Football fever grips the islands

Saturday 07 July 2018

With England playing Sweden in the quarter finals of the World Cup today there are expected to be hordes of football fans out celebrating, or maybe commiserating.

Both sides are playing for the chance to take on Croatia or Russia in the semi finals of the tournament.

England famously won the trophy in 1966 - with many fans now hoping "football is coming home" again this year.

Sweden have never won the Fifa World Cup, but they have reached the semi-finals four times, and were runners up when the country hosted the tournament in 1958.

Today's football game is hotly anticipated by fans of both sides, but in the Bailiwick of Guernsey it is expected that more people will be supporting England than Sweden, and there is no shortage of options for those who want to watch the match with others.

For those with tickets to the Sark Summer Festival they can watch the England game on a screen being positioned on the main stage this afternoon. That has been enabled after a band had to pull out last minute for personal reasons.

The Peninsula Hotel in Guernsey, which was recently taken over, is showing a number of World Cup games on its new big screen after the success of its screening of the England v Columbia game. Attendance to watch the game is free with a paid bar and barbecue.

Other public venues showing the game include a number of pubs, along with Fusion Nightclub, and the island's football clubs including St Martin's AC which is offering a barbecue and other refreshments.