Bermuda's ability to put on an international sports event of the highest quality was again demonstrated throughout last week as the Squash World Open went off without a hitch at a temporary facility which other countries chosen to host the tournament in years to come will find it hard to match.

That wasn't just the opinion of those involved in the sport locally, but a conclusion overwhelmingly reached by the players themselves and visiting officials.

There's no doubt the all-glass court, the centrepiece of a hastily-constructed but mightily impressive arena on what once housed the Fairmont Southampton Hotel's Turtle Hill tennis courts, seemed to meet the approval of spectators and all others concerned (and might have been more impressive had not most of the matches been played in the evening when the spectacular view across South Shore disappeared under darkness).

But even taking into account that squash remains something of a minority sport, and tickets to watch the game's elite — including Amr Shabana who claimed his third straight world championship — were selling for around $60, it was surprising that more Bermudians didn't support the event.

While organisers will have been generally satisfied with overall attendance, there remained a lot of empty seats at many of the sessions.

It's a problem that will strike a chord with others who have brought international events to the Island — most notably those running the Bermuda Hogges football team and the tennis XL Open.

Thousands turn up for domestic events such as Cup Match, a football cup final and line the roads for the May 24 Marathon Derby, but when the professionals fly in, many of those who consider themselves diehard sports fans prefer to stay at home — even when a world championship is being staged on their doorstep.

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PERHAPS Saleem Mukuddem was right all along.

The national cricket team's superb all-rounder complained bitterly when he was suspended at this year's World Cup and forced to miss the match against India for merely skipping a cocktail party, having previously informed officials he would prefer not to attend for personal reasons.

Yet it emerges this week that at least four other players at that same World Cup went virtually unpunished for what might be deemed as far more serious offences.

One broke a curfew, another failed to turn up for a team meeting and two were reprimanded after being seen carrying alcoholic drinks through the hotel lobby.

As one letter writer to this newspaper pointed out (see page 26) it seems it was a case of 'different strokes for different folks'.

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MEANWHILE, when it comes to discipline, Bermuda Cricket Board don't seem to be able to get it right.

This week they may have set a precedent they might live to regret.

Their admission that a disciplinary hearing to hear the case of Janeiro Tucker, who allegedly abused an umpire while standing on a balcony at the Southampton Oval during a match back in the summer, was delayed in order that the veteran all-rounder could take his place in the national team's recent tour of Africa and United Arab Emirates, doesn't make a lot of sense.

Contravening their own rules isn't what one would expect from the governing body and hardly sets an example to the very players whom they are trying to discipline.

Given the circumstances of this particular case, the BCB, rather than slap Tucker with a six-game ban which could rule him out of next year's Stanford 20/20 tournament, might have let the matter drop.

There's some compelling evidence that, if indeed Tucker did step out of line at this particular match, he wasn't alone.

For a start, only one umpire turned up for the match and his inconsistency was such that at one point, according to one player, the teams met during an interval to discuss whether the game should be abandoned.

It did continue, as did heckling from the balcony.

Of course, the BCB can't condone umpire abuse — and as one who was once described as the worst umpire in the Commercial League before ordering a stronger pair of glasses, I can sympathise with what officials sometimes have to put up with.

But in this case, was it fair that Tucker be singled out?

- ADRIAN ROBSON