PHC coach Jack Castle yesterday blasted Bermuda Football Association's Shell Youth League committee over their decision to expel both PHC and St.George's from the Bantam Division on the heels of a full scale brawl involving the two teams at Wellington Oval on March 8.

A clearly irate Castle, who coaches the Warwick club's senior team, claimed that the youth committee made their decision based on hearsay evidence and were in violation of the BFA constitution by not summoning either of the clubs to a hearing.

"My problem is that the youth committee of the BFA have made a decision that is unconstitutional,'' stated Castle, his voice building to a crescendo.

"They have made a decision without reports from either club and under the constitution that cannot happen.

"None of the clubs were given four days notice of any hearing. They just informed us that both teams have been expelled from the league.

"To me they're sending out a bad vibe to football in general. If they can't follow their own rules, how can they expect the players and clubs to follow them.'' However, committee chairman Jon Beard, while admitting that the decision was based on evidence from `outside' sources, denied any wrongdoing by his committee, adding that both clubs had been given more than adequate time to submit reports, but had failed to do so.

He further took exception to Castle airing his gripes with the media as opposed to contacting he or a member of the committee to receive an explanation.

"First of all I wish, if people had a problem, they would direct it to the BFA instead of the press,'' said Beard, not wanting the situation thrust further into the spotlight.

"My second thing is, as I've explained to the BFA office and as I've explained to Mr. John Nusum who is head of soccer for PHC, that we met last week when we first heard about this problem -- I first heard about this on the Monday from students, who told me about a fight during the game that caused it to be abandoned. I immediately called the presidents of both clubs and asked for reports so that I could deal with it as soon as possible.

"By Thursday I had nothing. I arranged a telephone meeting with the committee of the youth league, we all spoke and we were just not prepared to deal with and allow this sort of behaviour to continue.

"From the information regarding the behaviour that had been reported to us -- at least all the information we had managed to glean, which admittedly was not from the clubs because the clubs hadn't responded to us -- we were not prepared to allow behaviour that appeared totally detrimental to football to continue, so therefore we decided this would be the end of their season.'' Beard noted that there were avenues for PHC to appeal the decision and that they had already indicated an eagerness to do so at which time they would be able to present arguments against expulsion.

But Castle was adamant in his opinion that the committee had erred, and that there should be no reason for his club to pursue matters through the appeal process.

"I don't see having to launch an appeal, they have to summon us to a hearing in the first place,'' said Castle. "The youth committee must retract their decision... "I don't believe and have a problem believing that 22 players were down there fighting. I feel that they could have identified the individuals involved and dealt with them rather than penalise the whole team.'' Reportedly trouble had brewed during the teams' first meeting at PHC earlier in the season and during the first half of the most recent outing. With PHC leading 3-1, tempers again flared with both benches clearing and spectators also joining the fray.

It was also reported that refusal by numerous `fans' to leave the pitch resulted in the decision to abandon the match.

JACK CASTLE -- claims the BFA's decision was "unconstitutional''.