THE Bermuda Football Association have entered the country's national senior team in the qualifying for the next World Cup...not with a goal of qualifying for the 2006 tournament in Germany, but as part of a three-year plan to become one of the leading countries in the Caribbean region.

Promising to be a responsible, honest and forthright administration, BFA general secretary David Sabir was honest in acknowledging that qualifying for the next World Cup was not a realistic goal.

"We have redirected the focus of our participation away from trying to qualify," he stated at a press conference on Wednesday, just two days after the association's AGM returned president Larry Mussenden to a second term.

Sabir admitted that the aim of entering the qualifying tournament was to gain international experience for the players "in order that they can represent their country with pride whilst at the same time striving to make Bermuda one of the top football nations in the Caribbean region".

"We see this as an ongoing process and will not be affected by our participation and elimination from the World Cup qualifying tournament," said Sabir who was accompanied in the press conference by first vice president Chris Furbert. "Secondly, because we lack the financial resources, we shall use competitions such as the World Cup qualifying tournament to provide meaningful and valuable football experiences for our senior players and coaches.

"Thirdly, we will take every opportunity to expose our players internationally with one goal being to provide educational opportunities to universities overseas. It is important for us to reinforce in our players the opportunities that are available to them and representing your country internationally is an advantage over those who have not had that privilege."

The BFA have acknowledged that the country does not have the financial and player resources available to the team in comparison to the larger nations in our region, namely USA - now ranked in the top 10 in world football - Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, Honduras and Jamaica.

"One thing we need to understand and appreciate is that football calls for commitment," said Furbert.

"There's no point in Mr. (Kenny) Thompson (Youth Development Director) going out and getting his players committed when we don't have the country committed behind football. If you look at all the countries around the world who have been successful in football it takes money to be successful.

"You can't have a programme that's going to be active for six months of the year and expect that you're going to be competing with all the teams around the world. It will not happen."

Referring to Government and the corporate sector, Furbert added: "I believe if you want me to be on a level playing field with somebody then give me everything I need to be on a level playing field with them. If you're not going to do that then we're always going to fall short...always.

"Let's use the World Cup as an example, we need to put our players out there on a training programme, take them off their jobs and put them out there on a full-time basis, because if you want me to compete against the other countries that is what they are doing...playing football on a full-time basis."

Bermuda had its best qualifying run in the World Cup in 2002, even though the team was still several wins away from qualifying for the 2004 World Cup.

"The 36 teams that make the World Cup only make up five percent of FIFA's membership," Sabir pointed out.

"There are countries in our region like Anguilla who probably won't win a game but are participating. We have to take a realistic approach to where we are.

"We all have a high expectation because we remember the past, but the future we have not caught up with. As we keep moving, the bar is consistently being moved by the other country in our region."

It is anticipated the qualifying campaign will start in the new year, with Sabir estimating it will cost the association about $30,000 for the team to travel abroad for matches.

On the eve of the opening round of league matches this weekend, the BFA also revealed that they were "in the final stages of negotiating the purchase of a building in Hamilton.

With support from the FIFA GOAL Programme to the tune of $400,000, funding is in place to move that venture forward and the BFA could be in their own home in the next few months.

"In October 2002 we were accepted into the FIFA GOAL Programme," said the BFA.

"The programme provides $400,000 for the purchase of a headquarters building. We have spent some considerable time viewing buildings and performing all the preparation work for FIFA GOAL and for local financing. For the first time ever, FIFA is considering approving a mortgage scheme for a headquarters and is using Bermuda as a model."

Promoted teams Southampton Rangers and Hamilton Parish will see action for the first time this season when they open their league campaigns at home on Sunday.

Rangers, the First Division champions, are at home to Devonshire Cougars at Southampton Oval, while Parish, now coached by Khari Sharrieff, entertain Devonshire Colts at St. David's. The other two Premier Division matches see Boulevard meeting North Village Rams at BAA Field and Somerset Eagles at home to Dandy Town at White Hill field.

The pick of the First Division matches should be at Wellington Oval where promotion tips St. George's and PHC meet. St. David's entertain Paget while Ireland Rangers host Wolves at Malabar Field and Somerset Trojans travel to Police Field to meet Prospect.

The women's Konica Cup is also scheduled for Sunday with PHC meeting Hurricanes at Southampton Oval and Prospect playing Rude Girls at Police Field. Both matches start at 1 p.m.

PHC won't have to travel as far for their home matches this season as they will again be using Southampton Oval. That was their first new home field when their ground closed about six years ago, before they moved further west to Somerset Cricket Club.

They are hoping this will be their last step before PHC Stadium reopens, president Chris Furbert stated. He says if all goes well the ground could reopen in time for the 2004-05 season, but it is hoped to have that coincide with the completion of the building of their new clubhouse.

"We're still waiting on final approval from the Planning Department to start the building of our new club," said Furbert.

"It will take about a year to 15 months to build the new club. If we can get final approval sometime between now and the end of the year then by the end of next year we should have at least 90 per cent of the clubhouse finished.

"What I would like to do is to open both the club and field at the same time. The field has been a big miss to the BFA, not having it as a field and then not having it as a night field."

He added: "When we left (the ground) we started with Rangers (Oval) and now that we're going back home we have gone back to Rangers."

An ongoing shortage of referees means has resulted in the BFA already issuing a warning that "some matches will have no referees unless we get more numbers".

"Let's be real, we have a shortage of referees, we've always had a shortage of referees," said Sabir.