IN the world’s smallest football league, you’ve literally got a 50-50 chance of winning the league title.
And with two cups also up for grabs, fans have every chance of seeing their heroes lifting some silverware.
For this is the Isles of Scilly Football League – where the Woolpack Wanderers do battle against the Garrison Gunners for ultimate glory.
They play each other SEVENTEEN TIMES, often on a Sunday, and also compete in the Wholesalers Cup and the Foredeck Cup.
And that’s it. One league, two teams, no relegation or promotion, and it’s been the same since 1920.
The two teams were originally, and it is indeed ‘original’, called Rangers and Rovers.
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But in 1984 there was a rebrand into what they are called today.
Woolpack Wanderers are the current champions, and have won the league the most times.
Chairman of the Isles of Scilly Football League Anthony ‘Gibbo’ Gibbons, explained how the teams are picked each season.
In a clip posted on the league’s Twitter account, he said: “Our squads are pretty much picked like the school yard.
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“You have the two captains, and vice-captains, you write all the names down on a sheet of paper, in positions, and you flip a coin and literally take it in turns to pick the better players.
“We don’t tell the worst player they got picked last, that’s quite nice.
“It’s just a meet up in a pub, have a few beers and that’s how it goes every year.
“So you could literally switch teams every single season, which I did for five seasons in a row.”
And certain footballing royalty has paid a visit to the league’s headquarters.
In 2008 David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Patrick Vieira, Michael Ballack and Jose Mourinho few into St Mary’s to film an ad for Adidas called “Dream Big”.
Speaking during filming, Scillonian referee David Grottick told Cornwall Live: “David was absolutely superb and the kids all had a great time.
“We were told some of the children may feature in the advert and hopefully it will have a knock-on effect for tourism over here.”
And in 2019 the Scilly football league even trialled video technology – but this was FAR and not VAR.
Fan-Assistant Refereeing was used for one of the games using Vodafone’s 5G network.
Fans were able to review incidents on a phone, and then have their say on the decisions.
A quick online vote was then quickly relayed to the referee who would enforce the decision.
Wanderers are on the verge of the league title after their latest 2-1 win against the Gunners.
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A grand total of EIGHT people watched the 12th game of the season between the pair.
Boat builder Andrew Hicks gave the Gunners an early lead, but goals from Jack Stone and Rob Greenlaw moved Wanderers 12 points with just five games to play.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
