THE Bermuda Football Association yesterday gave a detailed breakdown on how they will spend the $15 million given to them by Government to enhance the game in Bermuda.

And that was in complete contrast to the Bermuda Cricket Board who after being handed $11 million by Government in October 2005 have never given a breakdown on how the money is being spent.

While Government has given the BFA $15 million to spend over the next five years, the association have based their 2007-2012 Strategic Plan on having over $36 million to upgrade every facet of the game from club fields to international programmes to staging a Bermuda Football Classic tournament.

David Sabir, secretary-general of the BFA, said they will be actively seeking money from the private sector to complete their plan and as such will be hiring a Fund Development Officer at the annual salary of $100,000.

Sabir said: "We do not know who that Fund Development Officer will be yet."

And Sabir said that the person who will head the fund raising will also be responsible for not only to raise funds but also to create relationships and service relationships with those in the private sector. "That is a job in addition to just raising funds. Government's funding is the beginning of long-term funding," he said.

One other major position to be filled will be that of the Technical Director who will be paid $125,000 a year. And that position could be filled by an overseas candidate. "We will be seeking the best person possible," said Sabir.

"Who that person will be has not be closed off to any geographical location. Our purpose has to be centred around the best person to achieve our objectives. We will be putting invitations out internationally," he said.

The position of the Technical Director will be in addition to having head coaches for all of the national teams. "He will be technically directing the level of football in the country. The Technical Director by nature has an oversight of international programmes as well and will be intergrated into the national coaching of the teams."

And there will be two new positions for youth officials ? a Youth Director and a Youth and Development coordinator ? both positions will pay $80,000 per year.

Sabir said one will work on the actually football side of things and the other will work in the community ? the "holistic development".

"He will be working with the schools and with the grass roots levels and also mentoring programmes and parental programmes," added Sabir.

Much of the money in the Strategic Plan will not surprisingly be spent on developing and getting Bermuda's various national teams playing in competitions like the World Cup qualifiers as well as the qualifiers for the Olympics. Money will be set aside to pay for teams to come into Bermuda or for the national teams to leave Bermuda for much needed friendlies before the competitive matches.

Other competitions which the national teams will be involved in will be the Digicel Cup, Under 20 Youth Championship Cup, Under 17 Youth World Championship, Under 15 Development Tournament, the Women's Caribbean Cup/Gold Cup and the Island Games. And the BFA plan to financially help support the Premier League champions to compete in the CONCACAF Club Championship ? a competition clubs like PHC, Hotels and Dandy Town in years gone by have done. Lately the Premier League champions have not been able to compete in that competition due to lack of funds.

The BFA also said they will paying salaries for players who will lose out if they are on international duty.

The financial annex stated that it takes about $65,000 to send the senior national team away to an overseas friendly or World Cup qualifying match and about $50,000 to host one.

This year the BFA are banking on sending the senior national team to two overseas matches and hosting four other matches.

More matches are planned this year for the Under 23 Olympic qualifying team. Four international friendlies are planned and six qualifying matches.

One aspect of the Strategic Plan which will no doubt please fans will be the start of the Bermuda Football Classic in 2008 which will see three "Classic" teams from countries in South America, Europe and North America come into Bermuda to play a tournament featuring Bermuda's national team. It is expected that the tournament will be along the same lines at the annual Bermuda Rugby Classic which sees Classic teams from the world's leading rugby nations take part in a competition in Bermuda over a week. And that tournament has proved very successful pulling in thousands of fans.

Sabir noted that the Classic England team featuring stars from the past has proved to be very popular in other tournaments around the world.

"In my opinion they put on a fantastic road show," he said.

"Creating the right atmosphere is what it is all about," he said of putting on the Classic tournament.

"There are people who do that. Obviously a person like John Kane (head of the Bermuda Rugby Classic) does a great job and there are others who do that. A lot of effort has obviously gone into the Rugby Classic. I imagine that the first year they did it was probably a little worrying but then they saw the response. The second year was more fantastic and the third year they probably realised they had something really good."

Sabir said developing the clubs is a long-term plan. "The club development initiative will be ongoing," he said adding that a lot of improvement is needed to the numerous fields and buildings of Bermuda's football clubs.

"The first year priority will be security," he said.

Among the things the BFA will be doing immediately will be training club stewards "and those things that give comfort to fans and players".

"Security personnel need to be trained and the Police are ready to partner with us. At the end of the day we have to address security issues. It has it be a partnership between ourselves, the clubs, the Police and the community. We cannot work in isolation. We have to educate the fan base of football to act in a proper way.

"We also have to tackle the substandard playing surfaces. We all recognise that the playing surfaces and surroundings can be better," he added.