Banned Devonshire Cougars players Omar Butterfield and Heys Wolfe both tested negative for using illicit drugs, Government laboratory results have revealed.

Those results contradicted earlier tests carried out by the drug testing agency Benedict Associates.

It was learned by yesterday that an initial mandatory national team test administered by Benedict Associates on the eve of Brazilian side Santos? tour of Bermuda in January last year indicated that Butterfield and Wolfe had tested positive for THC ? the main chemical found in cannabis.

But then further tests from the same urine samples conducted by Government lab officials proved negative for cocaine, cannabinoid and opiates.

A second test from Cougars? prolific striker Raymond Beach could not be sent to the Government lab for further analysis after the player disposed of his urine sample and associated paperwork and stormed off in disgust.

All three players refused to turn up for a third drugs test at the National Sports Centre (NSC) on January 29 last year after which they were slapped with lengthy suspensions.

When contacted yesterday, Benedict Associates official Vaughn Mosher told : ?The standing operating procedures do not allow anybody to comment specifically. Samples are either valid or invalid according to the specific gravity being up to a certain amount.

?That?s the only thing that the standing operating procedures address themselves to and I am not privy to anything that has happened lately because we haven?t been the service provider for the Bermuda Council for Drug Free Sport (BCDS) since October, 2005.?

BCDS chairman Jon Beard did not return calls to yesterday. However, official documents signed by Mosher clearly show the players? test samples were deemed ?negative? by Government lab staff and not ?invalid?.

Both Wolfe and Butterfield have resumed playing after it was learned that the testing methods had been ?flawed? and that they had never been ?officially? notified to show up at the NSC for a third drugs test.

Beach, however, had a three-year ban upheld after it was discovered he had previously contravened BCDS regulations in 1998.

Beach?s case remains in the hands of the Ministry of Sports Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) arbitration panel.

Frustrated over the drawn out matter, Devonshire Recreation Club secretary Ellsworth Christopher argued yesterday: ?It appears as though no one was ever interested in testing these players for national team eligibility. Instead these players were tested to prove they were using drugs, something that was never proven.

?And so these players were actually banned from playing football even though Government lab results came back negative.?

It was learned last week the Cougars trio had not in fact signed a waiver subjecting them to undergo mandatory national team drugs tests.

Christopher continued: ?This was a hell of a bias and unfortunately the BFA have been handcuffed by the situation. But I still take exception to the fact that the BFA technical chairman (Jon Beard) is also the chairman of the BCDS and he should have known better.?

Devonshire officials believe ADR secretary Helena Rawlins should have also distanced herself from the arbitration proceedings as she is vice-president of the BCDS.

?It seems as though someone is bent on stopping those players from playing,? Christopher claimed. ?And they have done each of them an injustice because they were tested twice and agreed not to take a third test because the results came back negative and I supported them on that.

?And documents confirm that these players tested negative and so they should have never been banned in the first instance. This whole matter brings into question results of others who have been tested before under the BCDS.?

Christopher claims results from the players? first drugs test were never disclosed.

?The boys were told their first test was no good and asked to return the next day for another test,? he said. ?And both tests were done in full view of a witness (Chris Backeberg).?