WHOEVER’S idea it was to televise Tuesday’s Caribbean Cup second leg match between Bermuda and Haiti did neither the players, nor for that matter the viewers, any favours.

This was sports entertainment at its worst — and that’s not taking into consideration the fact that the entire broadcast was run without commentary.

Who needed it?

Play was so dire at times, words couldn’t have done the drudgery justice.

It’s all very well the likes of Damon Ming foisting blame on Bermuda Football Association, pointing to the team’s lack of preparation as cause for their pitiful performances. He may even have had a point.

But that’s only half the story.

What those who watched TV on Tuesday witnessed was a national team lacking enthusiasm, desire and leadership.

There may be some talent in the side, but on this showing there was little evidence of it.

At times some of Bermuda’s players seemed barely interested.

Heading into the game with just a 2-0 deficit and aware that an early goal could turn the match on its head, Bermuda, one might have thought, would have come out all guns blazing.

Instead they resembled a side resigned to defeat.

Coach Kyle Lightbourne said afterwards he thought the players had performed better than they had in the first leg.

Mercifully, if that was the case, we were spared that encounter on TV.

He also mentioned the fact that had the game been played on home turf, as Bermuda had originally hoped, it might have been a different story.

Haiti might have been of the same opinion. But they didn’t seem to have too many complaints about Trinidad’s neutral territory.

For Lightbourne and his assistant Paul Scope, the defeat will have given both plenty to think about.

They, along with Shaun Goater, are helping to spearhead Bermuda’s entry into the United Soccer League this summer, using the majority of players who went on this same trip to the Caribbean.

In the lead-up to their debut season, there’ll be ample time for preparation with the knowledge that all of their opening games will be played at home.

Excuses, such as those trotted out after this week’s dismal showing, simply won’t wash.

* * * *

INTERNATIONAL Race Weekend might be about to turn over a new leaf.

After years of decline, it would appear that some new faces — actually old faces who’ve returned to the fold — have managed to rekindle enthusiasm for an event that was once considered one of the Island’s sporting showpieces.

Race numbers aren’t up — the new administration’s efforts probably won’t be reflected in the entry list until next year — but at least the various events have more runners than they do walkers which is an improvement on recent years.

And more importantly the quality of competition is considerably higher than it has been for some time with a number of leading Americans and Europeans signed up.

This was once Bermuda’s biggest spectator event with literally thousands lining the roads. With the decline in competition, those crowds have largely disappeared.

Hopefully, starting with tonight’s Front Street Mile, which we’re told will be far more spectator-friendly than it has been in recent years, those same supporters will return.

Race Weekend was one of the first major events to put Bermuda on the map as a sporting destination.

Perhaps it can do the same again.

— ADRIAN ROBSON