Bermuda. Today he talks to new BAA president Jon Beard and club manager Craig Smith about the challenges facing the Hamilton club.

A sports ground since the club was formed 97 years ago, club officials have long seen the need to diversify and not rely solely on income from sports events to survive. The club still caters to a number of sports, from soccer, to badminton, darts and volleyball, but people's taste in sports and club life is changing and other ways to earn money for the club are being explored.

"Club life, as it used to be some time ago, has changed dramatically,'' said Jon Beard, who was elected as president in November following a two-year period when the same president twice failed to serve a full term.

"In essence we didn't have a full time president for two years,'' explained Craig Smith, whose job as manager sees him handling the day to day running of the club, more like a business than a club.

Mr. Beard said: "The role that clubs filled some years ago is not necessary and people are not looking for the same things out of a club. You can watch a live football match from Spain (on television) or come and watch a football match down here, people have those options. You don't have to go to the club to be entertained.

"Years ago BAA was put together to fill a need for a certain group in the community for sports. Now we're in a situation where sports clubs all over the country have to make a decision as to what they are going to do.

"I can't speak for other clubs but membership here is significantly lower than it ever was and the needs of members have changed quite dramatically. We have some people who want to play badminton, we have a Commercial League football team, two darts teams but for other members it tends to be more of a social situation.'' The demise of National Sports Club could force other clubs on the Island to take stock and consider the directions they want to go in order to survive.

Indications are many clubs are facing similar challenges with declining membership and little activity within their environment on any given night.

"We're spending some time on deciding where our future focus is going to be, the best thing for BAA,'' Mr. Beard said. "We seem to be coming more of a sports centre and sports management group, as well as organising events for members. Obviously there no sense organising things that they (members) don't want.'' As he spoke Mr. Beard looked out at the wide open spaces of the club, which also includes the gymnasium on the other side of the property. That is a facility that used to cater regularly to Pembroke Youth Centre's boxing cards on Friday and Saturday nights, when fans packed into the gym to watch the likes of Clarence Hill and Troy Darrell.

"This is a large facility that, not due to anybody's fault, has become run down,'' he said.

"It's a question of whether we can afford to make some changes and what changes would be for the best. We have to take our hat off to certain people; Ray Madeiros was treasurer a few years ago and financially he really helped put the club on a better footing than it had been, particularly when he brought Craig into it.

"Craig is one of the hardest working managers of a club you can find. Also, when David Kneisler was president here he turned our club car park into a private car park and obviously it helped us financially. It helps us to meet our running costs and in the last five years or so it has been in demand.'' Mr. Beard admits turning the whole ground into a car park would be profitable, but it would spell the end of the facility as a sports ground in the process, something which he doesn't want to see happen.

But while the facility needs upgrading, it does require funds to do it, with no guarantee that the money can be recouped over a period of time. Such is the climate within sports clubs where crowds just don't come to watch a soccer match like they did ten or 15 years ago.

BAA haven't had a team in the Second Division for four years, and with Vasco pulling out of the league this season, they don't have a team playing at the ground on Sunday afternoons.

"Ideally what we would like to get is an artificial surface down here that would take soccer, rugby, hockey and anything else,'' said Mr. Beard.

"Something that the community and our members can use and something that may attract more members to join the club. We know things have to be done to the floodlighting and we know things have to be done to the gym if we are to improve things. It comes down to whether we can afford to do those things.

"What we have is a facility that is overused and we have to find the best way to use it. This field can't take much more playing on it, unless we have some way of maintaining it.'' Another club, PHC, have some grand plans to upgrade their facility in Warwick, but no work has been done on the field since it closed about three years ago.

Funding seems to be one of the issues. "I've been here 25 years and I can't think of a major change to a sports club on this Island in that time and that's pretty sad,'' said Mr. Beard.

"It all comes down to funding. Clubs need help with their actual facilities.

At the last sports conference we talked about using the expertise of the people doing the stadium, before they finish, to look at everybody's grounds and give some advice.

"But even if you have a facility and surface that is available 24 hours a day, is there a demand for it? I don't really see in local sport how you can make a massive financial gain to constantly upgrade teams and clubs.

"Most clubs depend on the bar, but you've got to have the facilities that spectators want to go to. I don't think our present facilities really encourage people to come to them and to want to go and watch games. Now you can sit and watch Real Madrid in the comfort of your living room.'' Mr. Beard says the club's youth soccer programme, catering to youngsters between nine and under 13, is thriving and hopefully those young players will stay with the club when they reach senior level.

"It's well organised by the guys doing that, but there tends to be a drop off once they hit 15, 16,'' said the president, who is also a former coach of the BAA team.

"You have to keep them motivated but there are other things on the Island to do. They can play basketball, golf, go sailing or do lots of other things.'' Mr. Smith said: "It's not just accepted that clubs will make money anymore.

The main draw here are the games machines which, after 2004, will be non-existent, which will be a very severe strike against most clubs.

"It helped a lot of clubs stay afloat. It's two-fold, people would put money into the machines and then have a drink or two while they are playing. It's the social aspect, too, people enjoy playing with each other.'' The location of the club is both a help and a hindrance. Certainly it has helped in the area of parking, but there are so many other places in Hamilton for people to socialise after work.

"We are in the best location but also the worst location,'' Mr. Smith said.

"If our bar was over on the other side (of the ground) I think we would be able to make some money, because people would be able to finish playing and then come up and have a drink,'' added Mr. Beard.

"Now, when they get in their cars they tend to go out the gate and go the other way. There are so many things out there more important. You have satellite TV, cable TV, computers, things you can sit in the comfort of your own home and enjoy.'' Mr Beard asked some pertinent questions to highlight the challenges of the club.

"Within any long term plan you have to look at what do your members want; what is the best thing for the facility?; what can we do to make the best of the facility and how can we market what we've got better? "If we just wanted to make money we could just knock everything down and turn it into a car park, but I don't think that's what it's all about. This needs to be a sports field and people like (the late) Francis (Goose) Gosling and `Chummy' Hayward made a tremendous effort to involve the community in this place and it would be sad to see it go.

"To lose it as a sports facility would be a dreadful situation. Our long term goal is to find how we can best use this for sports.''