exception than the rule but it certainly added fuel to the long-running argument that midweek games in Bermuda simply kick off far too late.

It was well gone quarter past midnight when the players from Boulevard and Southampton Rangers finally got to leave the pitch and some time later before the ground was finally cleared of spectators.

Where else in the world, particularly at the amateur level, do football games stretch so long into the night? We doubt if anywhere.

Following the Miami Seven fiasco and the Bermuda Football Association's leadership crisis, events which have severely undermined the popularity of soccer in Bermuda over the past two seasons, it's fair to say the BFA have made great strides in rebuilding their own and the sport's image.

There's even been a dramatic change in scheduling this season, slotting in more midweek games and more Friday and Saturday night fixtures to avoid the Sunday congestion and offer fans more opportunities to see more matches.

But if that plan is to have the desired effect, the BFA should now think seriously about adjusting their kick-off times, particularly for the midweek games when the vast majority of both the players and spectators have to be at work the next morning, and more importantly perhaps, in numerous cases at school.

An 11.00 p.m. finish for any match is hardly ideal, a post-midnight conclusion is simply unacceptable.

On evenings when a double-header is scheduled with the possibility of extra-time and then penalties, as was the case on Tuesday night, there's no reason why the first game can't kick-off at 6.00 p.m. allowing the second match to begin at the latest by 8.15 p.m.

There are, after all, numerous other sports in Bermuda where competitors are required at the venue less than an hour after the end of the business day -- tennis, squash and softball immediately spring to mind.

It's time for soccer to follow suit.

The diehard fans might not have been too concerned about Tuesday's late finish.

But many of those soccer supporters who the BFA are now trying to woo back through the turnstiles will surely make little effort to turn out if, in order to witness the game's finish, they're going to be kept on the bleachers until the early hours of the morning.

ADRIAN ROBSON