CELEBRATIONS at Devonshire Recreation Club will have been long and loud this week.

And with good reason.

Both the men?s and the ladies? Cougars clinched their respective football league titles for an unprecedented double.

For the men, victory will have been particularly sweet after so many seasons knocking on the door and having to be content with the role of bridesmaid.

Coach Andrew Bascome will, quite rightly, have taken enormous pride in his side?s triumph.

He?s now coached three separate teams to the title in his first year at the helm, an achievement never accomplished here before.

As a player, Bascome was arguably the most talented Bermudian never to enter the pro ranks. As a coach, his record has been perhaps even more impressive.

He?ll be the first to admit, however, it was a total team effort from players who showed an awful lot of character and determination, particularly after the mid-season suspensions of key strikers Heys Wolfe and Raymond Beach as well as Omar Butterfield.

Yet amidst all of this week?s euphoria, a cloud continues to hang over the Devonshire club.

It?s probably fair to say that their jubilation wasn?t shared by all of those in what Bermuda Football Association president Larry Mussenden likes to call the ?football family? or by those within the corridors of the BFA itself.

You see, like it or not, Cougars have a reputation where, let?s say, drugs are not particularly frowned upon.

Mussenden?s pledge to wipe out the scourge of drugs in local football and the BFA?s adoption of a zero tolerance policy doesn?t seem to mean a great deal down at Frog Lane.

Anybody who visits the ground on match day will tell you the pungent smell of marijuana is evident as soon as you step through the gates.

Bascome, as a Rastafarian, has even admitted in past interviews that the smoking of marijuana falls in line with his religious beliefs.

It would be naive to think Cougars are the only club with a drug problem. And it would be wrong to single them out or tar every Cougar with the same brush. It?s widespread throughout the game and, of course, in other sports as well.

There are certainly plenty of other grounds where the instantly recognisable ?pot? aroma can be detected on a winter?s Sunday afternoon or midweek evening.

But as championship winners, Cougars? players, coaches and staff should be cognisant of their responsibility as role models for all of the youngsters coming up through the club. They need to be setting an example.

They have a brilliant coach, who because of his beliefs may never be given the opportunity to coach at international level, and exceptionally talented players who may miss out for similar reasons.

Wolfe, Beach and Butterfield are the obvious examples. While nobody can accuse them of taking drugs, they were all banned for failing to take a mandatory test and, as is human nature, people will draw their own conclusions, rightly or wrongly.

As they?ve shown on the field this season, Cougars have an enormous amount to offer the game.

As of this week, they?re the best team in the country.

But because of the perception that drugs are firmly entrenched in the club?s culture, they can?t expect to be embraced by the rest of the football community.

It?s a problem they ? and the BFA ? might want to take a very close look at before the next season kicks off.