Bermuda Hockey Federation (BHF) say they reacted with “concern” to an outburst from Sports Minister Randy Horton when he was questioned over the provision of an artificial pitch at the National Sports Centre.

In correspondence with Government, the BHF have expressed “disappointment” that there is no agenda item for an update on the Centre at the upcoming annual Sports Conference, given it was an integral part of last year’s event.

“I am very disappointed that there is no agenda item for a factual update on the National Sports Centre,” wrote BHF President Mike Elton in a January 11 memo intended for Sports Advisor Philip Guishard.

“A project that critically impacts many sports in Bermuda has consumed in excess of $25 million and may consume further millions to complete, a project that seemed to be the focus of last year’s conference with a powerpoint presentation and glossy handout and comments from the Minister, Sports Director, Chairman of the Board of Trustees plus the project architects, seems to have slipped off the face of the earth!”

The main thrust of this year’s conference, to be held on January 25 and 26, is coaching and women in sport.

“Whilst one can appreciate national coaching standards are worthwhile and opportunities for women in sport commendable, there is one big issue — the National Sports Stadium and for Bermuda Hockey, the matter of the artificial playing surface,” continued Elton in his memo.

“There will be no need for coaches and there will be no opportunities for women, girls and indeed males, if hockey doesn’t get the facility expressly committed to by the Minister, Director and Trustees 12 months ago!”

At a televised press launch to announce details of the Conference on Monday, Horton was asked why there was no agenda item on the Frog Lane venue.

The Minister replied: “There is no particular reason why it is not on the agenda. As you know we have just been given a certificate of occupancy for the stadium, I’ll certainly be mentioning that in my delivery, but we did not feel it was necessary to have a whole session just talking about the centre at this time.”

In a follow-up question the Minister was asked if there was indeed a commitment from Government to provide an artificial pitch which the BHF could use.

“I’m very sorry they didn’t call me. Tell them I am sorry they didn’t call me,” the Minister retorted, adding that he would discuss the matter when the Federation “had the decency” to contact him.

Responding to those comments, Elton said that the BHF apologised for not having formally requested a meeting with the Minister before.

“I can advise that we have today contacted the Ministry to request a meeting at the Minister’s earliest possible convenience,” he said, adding: “We reiterate our complete commitment to advancing our popular sport with an Astroturf pitch facility. To date we feel that we have been working as constructively as possible through what we believed were the appropriate channels to achieve this goal.

“We have been in regular contact with the Government’s appointed Board of Trustees of the National Sports Centre over the past year and met with members of the Board as recently as January 8 of this year with an objective of obtaining an update on the status of development.”

Elton added that in the interest of the development and future of hockey in Bermuda the BHF was looking forward to discussions with the Minister “in the very near future”.