First the club had their lease of club premises on North Shore Road terminated effective June 30 -- although they have temporarily retained use of the building.

And now they have been booted from the Nicholl Institute serving the adjacent Bernard Park soccer pitch, Village's home ground.

The Department of Education recently served notice to the club that they would not be allowed further use of the basement as a changing facility for players, effective June 28.

And newly elected club president, Rudolph (Buddy) Hollis is particularly concerned about the message this sends to younger members.

"I'm extremely disappointed that Government would disregard our programme in the way they have. It scares me a bit, to be quite honest, that they would go and change the locks on the changing room doors,'' said Hollis, whose club caters to some 200 youngsters involved in their youth soccer programme as well as sponsoring teams in netball, cricket and softball.

"Also considering the climate in terms of social unrest that we have right now I'm surprised Government would add fuel to the fire by disregarding our needs.

"Young people will now think that Government doesn't care.'' Hollis was also concerned about the effect it would have as far as the club being allowed by the Bermuda Football Association (BFA) to host any senior matches.

Current BFA policy requires each venue to have suitable changing areas for players and Village had been allowed to renovate the downstairs basement specifically for that purpose, although it was stated from the outset that their use would only be allowed on a temporary basis.

Still, the end -- at least on the part of Village -- was not expected to come so soon.

"I do know that the club was advised by Government that they would be asking for the facilities back, but I assumed that Government would be a little more tolerant of us, knowing that we had nowhere else to go and also knowing that changing facilities were needed to make our field/facility viable,'' added Hollis.

"I would have thought they might have been a little more reasonable, but when I was told that they had changed the locks I was really concerned about that, because when you're providing for a youth programme with a limited income you can't afford not to generate income from the use of your field.'' The first notice of eviction arrived in the form of a letter signed by John Morbey, the former facilities coordinator for the Ministry of Education and now a consultant to the department.

Morbey's letter advised the club of the imminent need for the entire building -- including the basement -- which is to be used as a technical facility for the planned Dellwood Middle School.

And yesterday comptroller Harrichand Sukdeo backed Morbey, saying that the entire facility was needed, with work on the building set to commence in September.

"The club was fully advised of plans for the facility by the ministry,'' said Sukdeo. "They were served adequate notice and the ministry assisted them in trying to find alternatives. We may not have been successful, but we have and will continue to do so where we can.

"We sympathise with the club, which is why we offered to assist them, but they need also to assist themselves -- and I'm not saying they have not -- but this is part of our development plan and we have to get on with it.'' Alternatives for Village could be structures similar to the semi-permanent portables currently in use at the National Sports Centre. However, Hollis said the cost of such facilities was prohibitive.

He added that the membership were hesitant to dole out any sizable amount of funds for temporary structures, considering that they have plans to erect a facility on the property's north-west corner, with July 1997 as the proposed start up date.

Meanwhile, BFA general secretary David Sabir said that he and members of the executive were seeking to have talks with the club in hopes of finding a viable alternative.

Hollis was recently elected to replace outgoing president Irving Ingham. The remainder of the executive include: Shervin Dill (vice-president), Cal Dill (treasurer), Wendell Lindsay (secretary) and Allen Smith (assistant secretary).