In the wake of the gun violence that so disrupted the Remembrance Day holiday on Tuesday, not to mention a third shooting episode on Thursday, senior football in Bermuda has been suspended, The Royal Gazette can reveal.

The Bermuda Football Association could not be reached last night for official confirmation or comment, but we can say categorically that Premier Division and First Division football is off for this weekend and the foreseeable future, pending the success, or lack thereof, of a Special Congress Meeting scheduled for 1pm at Devonshire Recreation Club tomorrow.

The news that football fans did not want to hear began circulating around social media shortly after 8.30 last night, 3½ hours before The Gazette’s print deadline, and confirmation came during a frantic period of scrambling around when the paper received a copy of the release that the BFA did not want to make known to the general public until today.

The decision came after the association held its second emergency Executive Council meeting in 48 hours — the first, on Wednesday night, to postpone the match scheduled for last night between Devonshire Cougars and Somerset Trojans. The BFA then took an entire working day to publicise a decision that had been agreed upon the night before, leaving executives rightly miffed that the ultimate announcement came half an hour after yet another shooting incident — at Mount Hill, in Pembroke.

Football has been an unfortunate and unwilling dance partner with antisocial behaviour in the past, but this season in particular the climate in which the BFA is attempting to organise the Island’s most popular sport is becoming toxic. First there were the nasty scenes created by a massive disturbance at the end of a Player Development League match at the BFA Field in Prospect on September 26, reportedly leaving two youngsters unconscious — comfortably the ugliest Friday night of the season.

This was followed two days later by five players being sent off for brawling after the final whistle in the Premier Division match between St George’s and Somerset at Wellington Oval.

Normalcy returned, or what passes for it, until Tuesday when any positives to be gleaned from a cup final played in the memory of one of the domestic game’s most cherished figures — Dudley Eve — were tarnished irreparably when at least three gunshots were fired after a scuffle outside the National Sports Centre.

A few hours later, four men were shot outside Somerset Cricket Club.

Police say the incidents are not to be treated as connected, but, after another shooting incident two days later, the BFA has been forced to act.

“The events of the past few days have temporarily taken our focus away from our core activity, which is promoting and playing the game of football,” the BFA began in its statement to club presidents and secretaries.

“Such is the situation impacting our Island, our community and, most importantly, our sport that we have to consider how best to safeguard the positive attributes that football contributes to the wellbeing of Bermuda.

“This evening the association’s Executive Council held an emergency meeting to consider all the information before them and took the following decision in the best interest of football and our community. As such, the following decisions have been taken:

• All Player Development League (PDL), First Division and Premier Division matches as well as the under-16 match between Devonshire Cougars and Somerset Trojans have been postponed for this weekend (November 14 to 16).

• There will be a mandatory Special Congress Meeting on Sunday, November 16 at the Devonshire Recreation Club commencing at 1pm.

The Executive Council is requesting at minimum the attendance of the club president and secretary or other club executives who are able to contribute to the discussion and make decisions on behalf of your club.

Please be advised that president [Larry] Mussenden will send a press statement tomorrow to advise the general public of the decisions taken by the Executive Council.

In closing, the Executive Council has taken a very difficult decision on behalf of the family of football. The Executive Council looks forward to your attendance and contribution at the Special Congress Meeting on Sunday.

The statement was signed by David Sabir, the general secretary, who could not be reached for comment once The Gazette caught wind of the news. But, given that the paper does not publish on a Sunday, we took the reference of a Saturday media announcement as to not include The Gazette.

Nevertheless, despite a clear lack of appreciation for the print media’s role in delivering timely news in the public interest, the strong belief is that the BFA has done the right thing, and perhaps long overdue, caught as it is in the vice grip of a damaging culture that is threatening lives — young and old.