A plea has been made made for the warring factions fighting it out for control of the Bermuda Football Association to reach an agreement for the good of the sport.

Island barrister Larry Scott called for an end to the public accusations and counter accusations, saying private dialogue was the best way of solving the long-running saga.

Some BFA affiliates, supporting defeated challenger Mark Trott, have called into question the way in which the recent presidential election was decided.

Neville Tyrrell hung on to the post thanks to the casting vote of the presiding officer Eugene Blakeney after the ballot of the 22 affiliates, plus first vice-president Aldwyn Savery and treasurer Delroy O'Brien, had ended in a 12-all tie.

It has since been claimed that the vote was unconstitutional because Blakeney should not have been the presiding officer. That job, according to Scott, should have gone to the leading member of the executive still in office on the night of the vote -- Savery.

Scott now believes the time is fast approaching to put an end to the wrangle once and for all -- to either accept the result as it stands or to overturn it.

"I am beginning to feel that it is time for the BFA to say to its affiliates `Let's make a decision to resolve this matter' and until the matter is resolved to not have it aired in the press,'' Scott said.

Referring to former BFA president Charlie Marshall's claim yesterday that what happened at the meeting was above board and the result should stand, the lawyer said though he agreed with the fact that the good of the association should come above all else, he did not agree that there was nothing wrong.

"I think there is a difficulty there that needs to be resolved and can only be resolved if the constitution is amended and the affiliates make a decision to go forward -- but I think going forward at the moment should be as the result of internal discussion,'' he said.

Scott said there was a danger the public could perceive the BFA to be in disarray if the arguements continued.

"They shouldn't be washing their dirty linen in public,'' he said. "There is linen to be washed but it is not as filthy dirty as to be smelly. They need to resolve things inside now so that the administration of football can go forward even though internally they have some things to do.'' Scott went on: "My concern is that sport has to be the winner here. The affiliates and the organisation should say `Alright we are going to have our meeting, discuss this inside and put a lid on any discussion in the press until such time that we can go forward and say here is the resolution it's either Tyrrell or Trott'.'' Continued on page 19 BFA dispute Continued from page 17 Scott said the dispute was typical of an Island where such matters appeared more about the people involved than the issues at stake.

"It is classically Bermudian. We have become conditioned to doing this now and it is unfortunate. It's the issues that need to be resolved because no one personality runs the BFA,'' he said.

"You can't do anything without your affiliates, you can't do anything without your directors.

"I think it should be resolved quickly. It requires another meeting and it does not matter to me one way or the other whether that meeting decides the same thing it decided last time or decides something different -- but it needs to be resolved so the sides are not feeling aggrieved as they obviously feel now.'' Larry Scott: `Dialogue is the key'.