Struggling lslanders bailed out

JERSEY Reds have been given a £150,000 grant by the island’s government. The club are one of 13 projects to share £5.3m of States of Jersey contingency funding.

Jersey almost went bust in 2016 and had to sell their ground to survive.

Jersey’s government says the money will “support them through the remaining 2018-19 season”.

Chairman Mark Morgan joined the island side’s board soon after their financial problems two years ago when the club sold their ground for £1.5m.

But they have been struggling to make ends meet since being promoted to the professional ranks in 2012.

“It’s taken us a while just to steady the ship,” said Morgan.

“As we’ve worked to control the financial activities of the club we’ve realised that there’s a financial deficit of around £300,000 per year in the running of the club.

“It costs more to run the club than the money we can make to run it at the moment.”