Allan Vetterlain 2, Cuno Hammeken, Hans Knudsen, Ari-Miki Jakobsen; Kilaasi Ludvigsen)

11/08/23 IT-79 1:6 B-67 (Kuluk Ezekiassen; Ari Hermann 2, Rene Eriksen Petersen, Angutimmarik Kreutzmann, Victor Philbert, Milan Olsen (OG))

11/08/23 Nagtoralik-45 2:3 K-1933 (Flent-Frederik Petersen, Kuluk Hermansen; Alex Tellesen, Nuka Mark Nielsen, Hans Knudsen)

11/08/23 G-44 6:0 Eqaluk-54 (Niels-Erik Eriksen 5, Inooraq Svendsen)

12/08/23 IT-79 4:5 G-44 (Gerth Skifte, Allan Madsen, Rene Thomsen, ; Kunuuteeraq Isaksen, Lukka Svendsen, Søren Kristiansen, Angutitaq Broberg, Niels-Erik Eriksen)

12/08/23 Nagtoralik-45 5:2 Eqaluk-54 (Kuluk Hermansen 2, Steen Kleist-Møller, Kikkik Dahl, Innunguaq Geronne;  Bernhart Simonsen, Ian-Inuk Nielsen)

12/08/23 B-67 7:0 K-1933 (Victor Philbert 2, Søren Kreutzmann 2, Angutimmarik Kreutzmann 2, Bentiaraq Ottosen (OG))

13/08/23 IT-79 8:4 K-1933 (Rene Thomsen 5, Mika Jensen Thyssen 2, Marco Lynge; Cuno Hammeken 3, Ivik Birkholm)

13/08/23 Nagtoralik-45 0:3 G-44 (Aputsiaq Andersen, Søren Kristiansen, Mikkel Kvist Villemsen)

13/08/23 B-67 15:0 Eqaluk-54 (Nicolai Nielsen 5, Angutimmarik Kreutzmann 3, Victor Philbert 3, Niklas Thorleifssen 2, Jonathan Rosing, Nikki Petersen)

14/08/23 IT-79 14:1 Eqaluk-54 (Rene Thomsen 3, Hans-Karl Berthelsen 2, Lars Ole Olsen 2, Inuk Heilmann, Allan Madsen, Pauli Thomsen, Mika Jensen Thyssen, Leich Mørch Eskildsen, Kjeld Fredriksen, Ian-Inuk Nielsen (OG); Ian-Inuk Nielsen)

14/08/23 Nagtoralik-44 0:5 B-67 (Rene Petersen, Nikki Petersen, Karsten Møller Andersen, Patrick Frederiksen, Nicolai Nielsen)

14/08/23 G-44 1:1 K-1933 (Kelvin Jessen; Norsaq Olrik (OG))

                 P W D L GF GA  PTS  GD

G-44        5 4 1 0 18  7 13 11

B-67         5 4 0 1 35  4 12 31

IT-79         5 3 0 2 30 17 9 13

K-1933    5 2 1 3 15 19  6 -4

Nagtoralik-455 1 0 4  8 16 3 -8

Eqaluk-54 5 0 0 5  4 47 0     -43

FIFTH-PLACE PLAY-OFF

15/08/23 Nagtoralik-45 3:2 Eqaluk-54 

THIRD-PLACE PLAY-OFF

15/08/23 IT-79 1:2 K-1933 (Marco Lynge; Alex Tellesen 2)

FINAL

15/08/23 G-44 0:5 B-67 (Nicolai Nielsen 2, Ari Hermann 2, Carsten Møllen Andersen)

G-44: 23 Peter BERTHELSEN; 5 Kunuuteeraq ISAKSEN, 6 Angutitaq BROBERG (44 Norsaq OLRIK), 7 Lukka SVENDSEN, 8 Aqqaluk HEILMANN, 9 Søren KRISTIANSEN, 11 Aputsiaq ANDERSEN, 14 Ilasiannguaq MARTINSEN (2 Aqqalunnguaq ABELSEN), 18 Aqqa LYNGE (3 Hans-Jorgen REIMER), 19 Nuka Abia BROBERG, 20 Niels-Erik ERIKSEN (21 Kelvin JESSEN)

B-67: 23 Brian ROSING KLEIST; 2 Mika DAVIDSEN, 6 Patrick OTERI FREDERIKSEN, 7 Søren KREUTZMANN, 9 John Ludvig BROBERG (18 Nikki PETERSEN; 8 Nikki PETERSEN), 10 Ari HERMANN (17 Aiko NIELSEN), 19 Karsten MØLLER ANDERSEN, 21 Niklas THORLEIFSEN, 26 Morten FLEISCHER (11 Henrik KLEIST), 32 Nicolai NIELSEN (66 Victor PHILBERT), 47 Rene PETERSEN

TEAM OF THE TOURNAMENT

Brian ROSING KLEIST (B-67); Karsten MØLLER ANDERSEN (B-67), Brian EGEDE (K-1933), Nuka Abia BROBERG (G-44); Patrick OTERI FREDERIKSEN (B-67); Aputsiaq ANDERSEN (G-44), John Ludvig BROBERG (B-67), Rene Eriksen PETERSEN (B-67); Søren KREUTZMANN (B-67), Niels-Erik ERIKSEN (G-44), Ari HERMANN (B-67)

PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT: Ari HERMANN (B-67)

MOST TECHNICAL PLAYER: Niels-Erik ERIKSEN (G-44)

MOST COMBATIVE PLAYER ("FIGHTER"): Mika-Peter HANSEN (NAGTORALIK-45)

SQUAD-LISTS

B-67: 1 Brian ROSING KLEIST, 64 Jannick RAVNBORG; 2 Mika DAVIDSEN, 6 Patrick OTE?I FREDERIKSEN, 7 Søren KREUTZMANN, 8 Nikki PETERSEN, 9 John Ludvig BROBERG, 10 Ari HERMANN, 11 Henrik KLEIST, 17 Aiko NIELSEN, 18 Nikki PETERSEN, 19 Karsten MØLLER ANDERSEN, 21 Niklas THORLEIFSEN, 24 Miilu JENSEN, 26 Morten FLEISCHER, 32 Nicolai NIELSEN, 34 Angutimmarik KREUTZMANN, 47 Rene ERIKSEN PETERSEN, 66 Victor PHILBERT, 72 Jonathan ROSING

EQALUK-54: 1 Aqqaluq JOSENIUS, 22 Rama NIELSEN; 2 Tommy KRISTOFFERSEN, 5 Aqqalonnguaq GEDIONSEN, 6 Christian FREDERIKSEN, 7 Rafael SEMSEN, 10 Ian-Inuk NIELSEN, 11 Anthon SALOMONSEN, 12 Josva-Eli GEDIONSEN, 14 Kilaasi LUGVIGSEN, 15 Bernhart SIMONSEN, 16 Elias-Isak TITIUSSEN, 17 Morten KRISTOFFERSEN, 18 Isak TITIUSSEN, 20 Niels-Ole SIMONSEN, 21 Ari SIMONSEN, 44 Niels ("Niilo") HANSEN, 45 Nuunu BRANDT, 77 Ian ENOKSEN, 78 Angajooraq GERÅE

G-44: 23 Peter BERTHELSEN; 2 Aqqalunnguaq ABELSEN, 3 Hans-Jørgen ("Muni") REIMER, 5 Kunuuteeraq ISAKSEN, 6 Angutitaq BROBERG, 7 Lukka SVENDSEN, 8 Aqqaluq HEILMANN, 9 Søren KRISTIANSEN, 10 Mikkel KVIST VILLEMSEN, 11 Aputsiaq ANDERSEN, 14 Ilasiannguaq MARTINSEN, 17 Nukannguaq LUKASSEN, 18 Aqqa LYNGE, 19 Nuka Abia BROBERG, 20 Niels-Erik ERIKSEN, 21 Kelvin JESSEN, 22 Inooraq SVENDSEN, 44 Norsaq OLRIK

IT-79: 1 Malik MIKÆLSEN, 12 Minik ANDERSEN; 2 Marco LYNGE, 3 Pauli THOMSEN, 4 Qulutannguaq TITUSSEN, 5 Leif MØRCH ESKILDSEN, 6 Milan OLSEN, 8 Ilataannguaq MØRCH, 9 Hans Karl BERTHELSEN, 10

Kjeld FREDERIKSEN, 11 Kuluk EZEKIASSEN, 14 Romeo BILDORF, 15 Ilmari ROSING, 17 Allan MADSEN, 18 Kjeld FREDERIKSEN, 19 Lars Ole OLSEN, 20 Gerth SKIFTE, 23 Inuk HEILMANN, 24 Mika THYSSEN, 33 Kassannguaq ZEEB

K-1933: 1 Malik JENSEN; 4 Ivik BIRKHOLM, 6 Ari-Mikki JAKOBSEN, 7 Allan VITTERLAIN, 8 Hans KNUDSEN, 10 Cu7no HAMMEKEN, 12 Erni TELLESEN, 13 Alex TELLESEN, 14 Karl-Peter STREET, 16 Eskilli ELLINGSGAARD, 19 Bentiaraq OTTOSEN, 20 Brian EGEDE, 21 Kevin ELIASSEN, 23 Arne SIMONSEN, 25 Angula KIELSEN, 26 Lars-Ole KNUDSEN, 27 Liilu KLEIST, 28 Nuka Mark NIELSEN, 32 Nikki ISAKSEN

NAGTORALIK-45: 1 Nick HERMANSEN, 41 Nukaaraq-Pavia DAHL; 2 Nukaaraq FREDERIKSEN, 3 Emil FREDERIKSEN, 4 Ilannguaq JENSEN, 5 Mika-Peter ("Mikapa") HANSEN, 6 Peter KLEIST-MØLLER, 7 Kuluk HERMANSEN, 8 Kikkik DAHL, 9 Flent-Frederik PETERSEN, 10 Steen KLEIST-MØLLER, 11 Jørgen NATHANSEN, 20 Kim JENSEN, 21 Frederik SERRITSLEV, 22 Inunnguaq GERONNE, 30 Pele LYNGE, 40 Jens-Erik NIKODIMUSSEN, 45 Angititaq MOTZFELDT, 99 Hans-Åge JENSEN

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: All photos were kindly passed on by none other than Greenland manager Morten Rutkjær; many thanks to him for allowing their usage. Many thanks, too, to recently-elected KAK chairman Kenneth Kleist and B-67 captain Patrick Oteri Frederiksen for their contributions. Information was garnered from a variety of sources, not least KNR, Sermitsiaq, Facebook and the RSSSF. Archival information was, of course, also used. Any errors or omissions will be rectified upon notification.