Another football season full of controversy and unpleasantness has ended. The turmoil reached its peak while Bermuda were involved in World Cup elimination matches.

Concurrently, Shaun Goater and Kyle Lightbourne were playing their hearts out trying to help their English clubs gain promotion. No Bermudians had taken part in such heady stuff since the heyday of Clyde Best.

In my opinion, Bermuda never had a chance, undermined as we were by futile bickering about who was to coach and by overall weakness in administration when the situation called for strong supporting leadership.

I'm aware that local administrators are unpaid, but if they can't handle the jobs, they should not take them, or be given them. Following the disgraceful Miami drug scandal, the BFA hierarchy should have resigned.

I know some will label me just another "old-timer'' sounding off about how much better things were in my day. However, I offer one significant credential. I reported football in the local press for four years, beginning in 1947. It was a golden period. I covered matches, mostly in the old Bermuda Football League.

Half-way through last season I was horrified to read in The Mid-Ocean News of January 7, this headline: "63 Sent Off, and counting ... and 500 booked.. .'' The very next week four players were ordered off in the same match! This sort of thing in my generation would have been unimaginable. In those days, players took the field to play a full 90 minutes, not to sit for lengthy periods on the sidelines in disgrace.

During my four years, I can't remember a single instance of a player being sent off. I can't say for sure there weren't any, but certainly there were none I can recall in the matches I reported.

Sixty-three sent off and 500 more booked? Is it any wonder football is in a mess, with the national team the big loser. Instances of deliberate fouling and cursing (even attacking) referees are so common they now appear in some circles to be accepted as "part of the game''.

This seems to me a good time for football to make a fresh start. So what to do? I would begin at the top. Presiding over and/or directing a sports organisation calls for the same managerial skill needed to operate a successful business. Critical decisions have to be made daily. There's no room for the petty personality hassles that so often dominate local sports administration. Maintaining good public relations is a must. "No comment'' to media enquiries is ridiculous and totally unacceptable. Sport in Bermuda owes far too much to the media for working journalists to be ignored and offended.

Unfortunately, few of the individuals who take on administrative positions have adequate (if any) experience in running a business.

I'm sure some of them only do so to bask in what they see as prestigious office titles and pick up free tickets to exotic destinations. We need dedicated individuals, but they must be qualified and efficient.

Next, let's look at coaching. We must acquire the most highly qualified coach we can afford. From the outset, everyone else should understand that he is the undisputed boss in his domain. There should be no interference by committee members (or anyone else) whose combined knowledge of coaching is microscopic compared to that of a fully qualified professional coach.

Malcontents, rotten sportsmen and would-be prima donnas should understand this with emphasis.

Being well liked and popular with everyone is a distant plus for a coach, but not essential. Getting the job done is what counts. Remember Leo Durocher's famous dictum, "Nice guys finish last''. There's a lot to that.

If players can't take instruction, constructive criticism, obey necessary orders or maintain proper behaviour for their own benefit and for that of the team, they have no place in any international plans.

Something we can do immediately is launch a vigorous campaign to stamp out deliberate bad-tempered fouling and deplorable sportsmanship. Football can be just as much a gentleman's game as cricket is supposed to be. Don't use the worst behaviour of world stars (like David Beckham and many others) as role models. They're always in trouble, damaging their careers and teams, and those who copy them will only end up doing the same.

Most Bermudian players play season after season with impeccable sportsmanship.

Why should their splendid efforts be negated by the actions of jerks who ruin everything for everybody? That type of player helps his team best by staying home.

Fifty years ago red and yellow cards were unheard of. If one existed, a disciplinary committee usually was the most under-worked part of the organisation.

From Page 24 I am going to present a partial list of names of regular and outstanding players from the 1940s and 1950s: Earl (Townsey) Russell, Larry Swain, Cyril (Scorchy) Baxter, Ralph and Lionel Pengelly, Austin (Cheesey) Hughes, wee Willie Mowbray, George Sousa, Calvin (Bummy) Symonds, Froggie Simmons, Renato Perreira, Sam Seymour, Arnold Woollard, Ralph Mallory, David (Jock) Stewart, Elliott and Alton (Sam) Moniz, Roddie and Ernest DeCouto, Jack (later Sir John) Sharpe, George Dyer, Peter Mulder, Vivian Philpott, Clifford (Clicky) Saul, Sid Butcher, Horace Whitehead, Llewellyn Butterfield, Frank Mullin, Clarence (Bussy) Butterfield, Joe Tatem, Vic Flood, Sonny Augustus, George (Toodle-oo) Francis, Fred Wall, Colin Stovell and many others of comparable achievement.

I can't remember any of these players being ordered off. Arnold Woollard and Calvin Symonds went on to play professionally with English Football League clubs. Arnold, as a teenager, went straight to Newcastle United. Calvin joined Rochdale but eventually his career, sadly, was cut short by injury. Others at that time could have made the transition to senior football if present-day opportunities had been open to them.

If we ever establish a Bermuda football Hall of Fame, all of the above players would be automatic inductees.

Then, football largely adhered worldwide to what was called the "W'' formation, invented I think by Arsenal. It called for five forwards, three half-backs, two full backs and the goalkeeper. "Inside'' forwards were those on either side of the centre forward. An inside forward usually "hung back'' during the attack to give and receive passes, giving the line the appearance of the letter "W''. Inside forwards and wing half-backs worked closely together both in defence and attack. They were the play-makers.

If I ever had the onerous task of having to name the best Bermuda born footballer of my time, my choice could be Scorchy Baxter, but only by an eyelash over several others. I think I was the only one who ever called him Cyril! He died a year or two ago.

Baxter was an inside forward with a superb football brain, and very fast reflexes, so had Earl Russell. Their styles, however, were quite different.

Baxter depended on guile and deft footwork and was a clever dribbler. Russell, too, was a fine playmaker and could penetrate difficult defences and score.

They played for different clubs, but when on the same side in a representative match, as a twosome, they had no local equal.

For me, a most memorable performance came in the first annual meeting between the Bermuda Football League and the Bermuda Football Combination. The League won 4-0. Earl Russell scored all four.

Willie Mowbray, a little multi-gifted Scottish inside forward, with some professional experience, was another superior player.

Jock Stewart, Jack Sharpe and Larry Swain remain for me the finest half-back line of that or any other era in Bermuda. Jock was a shrewd stylish wing-half, skilled in making openings for forwards. Jack was a text-book centre-half who could police opposing centre forwards out of the match. Larry, the other wing-half, was a rugged defender and forceful attacker. He drove the forward line relentlessly in search of goals. Occasionally, Larry even managed to score with a blazing drive from outside the penalty area.

Fred Wall was an especially interesting player. A centre forward, he adopted a role more in keeping with that of a modern striker, and was a prolific scorer.

Regarding Shaun Goater and Kyle Lightbourne, I think it was to the credit of the BFA that they resisted pressure to force these players to come back to Bermuda to play against Antigua. It would have been grossly unfair to them and their English clubs at such a vital time.

At best, they would have helped us beat an inferior opponent. Match reports suggested Bermuda gave a lacklustre performance, and should have defeated the Islanders without Goater and Lightbourne. Nevertheless, Antigua deserve credit for taking their opportunities whereas we did not.

At worst, had they returned, it would have deprived the professionals and their clubs of all they had worked for during the long season.

Shaun scored for Manchester City in the decisive victory that took them up to the Premier Division.

Kyle didn't quite make it, and two of his selfish reckless team-mates made sure nobody did. During their last match, Stoke City's and Kyle's hopes evaporated when the two other players chose that historic occasion to earn super-jerk status by being sent off.

With Stoke behind and reduced to nine men, you can imagine the disbelief and anguish Kyle must have felt. It was all over. Yet, as he looks back, Kyle Lightbourne must remember the 1999/2000 season as one that featured great heights that he helped so much to create.

Congratulations, Shaun and Kyle. May you both enjoy even better success next season.

A final word on behalf of all members of the sports media. In my opinion, you are the best group of sports editors, reporters, radio and television commentators ever assembled in Bermuda. Your efforts are first class and are, for us, a daily luxury.

From time to time, you're going to receive unfair criticism. Some of it will be outrageous and will almost never include any words of appreciation. All of it will be unjustified. As professionals, I know you expect that. However, almost all the time, criticism of your work will merely be confirmation that you are correct! All the best to each of you, as you do your best for all of us.

Calvin (Bummy) Symonds: played professionally in England before his career was cut short by injury.

Arnold Woollard: left Bermuda to play for Newcastle United.

Earl (Townsey) Russell: scored all four goals when the old BFL beat the BFC 4-0.