Dr Lou Matthews, the Boulevard president, believes Bermuda Football Association have failed the Island’s young men by focusing all their efforts on chasing an unrealistic dream.Matthews believes that the emphasis on ‘elite’ football has seen the BFA neglect their social responsibilities and dismiss the issues that plague the Island as ‘not their problem’.According to the Blazers president the governing body’s determination to focus on results on the international stage has had a detrimental affect on the clubs and the power of football to affect real change in the community.“We’re worrying about being ranked in a World Cup, but we’re not worrying about the lives of the men that play football,” said Matthews.“You get technical advisors, this academy concept is real sexy and sweet..it’s cool, but you make football elite and take it out of the hands of the people it was intended to change. You make football elite and it alienates people.”Matthews wants to see the governing body change their focus and make education and job creation a key part of their strategic plan.“We have argued that the BFA has to institute a social programme,” he said. “A key part of its strategic agenda should be about enhancing the lives of young men outside of football, I’m not talking about just the gifted men.“Our biggest asset is that we can reach men this country cannot reach. I think Boulevard is good at that, and the BFA is excellent at that. We make life revelant for them, but we have a responsibility to impact their lives and we have not tackled that.“As long as everything works on the field then we don’t care. We don’t care if these guys are unemployed, if they haven’t finished school, that’s not even a conversation in football.”Ultimately Matthews believes that the BFA are happier isolating those they term ‘problem clubs’ than dealing with the issues surrounding the game.Gang violence is an issue that every club has to deal with and the events of the past weekend, when there were shootings in Somerset and Pembroke forced Boulevard to withdraw from the Friendship Trophy, rather than travel to Somerset on Wednesday night.“It’s easy to look down on a club like Boulevard because we lie in the heart of Central Pembroke, that’s a no-brainer, Boulevard’s this, Boulevard’s that,” said Matthews.“Look at this latest incident, they (BFA) said ‘let us just try and move the game on without Boulevard to make things easier’, they haven’t addressed the issues surrounding the young men and the supporters around the clubs were the games are held.”For Matthews the fact that the Friendship Trophy is going ahead without Boulevard reinforces his belief that the BFA don’t care about what happens off the pitch, as long as games are played on it.One of Boulevard’s biggest issues is with a fixture list that has seen them play a majority of their matches on a Saturday night, and they are due to play Somerset in the Digicel Premier Division at 8pm on Saturday, February 4, next year. Right now Matthews can’t say for certain that his side will be in attendance.“If I am organising two teams from the East and the West, there is no way I am organising it as a night game, period,” said Matthews. “It just does not make good sense, why, because people who play and follow football...it creates tensions.“I’m not suggesting that you cancel the game, but you have to think about who is coming to a game. I can’t speak for February, but right now we are taking it on a case by case basis.”BFA officials however have pointed to the fact that the majority of Boulevard’s game are at BAA Field, their home ground, at night as evidence that they are thinking carefully about the schedule. Having the game then, in isolation, allows the police to give it their full attention.The governing body also dispute the notion that they don’t care about the lives of the young men who play football. However, the BFA said they are just one organisation and need everyone working together to solve an issue that affects the whole Island.“In scheduling, every eventuality is certainly taken into account,” Stephen Coddington, the deputy chairman of the BFA’s competition committee said. “Kindly note that every club is sent the schedule in advance of the season’s start for each club to vet; the 2011-12 Premier, First and Master’s divisions were vetted by our clubs.“Note well, that the negativity and fear demonstrated is not only a Boulevard issue. It is not only a football issue. It is a clear societal issue.“These issues are needed to be addressed by our society as a whole - government, politicians, police and all of our sporting clubs; the fraternity of football is doing and will continue to do our part to enhance and improve society through sport.”