Bermuda Football Association are looking into ways of attracting younger referees to the game in an effort to alleviate a current shortage of officials which threatens to get worse.

Chairman of the Referees' Committee, Gregory Grimes, has warned that steps must be taken this season to lower the average age of referees, which currently stands at 41.

Otherwise, within two years the retirement of current refs will leave the sport even more severely depleted.

"The new BFA administration is very concerned about this problem, " said Grimes.

"When you look at it, more than 70 percent of our referees are over 40 which means that within two years there will be few remaining to officiate as most will have decided to pack it in.

"At the moment there are just 27 referees registered with the Bermuda Referees Association - ten are over 30 years old, 15 over 40 and two over 50.

"And during any weekend, if we have anybody sick or on vacation or anything like that, we will not be able to supply a full complement of officials. In fact, there were a few shortages over the past weekend."

The chronic shortage is nothing new for the BFA. But Grimes firmly believes the enthusiasm that new president Larry Mussenden has brought to the administration could help find solutions.

"Some of the things we intend to look at are indeed different," added Grimes.

"We are going to organise a major campaign by getting the word out to the youth, we are going into the schools, clubs and youth groups to speak to them.

"`We also intend to attempt to recruit some female referees and we want to try to ensure that an assessment programme is up and running proficiently.

"We hope to set up a refereeing academy so that we will have everything in place where we can closely monitor the referees and bring them along at a good pace, identify the better ones and move them ahead while working harder with those remaining to get them fully qualified."

However, Grimes acknowledged that would-be referees remained reluctant to come forward and offer their services, many having been turned off by acts or violence that have plagued the sport in past seasons.

But with a concerted effort being made by Mussenden and his executive to improve the `family atmosphere' at games, Grimes was hopeful that people would now reconsider and become involved.

"We are doing things to improve so many areas, programmes that we hope will benefit the entire community and we are particularly asking the clubs to come aboard and rally behind this great new initiative," he said.