Bermuda will likely be reinstated as active members of the Caribbean Football Union, The Royal Gazette learned yesterday.

While the BFA refused to confirm the association's pending membership, president Neville Tyrrell and General Secretary David Sabir jetted off to Trinidad and Tobago yesterday morning to attend a CFU congress meeting scheduled for today and tomorrow during which plans for next year will be discussed.

The BFA's top official remaining on the Island, first vice president Aldwyn Savery, yesterday confirmed that the pair were heading for the CFU meeting, saying only that all signs looked "positive''.

However, it is understood that Bermuda, in addition to having been recently accepted back into CFU competition since their one and only appearance five years ago, have been placed in a qualifying group of the Shell Caribbean Cup with Cayman Island, Jamaica and Puerto Rico.

The prestigious series is scheduled to start in February.

"All I can say is that there are some very positive signs regarding developments in the Caribbean Football Union involving Bermuda. The president and general secretary are on their way to Trinidad and Tobago today for talks and when they return I am confident that there will be something positive for them to report,'' said Savery.

It was just after July's AGM that the BFA announced they had every intention of renewing their efforts to get reinstated as members of the CFU.

Newly elected BFA president Tyrrell indicated that since the election of the Association's new executive committee, they were looking to their Caribbean neighbours for competition.

"We actually have a proposal in with the executives of CONCACAF for them to discuss our condition of going back into the CFU,'' said Tyrrell in September.

"They are studying it and it's my understanding that it will be brought up at their next executive meeting this month.'' Tyrrell and Sabir first had talks about the possibility of Bermuda returning as full members when they attended the CONCACAF Congress meeting in Guadalajara, Mexico earlier this year.

Bermuda have not participated in CFU competitions since playing in the Shell Cup five years ago when former BFA president Donald Dane initiated the move.

As a result of the talks in Mexico, Bermuda were later invited to attend the Congress meeting in Trinidad and Tobago in May as observers and the occasion gave the BFA hope that the response to their application to join the CFU would be positive.

But talks were temporarily suspended because the CFU wanted to give the BFA time to sort out their leadership crisis at a time when executives were demanding that president Richard Thompson step down.

When their internal problems were eventually settled in July, the BFA said they were hopeful that they would be return to the CFU.

"I am sure that as soon as the matter is taken up they will get back to us.

We are hopeful that they will look at it favourably even though they originally indicated that they would like to look at our position over a two-year period,'' said Tyrrell at the time.

"We are looking at possibly being back in two years' time, not as soon as next year. In the meantime it will probably be in our best interests to open up some dialogue with some of the individual countries in the Caribbean with a view to getting some playing time.''