Local football officials George O?Brien, Tracy Adams and Curtis Richardson have had their match fees slashed in half after last month?s Friendship Trophy quarter-final involving Dandy Town and North Village ended in chaos.

When the two Premier Division clubs finished tied 2-2 after extra-time, veteran referee O?Brien ruled that a replay should take place rather than following competition rules which stipulated the match should be decided on penalty kicks.

Bermuda Football Association then ordered Village and Town to settle the issue in a penalty shoot-out two days later. But Hornets refused to participate and have threatened to take further action against the association?s final decision to boot them out of the competition.

It is understood Dandy Town have arranged a press conference for next week to announce their next step which could be to go to arbitration.

Although all three officials took full responsibility and apologised for their actions, O?Brien yesterday broke silence over the matter, maintaining he was totally unaware rules and regulations of the competition had been changed several years ago in an effort to avoid rescheduled matches clashing with regular league fixtures.

?At this time I would like to express to the officers and members of your fine association, Bermuda Referees? Association, Dandy Town and North Village football clubs for causing the game of football to be in such a disruptive state because of my decision on Sunday, January 9, 2005,? stated O?Brien in a press release.

?I would like to point out at this time that at no time prior to or on the day of the game was I aware of the rules of this particular game and would suggest to all concerned that rules for all cup games be circulated at the beginning of the soccer season and with that, all referees, players and coaches will be on one playing field.?

Though it remained unclear yesterday as to just when the association made changes to the Friendship Trophy rules, BFA general secretary David Sabir, stated: ?All local match officials have been given laws of the game and if he (O?Brien) did not look at the laws of the game, then he made an error.

?I do recall the rules being changed when Craig Tyrell was chairman (league and cup competitions) because we encountered difficulties rescheduling replays after we had a lot of draws taking place.?

O?Brien produced a copy of Friendship Trophy rules which completely differed to that provided by the BFA.

According to O?Brien?s copy, section Five E states: ?The duration of the match shall be 90 minutes, played in two equal periods. If at the end of this time the score is tied, then thirty minutes extra-time shall be played in two equal periods. If the score then remains tied, the game shall be replayed at a time appointed by the association.?

However, rules governing the competition obtained from the BFA yesterday were completely different.

Under the same section of the BFA?s version, the rules read: ?The duration of the match shall be 90 minutes, played in two equal periods. If at the end of this time the score is tied, then thirty minutes extra-time shall be played in two equal periods. If the score then remains tied, the game shall be decided by penalty kicks according to the laws of FIFA.?

Only late last year Somerset Trojans and Boulevard settled their Friendship quarter-final cup tie via the penalty spot after the match ended in a draw.

Meanwhile, BFA second vice-president, Gregory Grimes, confirmed the trio of officials had been deducted half of their match fees for ?failure? to complete the match.

?During its monthly meeting on January 19, the BFA executive committee ruled that the referees responsible for the Friendship Trophy match between the Dandy Town Hornets and North Village Rams played at St.Johns Field on Sunday, January 9, 2005 be deducted their match fees,? stated Grimes in a written press statement.

?The referees were apologetic for their actions in the above match and the referees committee have accepted their apology and look forward to them refereeing during the remainder of the season.?