The lethal striking duo of Heys Wolfe and Raymond Beach, who together have carried Devonshire Cougars over the past three seasons on their backs, has now been silenced ? at least for the first half of the upcoming 2004-05 season. yesterday learned the Cougars pair ? arguably the best strike duo in the Premier Division ? have been suspended for the entire first half of the upcoming season and won?t be eligible to play until January 1, 2005.

Both Beach (pictured top) and Wolfe (bottom) initially received suspensions from a Bermuda Football Association (BFA) emergency committee on June 9, however, Devonshire Recreation Club appealed against the ban and the matter then went before the association?s appeals committee, comprised of honorary vice-presidents, which upheld the first ruling to suspend the players for their involvement in a heated verbal spat with then national coach Kenny Thompson and BFA second vice president Gregory Grimes at the National Sports Centre on February 12, 2004.

Leaving no stone unturned, Devonshire Recreation Club have now sought arbitration and taken their plight to the Ministry of Youth and Sports Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Committee, headed up by Bermuda Track and Field Association president Judith Simmons.

?We feel the original special committee (BFA emergency committee) failed to act according to normal principles,? argued Devonshire Recreation Club secretary Ellsworth Christopher yesterday.

?And as a result we launched a further appeal and have already made correspondence with the department of Youth and Sport (ADR) and are waiting for a convening of that committee to hear our presentation, hopefully before the start of the season. But if need be we are also willing to go as far as the courts over the matter because we are definitely not happy with the BFA ruling.?

BFA first vice president Chris Furbert, who headed the association?s emergency committee, believes the committee?s final ruling was ?fair?.

?I think it (decision) was fair because there were some allegations, for lack of a better term, of an incident which took place between them (Wolfe and Beach) and the national coach back in February in which they verbally abused the coach and the association?s second-vice president ... on at least 12 occasions,? he said.

?Heys (Wolfe) and (Raymond) Beach have been suspended until January 1, 2005. They can start playing football again on January 1, 2005. We (BFA) gave them every opportunity to make an apology but they declined. And from my point of view that?s why they were suspended.?

The incident, witnessed by several hundred fans at the Sports Centre during Bermuda?s World Cup warm-up match with Trinidad earlier this year, is understood to have stemmed from the pair?s disapproval of being overlooked for national team duty by Thompson.

According to BFA sourcesboth players received invitations to train with the national team but failed to turn up for practice when national team training commenced late last year. The Cougars? pair reportedly showed up for practice some two weeks after training began, something which apparently didn?t go down too well with coach Thompson.

Over the past three seasons, Wolfe and Beach have formed a formidable combination in attack for Cougars and again accounted for the bulk of the team?s goals last season. Beach has topped the Premier Division goal-scoring charts for the past three seasons and in 2002-03 was named the league?s Most Valuable Player.

In April, Wolfe became the first player in FA Cup Final history to score a hat-trick on a losing team after bagging three in a thrilling 3-3 draw ? Dandy Town then defeated Cougars 2-1 in a replay at the Sports Centre.

Meanwhile, the BFA emergency committee consisted of chairman Furbert, former Social Club Bluebird Fred (Pinks) Lewis and Alfred Ingham, while the appeals committee comprised of Calvin Smith (chairman), Elroy Rattery and another former Bluebird, Earl (Gabby) Hart.