The History of
Guernsey Softball
The History of
Guernsey Softball
Softball in Guernsey has an interesting history... It all began in 1935 when a Canadian by the name of Duncan MacMillan moved to Guernsey and introduced Baseball to the island. Locals eagerly took up the sport and soon afterwards the Guernsey "Big Nine Baseball Club" was born. It was one year later, in 1936 that we made the move to softball and the Guernsey Softball Association was formally established, it is now one of the oldest and longest running softball associations to be found.
Our earliest records show the Guernsey
National Team competing against United States Navy and
Air Force Teams from as early as 1946. During the late 1960's and early 1970's we
travelled to Paris to play against the Franco-Americans and likewise they
travelled to Guernsey. The Canadian Air
Force Team Lahr also paid a visit to Guernsey in 1972. The late 1970's saw a long
running relationship with the Dutch based USAF Blue Devils & in the 1980's
the Guernsey National Team competed regularly at tournaments in Prague, Czech Republic.
The mid 1980's saw the first of many visits to Guernsey by the seemingly
unstoppable coach & long time friend of the GSA, Earl Hicks and the USAF
Bentwater Phantoms. Many others soon followed and before long there were many a
weekend in August when Guernsey could have been mistaken for American
territory!!
Following in the tradition of players from yesteryear, many of the youngsters from those days who were then playing in the junior leagues, are now themselves members of the National Team and have travelled to Holland and USAF bases throughout the United Kingdom and Europe to continue, what has become a unique and successful sport in Guernsey.
