Less favoured sports like sailing and squash pushed into the limelight in 2003 as underachievement, administrative problems and drugs and violence plagued the Island's premier sports.

Sunfish Sailor Malcolm Smith's silver medal at the Pan Am Games and his World Championship triumph soon after, Alan Paris' historic round the world solo sailing trip and Bermuda's unprecedented domination of Caribbean squash, can be contrasted against the devastation wrought on the football fixture list by Hurricane Fabian and the tour of the Barbados cricket team in September, a fiasco which prompted huge national embarrassment and frustration.

In short, it has been a year in which the smaller sports have again punched far above their weight, strongly challenging football and cricket's ability to command the lion's share of government funding and newspaper column inches, and as a debate earlier this year discussed, their continued right to be considered our "national" sports.

Albert Steede's Somerset retained the Cup Match trophy at the Wellington Oval in July, although the reluctance of both club's to submit to a change in the format ensured the match once again ended in a tame draw, with prolonged patches of what many felt was dull, pointless cricket.

Cup Match Colt Saleem Mukaddem ? a South African ? provided the main highlight, breaking Charlie Marshall's 23 year old record for the highest score by a player on debut with an almost chanceless 106 not out. Charlie Marshall and Clay Smith both scored hundreds for St. George's, the former becoming only the second batsman in the history of the Classic to score more than 1,000 runs.

The hype which surrounded the annual classic however, did little to obscure the wider problems in the sport.

The arrival of Barbados in September provided a perfect opportunity for the Island's best to challenge themselves against players of a first and test class calibre.

Apart from Clay Smith, who soldiered on despite nursing a bad knee which later required minor surgery, tour organisers ran full tilt into a wall of lethargy, indifference and, as some suggested at the time, pure cowardice.

Although the aftermath of Hurricane Fabian may well have played a part in the non-attendance of the Island's best, the farce prompted a huge national debate, with ex-players, administrators and journalists questioning the patriotism and courage of Bermuda's national team players.

It was the sport's darkest hour for quite some time.

This episode was then followed by the visit of the ICC's Regional Development Manager Martin Vieira.

Mr. Vieira was confident in Bermuda's ability to host the Americas Cup competition next summer, but expressed serious concern with the format of local cricket, arguing that if Bermuda continued to insist on playing solely limited overs cricket, the Island would continue to be left behind by the rest of the cricketing world.

In response, the Bermuda Cricket Board has established a special technical committee, headed by board official Mark Weatherhill, which will seek to deal with these supposed inadequacies.

On the positive side of things, the Board successfully secured the funding for two of Bermuda's leading young cricketers, Jacobi Robinson and Jekon Edness, to attend the prestigious University of Port Elizabeth International Cricket Academy in South Africa.

The long called for appointment of Clay Smith as national cricket captain has instigated some semblance of unity and pride in the Bermuda squad, as they prepare for the task of attempting to qualify for the World Cup in 2007.

On the domestic front, Southampton Rangers pipped Western Stars for the Premier Division in a title race that went right down to the wire.

Bailey's Bay were crowned Champions of the Eastern Counties, Willow Cuts one the Western Counties and Western Stars prevailed in the Central Counties, although the Champion of Champions competition was cancelled in the wake of Fabian.

The Combined Knockout Cup was also cancelled, but Rangers triumphed again in the Belco Cup while St. David's beat Willow Cuts to secure the Knockout trophy.

The Bermuda Football Association have endured another difficult year, with issue of drugs and violence at club grounds continuing to rear it's ugly head, while the lack of functioning floodlights at most club grounds early this season gave them inmuerable administrative headaches.

Despite coming on board in 2001 with a stated policy of "no tolerance" for these types of public misdemeanours, as any reporter who attends Sunday football matches will attest, drug use is still rampant at many club grounds.

The numerous reported incidents of alcohol, drug and gang related violence this year in and around club properties conclusively proves that the issue has not yet been effectively dealt with.

Furthermore, former national coach Gary Darrell resigned suddenly in November, citing personal reasons, which has forced the ever-willing Kenny Thompson to fulfil dual roles, both as national coach and as Director of Youth Development.

To make matters worse for the new coach, the Island's most high profile player, Shaun Goater, spurned the Board's request to return to the Island to assist in Bermuda's upcoming World Cup campaign.

The Board accepted Goater's decision, refusing to adopt a more dogmatic stance and ask FIFA, the world governing body, to force him into playing.

The irony however, of an individual who had just received an MBE for "services to Bermuda" refusing to represent his country only weeks after, was not lost on some on the Island, who made their displeasure very apparent.

In local action, North Village retained the Premier Division title for a second straight year at the end of the 2002/2003 season in March, although their stated ambition of completing a hat-trick of league honours has seriously faltered so far this season, as Devar Boyles' Dandy Town, helped by the prolific goal scoring form of the young Khano Smith, have convincingly ruled the roost.

Village however, are the defending FA Cup Champions and will be fighting tooth and nail in this competition to make amends for their poor league form.

Meanwhile, on a different note, Social Club were forced to drop out of the football league in the face of what club officials called a growth in "negative influences" at the club ? a sad episode for a club rich in history and tradition.

Bermuda's sailors continued to prove that many of them have significant international pedigree. Alan Paris returned to Bermuda in May from his herculean solo adventure round the world, the first Bermudian to complete the feat.

And Paula Lewin and Zandler Kirkland had a consistent year on the water, with Kirkland coming seventh at the Pan Am Games and Lewin reaching the quarter finals of the Gold Cup.

Malcolm Smith's heroics at the Pan Am Games and the World Championships however, was the undisputed highlight however.

The Bermuda Squash Racquets meanwhile announced the launch of the Bermuda Open 2004 this month, a five star, $55,000 Professional Squash Association event which is set to attract all of the worlds top players.

This was after a year of unprecedented success for local squash, as Bermuda teams and individuals claimed the senior and junior Caribbean titles as well as the Senior Men's Caribbean Championship, the latter recorded without losing a single match in Barbados last August.

Furthermore, the Island's top squash player, Nick Kyme, climbed 44 places up the world rankings in November to become the 118 best player in the world.

Two of Bermuda's leading young golfers have had mixed fortunes this year.

Michael Sims has found the going tough on the Las Americas Tour while Jarryd Dillas has continued to progress well, coming 17th at the World Junior Championships at Torrey Pines in July.

Meanwhile in track and field, achievements on the track were unfortunetly overshadowed by controversy off it, as a battle rages into the New Year.

Several local track clubs and the governing body are at loggerheads over the BFTA's insistence that athletes wanting to be considered for the prestigious CARIFTA Games must train under national coach Gerry Swan and his assistants.