In a surprise move, long-serving executive Lyndon Raynor has stepped down as president of Bermuda Referees' Association, paving the way for Richard Knight to take over as the new chief.

Knight announced last season that he would no longer referee matches but Raynor has insisted he will remain active as an official.

Other BRA executive members are Cal Simons (vice-president) newcomer Steve Wakeland (secretary) and committee members Irven Simmons and Ralph Tumbridge.

Going into the recent meeting there was speculation that Raynor might join a growing list of officials who have sounded their intention to quit the game.

But while refusing to say why he decided against running for president for a second term, Raynor said he was looking forward to playing his part on the pitch when the new season begins.

"I would rather not say why I didn't run, it was simply for personal reasons," said Raynor. "But I will say that I intend to be very much involved next season as an official and I will still give the BRF and soccer in the Island my total support.

"Having served on the executive for a while I am now looking forward to concentrating on officiating and not having to deal with the administrative side of things any longer. I am looking forward to having a season to solely enjoy the game without having the burden of having to concentrate on things unrelated to anything on the field of play."

Vice-president Simons said that the committee was still new and had not finalised any new policies, although the recruiting of additional referees would remain a main priority.

He noted it was no secret that there remained a chronic shortage of qualified refs on the Island.

"We are working on some sort of promotion scheme to encourage people to come out and referee. We would like to target people such as ex-players, teachers . . .anybody. There may be people out there who don't want to come aboard as referees but who can be helpful as referees' assistants and we want them," said Simons.

Simons admitted the BRA also needed to work on improving morale.

"We want to make every attempt to go forward and tackle things right,'' he said.