competitive league.

A seven-strong committee of the Bermuda Senior Football League, which got under way in January, will hold a meeting next Tuesday for players interested in forming a revised competition involving 11 teams for the 1998-99 season.

Originally conceived as a 16-team competition, the BSFL, for players aged over 40, ran into difficulties in its inaugural season last year, with participants not always aware of when matches were due to be played.

There was also opposition from various quarters -- including, at times, the BFA and some of the Island's football clubs.

A number of critics portrayed the players as "has-beens'' who could better serve the game in Bermuda by helping to develop younger footballers or reinforcing the rapidly dwindling pool of referees.

Founder and acting president David Burch admitted some people had tried to discourage them but claimed they had won widespread support from ground operators when they saw them in action.

And he pledged that better planning would ensure problems were ironed out in time for this September's start.

He said: "We've got the players, and this time we've got more time to prepare. A lot of people were complaining that they didn't get enough information and enough warning about matches.'' The establishment of the committee will take the strain off Burch, who was left to organise the league almost single-handed for much of the winter.

The 53-year-old former North Village player, is also hoping to lure an England seniors team to the Island for a summer tour.

"We've also been talking to organisations in Japan, Uruguay and Germany,'' he disclosed.

The BSFL meeting will be held at the Bermuda Industrial Union building at 7.30 p.m.