Perhaps more disappointing than the scenes that tarnished the memory of a competitive and well-played game of football on Sunday is the refusal of the victims to co-operate with law enforcement.

That abdication of duty and responsibility is at the very core of the societal breakdown we now face and which keeps the island in a paralytic grip as full-scale criminals and the otherwise morally bankrupt romp up and down with reckless abandon.

The most recent variety are said to be barely out of diapers, so young were the offenders who set upon the Dandy Town team bus after the match at Somerset Cricket Club. Their ages are said to range from 13 to 16 — middle school and high school students, presuming they are in school at all.

The Bermuda Police Service have been royally slated over their role as public “protectors and servants”; so much so on social media, in particular, that not one but two public relations statements were put out defending their role, the second from the Commissioner of Police himself.

But how can the police be on anything but a hiding to nothing given what happened in the wake of the event of the weekend gone?

The bus driver and the footballers refused to assist them in their inquiries. Refused. This can be viewed only as a mechanism of self-preservation against recrimination.

From a 13-year-old? Really?

Have we absolutely lost our minds and misplaced the code of honour?

If the victims of a crime cannot be bothered to identify their attackers or assist in some way in their capture, how can the police do their jobs to maximum effect?

Somerset Cricket Club, through club president Alfred Maybury, has said the culprits will be banned from the grounds immediately. If this is indeed true, club officials will have the names of the perpetrators. It is then incumbent on the club to release these names to the authorities so that the full force of the law can be exacted.

If this means rousing some of the miscreants from their afternoon naps and wheeling them away handcuffed to their strollers, so be it.

Meanwhile, the rest of the community needs to grow a set.

While police are trained in the art of prevention, the best form of prevention should be found at source — in this case, the football clubs.

Michael DeSilva is right to transfer a degree of responsibility on to the Bermuda Football Association and the clubs that are governed by it.

For without them, Sunday does not happen.

Without them, the shooting at the very same Somerset Cricket Club in the wake of a cup final in November 2014 featuring the very same teams does not happen.

Without them, the murder of Rickai Swan at Southampton Rangers Sports Club does not happen.

It is notable that two months after he was acquitted of the Somerset shooting that left four men injured, Shantoine Burrows shot and killed Swan, and now awaits a life sentence — it is to be hoped without parole.

The most damning common denominator here, which is also the belief of the police, is that the violence stems from whom the clubs allow to represent them and to grace their properties.

It is virtually impossible for bad seeds to produce the finest cassava. What kind of Christmas would that be?

The fit and proper persons test needs to be exercised thoroughly and consistently so that these bad seeds do not take root in club life. For the more common they become, the harder it is to distinguish one from the other, and then the behaviour permeates our culture and becomes acceptable.

It may have already done so to a debilitating effect.

That is where football is. That is where cricket is. Two “black” sports undermined by the very same people they aim to provide an outlet.

So the clubs and the coaches within those clubs need to adopt a hard line. Know the element within your clubs and patently refuse access to those who are known to involve themselves in the gang lifestyle or those whose poor choice of friends results in them being associated with such.

If that means your teams struggle for a spell, let them struggle.

The victims here are many. Included among them, unfortunately, are those said to be trying to turn their lives around. However, they, too, need a spell out of the limelight, involving themselves in activities that do not require them to be in the public glare. For to do so puts at risk everyone around them.

“Clubs should also be mindful of the need to consider excluding persons involved in the gang lifestyle from their team rosters, as to not do so not only puts the rest of the team at risk, it also potentially exposes the club to liability should things go wrong.”

Those were the comments from assistant police commissioner Martin Weeks in the first attempt at damage limitation from the men in blue. But he is right and so, too, is the commissioner.

It is a harsh price to pay for those who have seen the error of their ways, but it is the right price to pay, one that is far less damaging than the ultimate price — one’s life.