Top referee Stuart Crockwell believes incidents of violence such as those seen on Sunday can be avoided by coaches and players acting more responsibly.

Crockwell, president of the Bermuda Referees Association, sent off two players, Nathan Webb and Albert Caisey, in his match between Boulevard and Wolves at St. David's. That late incident, in which Webb reacted after being fouled by Caisey, resulted in four or five female spectators racing onto the field, one swinging a crash helmet.

"I was very surprised, I don't know who some of these young girls were but I understand their boyfriends played for Wolves and being that they were involved in the scenario they felt they would come out and protect them,'' said Crockwell.

"But that's not part of the game. The game could easily have been abandoned because of interference by outside agents.'' Crockwell had praise for Boulevard player Dean Boyles for the way he tried to control the crowd during the incident.

"I commended Dean after the game,'' Crockwell said.

"What he did was turn his attention to the fans, saying `look, let the referee deal with the situation and leave it alone'.'' At the end of the game a bottle was thrown in the direction of referee's assistant Vance Campbell.

And at BAA Field a thrown bottle landed near Vasco goalkeeper Timmy Figureido and forced referee Lawrence DeShields to abandon the match between Vasco and Southampton Rangers with Vasco leading 3-1.

Crockwell fears that with points at a premium in the championship and relegation issues to be decided there is greater tension among players and fans.

"Because it's the second half of the season and there is a relegation battle right now, there is a lot of frustration,'' he said. "But they have to stop taking their frustration out on referees.'' Crockwell admitted it was particularly concerning to the referees association, especially when trying to recruit new members. Campbell is one of a group of former players who has recently joined the association.

"This is a good year for referees; with the assistance of Aldwyn Savery we've recruited six to eight new people,'' said Crockwell.

"They have been thrown right into action, doing First and Second Division games and I hope they don't get discouraged by all of this. Vance had been threatened all game that they would throw bottles at him.

"But obviously they are cowards anyway if they are going to wait until his back is turned before they do something. I know it's a passionate sport and we take a lot of criticism.'' Crockwell thinks players and their coaches can play a big part in curbing the violence, which is often sparked by incidents on the field.

"People interpret the laws differently,'' said Crockwell, who noted that the referees association had made attempts to educate players on the new laws.

"Players don't know the laws but won't allow us to educate them on the laws.

They would rather just train and play.

"A lot of teams lack discipline and when your coaches have no control over you and allow you to do what whatever you want on the field, that means they will try to dictate to the referee when to give a card and when to give a foul.'' Crockwell took Wolves coaches Dennis Brown and Kirt Douglas to task over their conduct this season.

"I have a major problem with the two coaches from Wolves,'' the referee said boldly. "Every game they feel both of them can stand up, but that's why FIFA put the technical area there, so that coaches can give instructions and sit down, not for both to stand up.

"The Wolves coach and assistant coach do that constantly and show total disrespect to the instructions, first to FIFA and then to us who administer the instructions. Both my referee's assistant (George O'Brien) and myself spoke to them on Sunday and they didn't even listen to us.'' STUART CROCKWELL -- `players don't know the laws.'