drugs in soccer.

Usually, reports are debated in the House of Assembly before they are dealt with in the Senate. But Government recently decided to put off its "take note'' motion on the soccer report until fall, while Opposition Sen. Neletha (Honey) Butterfield decided to proceed with her own "take note'' motion on the same report.

Sen. Butterfield had given notice of her motion on May 31.

The report, which made a large number of recommendations, was prepared by a Board of Inquiry chaired by former Premier the Hon. Sir John Sharpe. The board was appointed by Government after seven players on the Under 23 National Team were arrested in Miami for drug possession while returning from Pan-Am Games qualifying matches in Jamaica on December 9.

"We must ask ourselves how serious we are,'' Sen. Butterfield said. "The public and the community want to know, and they've been waiting to hear about this.'' She said it was important the report be debated immediately, as the football training season was about to start. "It's the norm for Government to shelve reports and recommendations.'' The board's findings were "very alarming'' but "not surprising'' to individuals who had seen the sport change.

Moving forward with the debate confirmed the Progressive Labour Party position on drugs and endorsed the party's support for the fight against drugs, she said.

The report said the success of clubs depended to a certain extent on gate receipts and bar sales during matches. But there were several clubs, in particular community clubs, that operated without the sale of alcoholic beverages. "We need to look at other ways of generating funds,'' she said.

Sen. Butterfield said she recognised the valuable work done by such anti-drug groups as PRIDE and Addiction Services.

But there was a need to tackle the drug problem at the school level.

Sen. Butterfield highlighted results of a survey of students, which revealed a "significant increase'' in drug abuse.

Three out of four students had used marijuana by the age of 14, the survey showed.

Bermuda was not alone, however, in its difficulties. In England, surveys demonstrated more and more youngsters were involved in drugs.

Sen. Butterfield said Bermuda's drug problem extended far beyond soccer.

Soccer players only spent 12 hours a week training and playing the game. What did they do the rest of the time? It would be wrong to hold the Bermuda Football Association responsible for what players did outside soccer.

"It is a community problem and needs to be addressed at work at home and in leisure activities.'' She added: "The BFA cannot act alone ... and we cannot point fingers.'' Sen. Butterfield, however, said the BFA could play a role in setting the standard for other organisations to follow.

It was important, for instance, for football games to become family events.

Football club officials must also be committed to following the rules and guidelines in conducting their organisations.

Focussing on the report's recommendation for an experimental ban on the sale of alcohol, Sen. Butterfield said it was important not to send out the wrong signals.

The word "experimental'' was meaningless in this context.

A much more positive signal had to be sent to the community.

Sen. Butterfield said she hoped the PLP -- through this debate -- had given the lie to Royal Gazette editorials which continually portrayed her party as soft on drugs.

"We hope the editorials take note.'' She added: "It is time to act and not react. We must all become team players -- teachers, parents, all those in the community and the Church -- with outstretched hand and with God's help to do something about what is happening in our country before it gets out of hand.'' Sen. Larry Scott (UBP) said it had never been Government's intention not to debate the soccer report.

He accepted blame for presenting the report to the Senate as a document for information only.

It should have been put forward as an item to be considered.

Sen. Scott went on to say soccer in Bermuda was played at old working men's clubs, which traditionally had relied on alcohol sales for revenue.

These clubs needed to undergo revolutionary changes.

But it was misleading to believe Bermuda could pump the kind of money into sport that Americans did.

In the US, sport was a money-making venture, Sen. Scott said.

"For us to dream that we can do the same thing in Bermuda is, frankly, whistling Dixie.'' Sen. Scott said sport should be put in its proper perspective in Bermuda.

It was wrong to continually hold up sporting heroes as role models for kids, particularly black youngsters, to aspire to follow.

It was wrong to present sport as the "be all and end all of life''.

"Sport has always been a secondary outlet for individuals.'' Sport should be seen as a way of enhancing the minds, Sen. Scott continued.

Instead of aspiring to be sporting heroes, youngsters should see some of Bermuda's senators, for instance, as people to emulate.

"That is where the emphasis of our lives should be.'' Sen. Scott went on to strongly defend Government's cautious approach to tackling the drug problem, and the decision to delay House of Assembly debate on the Board of Inquiry report.

It was correct for Sport Minister the Hon. Pamela Gordon to spend the summer consulting sports organisations and get their views of the report.

Sen. Scott repeatedly stressed the initiative had to come from the clubs in combating the problem.

He also took several potshots at Shadow Sport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown.

And he defended the decision not to subpoena witnesses to appear before the Board.

The clubs should have participated en masse, and contributed to the report.

Sen. Alf Oughton (Ind) immediately commended former Premier the Hon. Sir John Sharpe and the other people who were on the Board.

They had produced an excellent report at speed.

Sen. Oughton voiced concern, however, at the delay in putting into effect some of the recommendations.

The BFA should be acting now in advance of the coming football season, he said.

Sen. Oughton wondered whether Bermuda was not overambitious with some of its ideas, such as the National Stadium.

Money, perhaps, could be diverted from such schemes into community activities which could spur friendly inter-parish rivalry.

Sen. Oughton warned of the fickle nature of sponsorship.

Corporate sponsors could quickly pull out of soccer if the sport did not clean up its act.

"I am certain the corporate sector is waiting in the wings, waiting to see positive action.'' Sen. Oughton went on to back the idea of a Bermuda Football Foundation as a means of garnering revenue.

There was, of course, the danger of setting a precedent; For instance, cricket and athletics might make cases for similar foundations.

Sen. Oughton also supported the recommendation for drug testing of athletes.

He did not believe it an infringement on human rights.

Sen. Terry Lister (PLP) also applauded the Board's report, and congratulated those who made submissions to it.

Sen. Lister then took Sen. Larry Scott to task for appearing to downplay the drug problem and isolate it to clubs.

"The drug problem invades clubs. This is a community problem.'' The Archibald report made it clear drugs pervaded the community, cutting across the races.

The problem also started early on, way before a youngster began kicking a football, said Sen. Lister.

Nevertheless, it was true that after a certain age one particular race -- the blacks -- were far worse hit by the scourge.

Most of the "guests'' at Westgate, for example, were black.

Sen. Lister said he had no problem with drug testing at schools.

"I am not prepared to discuss the report as a BFA report. It would prefer to look at it as a Bermuda report.'' Although the report flowed from the Miami Seven saga, it could just as easily have been prompted by problems in cricket, or other sports.

In fact, some of Bermuda's top sportsmen were involved in both cricket and football.

Sen. Lister said one thing made apparent by the report was the need for proper, and clearly defined job descriptions, for sporting officials.

That way each official would know his or her responsibility.

Sen. Lister urged caution in condemning soccer and the Under-23 team caught up in the Miami saga.

Fingers had been pointed at officials for not checking the players' baggage for possible drugs.

It was important for Bermudians, said Sen. Lister, to cast their minds back to 1992 when the Island had a great run in the World Cup.

The national team's success inspired a tremendous sense of pride and brought joy to many people here, he said.

And he stressed the team, during its World Cup campaign, played in Jamaica, and with no drug problems.

Upper House considers drugs in soccer report From Page 5 Some of the players in that team also took part in last year's ill-fated Pan-Am Games qualifying tournament in Jamaica, which ended with the Miami Seven fiasco.

Sen. Lister said there were parallels between the two campaigns.

It was easy to understand why a new BFA body, in handling the Pan-Am Games tournament, followed the "same pattern'' as their predecessors had in masterminding the World Cup campaign.

"It is easy for us to be wise in hindsight.'' Sen. Lister went on to turn to the problem of "smokers' corners'' at football matches.

This problem stretched back 15 years, he said.

"We have to take back smokers' corners.'' Sen. Lister said one of the underlying factors behind today's social problems could be linked to a decreasing respect for the church.

A recent survey showed that 25 percent of children saw themselves as atheists.

Sen. Lynda Milligan-Whyte said the Miami Seven story had sent a very bad message to the world about Bermuda.

Anything which could damage Bermuda's reputation as a country of social stability was to be deplored.

Sen. Milligan-Whyte also voiced concern at the number of successful blacks who turned their backs on the neighbourhoods from where they had sprung.

It was time for blacks to give something back to these neighbourhoods, she said.

"We owe something to our communities.'' Sen. Milligan-Whyte said it was important to make the road to success clearer and fairer to many young blacks.

She also touched on as well the "downsides'' to a tourist-oriented economy.

It resulted in local people continually witnessing the luxury life-style of visitors.

This tended to give people the wrong idea, and an impression life was all about getting money and having fun.

Opposition Senate Leader Sen. Milton Scott said drugs was a problem affecting the whole community, not just soccer.

It manifested itself by high absenteeism, stealing, and a rise in health insurance premiums.

Concentrating on the report's recommendations, Sen. Scott went on to ask who was going to pay for the proposed testing of athletes and officials.

Businesses should become more involved by "adopting'' schools, Mr. Scott said. More funding at school levels was also needed to get young people involved in sports on a day-to-day level, he said.

Sen. Yvette Swan (UBP) said those who represented Bermuda both overseas and at home were automatically role models with standards of behaviour to adhere to.

"Whatever we do that is against the law -- it is against the law whether we get caught or not,'' she said.

Anti-drug education was the responsibility of schools and parents alike, she claimed.

Sen. Swan, who was born in Jamaica, claimed the availability of marijuana in that country was "not that great''. Those who wanted drugs had to go looking for them.

"I do not believe that Bermudians could have thought that travelling they would be able to get away with trafficking,'' she said.

The number of Bermudians caught overseas with drugs in their possession was "embarrassing'' to the Island, she added. The outcome would be that Bermudians would gain the reputation as a people prepared to smuggle drugs.

"We all will live in the shadow of what happened in Miami,'' she said.

It was time Bermuda put up a united front in the war against drugs.

Bermuda, she said, could not stand another embarrassment.

She congratulated Sandys Rotary Club for its donation of $6,000 -- enough to keep the Education Youth Centre open over the summer.

Sen. Gary Pitman (UBP) commended the Board of Inquiry.

Drug use, he said, was invading every aspect of society including sport and he called the day the Miami Seven were caught with drugs, "a sad day for Bermuda''.

He hoped the incident would be a "wake-up'' call for Bermuda.

"The clubs have to say no to this kind of behaviour,'' he said.

At soccer games, organisers with the help of the Police, should be prepared to "get tough'' in dealing with rowdy "smokers' corners''.

Sen. Pitman showed his hand in favour of a national lottery to finance sport in Bermuda and the creation of a Bermuda Football Foundation.

Liquor sales at football games should not be the only sources of revenue, he said.

Concluding the debate, Senate Leader the Hon. Albert Jackson called the Miami Seven scandal a "national embarrassment''.

"We do not wish to see this repeated,'' he said.

The BFA should take the lead in ensuring that the "most distressing situation'' did not recur, he said.