A new season, a new refereeing crisis.

In what has become an annual occurrence, there will be not enough officials to cope with this season?s matches with referees and their assistants forced to double up on Sundays in order to cover all games.

As of yesterday, just nine referees had registered for the new season, although Bermuda Football Association Referees? Committee chairman Gregory Grimes expects that number to reach 30 by the time official matches begin.

And the pool of officials to take charge of Premier Division games is down to just six following the resignations of Granville Bennett and Joe Pimentel, two of the senior referees on the Island.

?There is no panic here,? said Grimes, speaking from the BFA offices just as a ninth official signed up.

?Yes, of course there are going to be some challenges to overcome but we are used to that. We have signed up a lot of new youth referees and there has been some interest shown so we are looking at running another course for new referees.

?It is a challenge for us and we have this every year where, for whatever reason, officials don?t seem to want to sign up for the season until the last minute.

?I am sure we will get around 30 again.?

Grimes admitted that it would be near impossible to provide a referee and two assistants for each match in the top two divisions without the right scheduling.

?It is unlikely we would be able to have officials for each match but, where scheduling allows it, if the officials are close to a second game then, with doubling up, we will be able to cover all the games sufficiently.?

For the Premier matches, the two resignations mean just six referees will have to manage the four matches each week between them, not allowing much leeway for injuries and holidays, with Lyndon Raynor, Anthony Mouchette, Jenny Villamarin, new Bermuda Referees? Association president Anthony Francis, Leroy (Curly Joe) Wilson and possibly Ronue Cann taking charge of the matches. Grimes said he was not yet aware if George O?Brien would officiate again this season.

Although the FIFA fitness test will be held shortly, Grimes also admitted it was unlikely that Bermuda would have a team of officials for FIFA duty for a second consecutive year.

There was, however, a ray of hope in terms of encouraging referees to get involved.

The acceptance of Bermuda?s bid into the USL could mean opportunities for Bermuda officials. Although discussions are at a very early stage, there is a chance local assistant referees may get a chance to officiate Bermuda matches or even be accepted on the panel to do other USL matches overseas.

Also a select group of officials will be needed for David Bascome?s Island Soccer League project, giving some local officials the chance to work on professional matches in the shortened format of the game.