Bermuda's director of coaching Clyde Best is saddened by the crisis afflicting local soccer -- but he says his work with the national team is progessing well, regardless.

Best, who made his mark as Bermuda's most successful footballer in England as a regular in the West Ham team of 1969 to 1975, said he had never seen anything like the problems of recent weeks.

But he added that the dedication of players in his national squad had allowed him to continue his job unaffected.

Best is trying to prepare his squad to play one of America's top club sides, DC United, next Tuesday, as chaos prevails on the domestic scene.

In response to escalating on-field violence, Bermuda Football Association cancelled an entire round of First Division fixtures scheduled for March 14.

But some clubs and players responded to that with a series of no-shows which meant Sunday's three games, one of which was abandoned, represented the first top-flight soccer in the month of March.

"It's the first time I've ever seen anything like it in football,'' said Best.

"It's a sad thing when this sort of thing happens. I think players have to play and administrators have to administrate.

"When you look at the things happening in soccer now, and you look at how good it once was in Bermuda, you would have to say that the reasons for it have to be more than just soccer.

"Soccer is a popular game and it has to bear the brunt of what is happening in society.'' Despite the problems which have deprived many of his players of valuable match practice, Best remained upbeat about his squad and their preparation for the DC United clash at the National Stadium and for the Caribbean Cup qualifiers in May, to be played in Bermuda.

"We've been training with 18 to 20 players twice a week -- I would love it to be more -- but the players have been very responsive and we feel that we've got something going for us,'' said Best.

There had even been positive spin-offs from the dearth of fixtures, added the coach. "It's not hindered us at all, because we're dealing with players who really want to play. And it gives us a chance to get a better look at players and have a lot of practice.'' The national team's last outing produced an impressive 2-0 win against the Denmark under-23 team at BAA Field in January and Best hoped to build on that success.

"We proved against Denmark we can defend and we can get forward and score goals and if we can show that again we can do well,'' he added. "DC United are obviously a very good team, but you should fear no-one when you go on the field.'' Clyde Best: `Players have to play and administrators have to administrate'