A return to a 10-team Premier Division could be on the cards . . . maybe as early as next season.

Lee Holder, the Bermuda Football Association's Leagues and Competitions Committee chairman, revealed this week that a restructuring of the leagues is under consideration, although he did not put a definitive time frame on any changes.

The association switched to an eight-team Premier Division at the start of the 2000-01 season, with the hopes that a smaller division could improve the quality of the football. Many question if the switch has had any impact at all.

"What we're discussing is the restructuring of the leagues, period," said Holder this week. "Whether it goes to 10 teams or not is just going to be part of the discussion. We haven't come to that decision. It is part of the whole technical assessment of our game so that when we restructure the league we may have a completely different look. It may even affect the way our age groups go. Right now we have under 18s but we may change that."

Holder added: "I actually did a report on that last year for Larry (Mussenden, former president) and Troy Harvey also did some work on it. We never went anywhere with it because we said we were going to hold off until the technical director came on board. We decided to let him come in, do his assessments and get in on the discussions after he has seen enough football."

One of the concerns in the past has been the amount of night football played in midweek, which prompted discussion a few years ago on scrapping one of the oldest competition, the Friendship Trophy. With some adjustments to the scheduling, with games now played on Sundays, that competition has survived.

"The promise was made to the affiliates when we went to eight teams (Premier Division) that we would revisit that decision," said Holder who pointed out he wasn't on the BFA at the time.

"I understand the reason was that there weren't enough competitive teams so they decided to drop it to eight, thinking it would increase the competition. The jury is still out on that!

"Some people are saying we aren't playing enough football and that eight teams don't play enough football. We're considering going more to nights because of field availability and also the referee situation. We are looking at night games to have more officials available. That is just one consideration.

"I am also the Club Development chairperson so I'm in the mix of everything."

However, another concern with more night matches in midweek is it cuts down on the training time for teams and puts a greater strain on the few grounds that host night matches. The only three clubs with lights to host night matches are BAA, Devonshire Rec. and Somerset. St. John's Field no longer host night matches while PHC Stadium is being rebuilt and has not hosted football at all for several years.

One competition that was tweaked recently, the FA Cup, will dominate the next two Sundays as league actions takes a break to allow preliminary and first round matches to be held.

The decision has been made not to involve the Premier Division teams until the latter rounds, which allows Commercial and First Division teams a greater chance of advancing to the later rounds while ensuring that teams from the Premier Division are not drawn against each other in the first round and thus eliminated early. Sunday's preliminary round matches will involve just the Commercial Division teams. Four matches are scheduled, with Valley taking on Pest Control at Malabar Field (12.300, MR Onions playing Vasco Mariners at St. David's (12.30) and two 2.30 matches at St. John's and BAA Field between Tuff Dogs and Key West Rangers and Robin Hood and St. George's All-Stars.

November 16 has also been set aside for eight FA Cup first round matches, which will see Tuff Dogs or Key West meeting First Division leaders St. George's Colts; Robin Hood or St. George's All-Stars playing St. David's and Valley or Pest Control playing Somerset Trojans. An all-First Division match-up sees Social Club hosting Ireland Rangers.

l Wellington Oval has been confirmed as the venue for Tuesday's Martonmere Cup final between 2006 champions and last year's beaten finalists Devonshire Cougars and North Village.

"I can tell you that St. George's was the only club who wrote in asking for it (the final)," Lee Holder revealed.

"They took the initiative and sent in a letter of request. We subsequently went down there and inspected the grounds and told them what they had to do. We have been meeting periodically, they had a work rally and met the conditions that we asked of them and are on schedule. The things left to do are not major."

The final has traditionally been held at club grounds, with the last final being hosted at the National Sports Centre in 2003. However, with the World Rugby Classic taking place on the same day at the nearby northern field, hosting two major events within close proximity presents major challenges in regards to traffic and parking.

Dandy Stars will meet North Village Rams in Tuesday's women's Friesenbruch Meyer Cup final at Wellington Oval, starting at 12.30.