Former Bermuda international and Bermuda Football Association (BFA) executive Robert Calderon joins the Big Debate.

Big Debates need honest participants to engage in meaningful discussions in order to bring about real change.

There lies the problem in our sports and football has not been spared. Far to often individuals that have dared to differ with the stated norm have been criticised and or ostracised.

Far too often, ambitious individuals with lofty, self-serving goals have been entrusted with the responsibility of protecting the image of the sport and to enhance the product.

The fact that we are engaged in this public debate suggests this sport's image has been severely damaged and the family of football is indeed dysfunctional.

When we lowered the bar across the board in football, to include administration and coaching, we set the stage for what we are currently experiencing.

Success doesn't arrive at your doorstep without vision, careful planning and execution. Further, if you don't have real passion for the sport, you most likely won't have the desire and stamina required to reverse football's downward spiral.

The real work has to be done in the youth domestic leagues and our best coaches must work there.

This grunt work isn't sexy and the pay sucks, however it is here that we must start our path to recovery, because without proper development at the very early stages of a young players career, our football will slip further into the abyss, as will our young children.

Football deserves better and its public should demand more. We need to stop talking about what is wrong with the sport over the radio and via the written media, only to go on a passive walkabout until we are embarrassed again into action - that is at best, apathetic.

The football boat has been torpedoed and we need a few experienced shipwrights to plug the holes and a few good men to chart a different course.