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Dear Sir,

As a current youth coach and former commercial league player I'd  like to add my voice to the arguement surrounding the BFA and the proposed  scrapping of the Commercial League.

From what I've been reading the  reasoning coming out of the BFA is that the Commercial League drains their resources as far as referees and further erodes our already over-used  pitches. They further claim that the commercial league sides "give nothing  back to football". I can see their point. With the abuse the referees are  subjected to on a weekly basis I don't blame them for quiting the game and  for former players not wanting to do it. Our pitches are in terrible  condition as are most of our club facilities. Have you been to any of the  changing rooms lately?

I have to wonder whether the BFA's attitude towards the Commercial League and its players is a result of its new  found wealth? The BFA never saw the commercial league as "giving nothing  back" when they were accepting payments from them to play in the league  every season.

When I was President of the Key West Rangers FC (2007) it was  $750 per season. The BFA never seemed to have a problem with the commercial  league when refs would fail to turn up without explanation on a Saturday. I  know! I've refereed a few games on a Saturday afternoon.

The BFA wants  to "improve the standard" of football in Bermuda and I think the appointment  of Derek Broadley, with all his experience and knowledge, is an excellent step in the right direction. But I fail to see how scrapping the commercial league will improve that standard. Especially if we are talking about doing it from  the youth level up.

The majority of our youth games up to and  including the U11 level are played at school fields. Often at these venues  the grass is at ankle level, if not higher! There is a concrete cricket strip  running down the middle of most of these fields! Very often the sidelines,  goal-box and so on are not marked, there are no nets on the goals and they have adult sized goals for  U 7 players!

When presented with these concerns at a recent youth football meeting the coaches were told that the BFA has marking equipment and we as  coaches can collect it and mark the fields out ourselves! I guess I have to  take my lawn-mower and hedge trimmer as well (which I have done!)  

If we're serious about the improvement/development of our footballing youth I would hope the BFA would make the improvement of these facilities a top  priority. Surely some of that $15 million grant from Government will be put  towards this? The surface at the former Gym field at Prospect is excellent  but we need these school fields to be brought up to the same standard so  that everyone can improve, not just those fortunate enough to be chosen for national squads.

Peter Rickards

Hamilton Parish[[In-content Ad]]

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