A series of violent skirmishes at Island sports clubs over the last few days has left four men in hospital.

But officials at the clubs are claiming that violence is not a problem and the clubs are just the victims of bad publicity.

When problems do occur, the clubs say, they have internal methods of dealing with them. And the public should not just jump to the conclusion that problems at the clubs are related to drugs.

The most recent report of violence at a sports club left a 31-year-old Southampton man in hospital early yesterday morning. According to Police, the man was assaulted at the Pembroke Hamilton Club (PHC) in Warwick by a number of men using knives and bars.

He was taken to the emergency room at KEMH and treated for stab wounds, contusions to the head, two fractured fingers and various bruises.

However, PHC president Chris Furbert said last night that the Police report was incorrect and the incident did not occur at the club. Mr. Furbert said it may have occurred outside PHC, but not in the club, and that it was in no way related to the club.

An incident occurred at PHC on Monday night, but it was a "personal fight between two men that had nothing to do with the club,'' he said. "The two men didn't see eye to eye over an issue.'' In that altercation, according to Police, a 37-year-old Warwick man was found unconscious on the floor of the club with head injuries. Witnesses said a man approached the victim over a personal matter and struck him in the head with a baseball bat.

The victim's injuries were not considered serious and he was discharged from hospital shortly after.

Mr. Furbert said the man with the baseball bat, who was a member of the club, has been suspended for a period of time. The suspended member wrote a letter of apology to PHC and club officials decided on Monday night on what action to take.

The club has its own rules to deal with problems within its walls, said Mr.

Furbert. If any member runs seriously afoul of them, the club will suspend them indefinitely and they are placed on a Police list. If they come near the club again, Police are called immediately. Mr. Furbert said, as president, he found it very frustrating that when people hear about problems at PHC they jump to the conclusion that the problems are drug-related.

Four in hospital as clubs play down violent incidents People unfairly draw the conclusions, he said because "a lot of problems associated with drugs are dropped on the club''.

Monday's incident "had nothing whatsoever to do with drugs,'' he added. "It was just a fight.'' In a second incident on Sunday night, a 44-year-old man from Hamilton was struck above the right eye in an altercation at Hamilton Parish Workmen's Club. He was treated for a cut above the eye and Police later arrested a 27-year-old man in relation to the assault.

And a fourth incident of club violence took place early on Saturday morning at Somerset Bridge Recreation Club.

Police said it was a stabbing, but the club manager claimed it was really just a five-minute scuffle which was quickly broken up by security.

Ricardo (Shark) Davis, who was present during the fight, said no one in the club was stabbed but, the person who tried to break up a fight was injured and left bleeding.

"It could have been anything -- a piece of jewellery (that caused the injury). In actual fact, it wasn't a stabbing,'' he said.

Mr. Davis said one of the men had already been banned from the club and when the second was identified, he would be banned as well. The injured man was treated at KEMH and released.

Somerset Bridge Recreation Club was trying to change its image since coming under new management last September, Mr. Davis said.

New events include jazz nights, track and field events, and sessions -- a youth-slang term for party. "We're trying to do a lot things -- we're trying to get away from the negative,'' he said.

Mr. Davis said he didn't condone the actions of a few young people and the shadow they had cast upon the club.

But he added that fights in the club's parking lot are hard to manage because the manager needed security personnel for inside and that sometimes, when club space is donated or rented out to sessions, event organisers do not provide their own security so things could get out of hand.

He is hopeful however, the new events will chase away the negative perceptions of the club. "(The new events) are for the youth. It's an outlet and it's a win-win situation.'' But, he added of recent reporting on the fight, "that little bit of negative outweighs our positives''.

The man injured at the PHC yesterday has since been discharged from hospital.