Six men will be banned from Southampton Rangers Sports Club for life after an early-morning fight that left several people injured.

The club’s executive took a zero-tolerance approach towards those involved in the brawl, which also resulted in a 24-hour police shutdown for the venue.

Seven people were arrested in the wake of the incident on Saturday and two football matches scheduled for the ground yesterday were played eleswhere because of the closure.

Club management insisted yesterday there was no room for violence at their premises and the latest action has increased the number of banned to 12 since its annual meeting last November.

They said: “The Southampton Rangers Sports Club management strongly condemn the antisocial behaviour that marred the club’s grounds after a fundraising event had concluded early Saturday morning.

“The management team has worked diligently since the most recent AGM to eliminate any forms of antisocial behaviour which has resulted in six ban letters being handed out in that short period of time.

“The new disciplinary team has been given the names of the individuals involved in this incident and registered letters are being mailed out this week to inform the persons involved that they are not welcomed on our property.

“It should be noted that a security team was in place along with a police presence requested for closing as is standard for any event held at our club.”

The management said police were not present at the venue’s 3am closing time, when the brawl broke out on its grounds.

Officers and ambulance crews were called to reports of a disturbance at the club and two men, aged 23 and 32, were taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital to be treated for non-life threatening injuries.

Another four men, aged 21, 24, 25 and 30, went of their own accord to hospital for treatment.

All six were arrested and last night the 24-year-old and 32-year-old remained in custody with the rest released on police bail pending further inquiries.

A 27-year-old woman who drove three of the men to KEMH was also arrested before being released on police bail.

The club was closed for 24 hours from 10pm on Saturday as the Bermuda Police Service told licensed premises it was “imperative” that they took “social responsibility” for customers’ safety and conduct.

Southampton Rangers management said yesterday: “We are appealing to the police and the courts to do their utmost in assisting the community clubs and other establishments in preventing incidents like this from happening again where a few individuals are travelling the island intent on causing trouble.

“The management team have been encouraged by the support we have received from our surrounding community. We ask that if anyone is able to assist in any way around the club that you reach out as we have learnt that many hands make light work and that it will take all of us to stamp out these acts of antisocial incidents within our community.”

It came little more than a week after police ordered a 24-hour shutdown at Docksider Pub & Restaurant on Front Street as a result of a fight.

Superintendent James Howard, of the BPS Tactical Division, said on Saturday: “Antisocial behaviour will not be tolerated.

“The public expect a robust response from the police where the conduct of certain individuals causes or is likely to cause significant harm.

“Our focus of activity will therefore reflect this and we will respond to incidents of antisocial behaviour where vulnerability and or a high risk of threat or harm has been identified. If this is the case, then liquor licensed premises can expect to receive an order from me authorising the closure of their premises.

“I am hopeful that the closure will allow the management of any establishment to use the time to review any incident, in addition to improving security measures.”

Ben Smith, the One Bermuda Alliance shadow minister for both national security and sport, said any closure order would make bar managers think about how they can better protect their customers. Yet he believed that issues related to violence must be addressed by the country as a whole.

Mr Smith said: “The antisocial behaviour is happening constantly now and obviously the clubs are the ones that are getting the black eye for it, but it’s just another venue for the bad behaviour, so we have to figure out a way to tackle the bad behaviour.

“There is a lot of effort going into planning and coming up with ways to help people not make bad choices but the shame of it is, bad choices are happening week after week.”

He added: “Part of the problem now is, it seems to be treated as if it’s some people’s responsibility and not everybody’s.

“I think across the community we are going to have to start conversations, come up with a plan, then everybody’s got to be in on it.

“At the same time, we are going to have to look at increasing our security when there are events.”

Mr Smith suggested that the Royal Bermuda Regiment could be recruited to support police in that regard.

Anyone with information about Saturday’s incident was urged to call the Criminal Investigation Unit at 247-1744 or the anonymous Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-8477.

Southampton Rangers management team can be contacted at southamptonrangers@gmail.com.