effect on the local sporting world, coaches and association heads charged yesterday.

Several were alarmed the Island's many athletes would have no alternative specialist facility to get treatment for injuries when Dr. Caroline Hammond's Sports Medical Centre shuts down in June.

There were no other sports doctors on the Island and they did not believe general practitioners could properly deal with sports-related injuries.

Injured athletes would be forced to spend large sums of money abroad for proper treatment, or take longer periods off to recover.

And hardest hit would be visiting sports teams, Bermuda's top athletes and the national rugby and soccer squad players.

Bermuda Track and Field Association vice president Mr. George Sutherland said there was a definite need for the centre. General practitioners were unsympathetic to an injured athlete's desire to "get back on the field'', he said.

Agreeing, Bermuda's top triathlete Greg Hopkins said local doctors tended to treat sports injuries by telling athletes to give up their sport.

Dr. Hammond, 57, wanted to go into partial retirement because the workload at the ten-year-old centre on Victoria Street was getting too much for her.

She had sought a work permit for her four-year locum Dr. Annabel Carter, who flies in from Britain to run the clinic when she is on holiday.

But the Immigration Department refused the application after the Bermuda Medical Society put its foot down, saying local doctors were capable of handling her overload.

Dr. Hammond, a status Bermudian, was also refused permission to hire another doctor from overseas to assist her since there were no other Bermudian sports physicians.

"To say that one's practice is getting so large that you have to retire is a little difficult to accept,'' Society chairman Dr. John Stubbs MP told The Royal Gazette earlier this month. "So much in the field of sports medicine can be very competently handled by many doctors in Bermuda.'' Dr. Stubbs accused Dr. Hammond of pressuring Immigration with her threat to close down if she did not get her way.

But Dr. Hammond said: "The straightforward facts are that this practice is getting too busy for me and there's no-one here to help me. The fact that I'm getting older does not help.'' Dr. Hammond added: "I applied to the Medical Society asking them to support my application for Dr. Carter to take over and they said they could not support me. They gave me no reason. I have previously applied on two occasions to bring in an assistant and they have also been turned down.'' Dr. Hammond has, in fact, already retired. Dr. Carter and two physiotherapists will continue to run the centre, which saw over several hundred patients a year, until June 30.

Mr. Sutherland said: "The centre is very specific to my needs as an athlete and I am sure a lot of other runners share that sentiment.

"I don't think general practitioners are sympathetic to sports injuries. A sports person needs to be dealt with with some understanding for psychological reasons. You need to treat the whole person.'' Mr. Hopkins said that while he usually went to orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Colin Couper for treatment when injured, there was a definite need for Dr. Hammond's centre.

"I don't think Dr. Hammond on her own is enough,'' he said. "When she goes it will leave a big void. I don't know what people are going to do. A lot of people already go away for treatment, either because they can't get to see her or they need more specialised treatment.

He added: "It will certainly have a negative effect (on the sportsmen and women). GPs traditionally just say `stop running'', which does not help the athlete. The centre does everything it can to get you back into the sport as quickly as possible.'' With the amount of injuries he sees in the running world alone, Dr. Hammond's workload "must be pretty incredible'', he said.

Bermuda Football Association president Mr. Charlie Marshall was very disturbed the centre was closing down.

It has helped out the youth squad and national squad players with field injuries on a number of occasions. Bermuda's "sporting family would obviously be harmed'', he said.

World Rugby Classic president Mr. John Kane said visiting players often used Dr. Hammond's centre. "I suppose they will just have to not get any injuries,'' he said.

National rugby coach Mr. Kieron Peacock said: "A lot of our players will be upset because there doesn't seem like there is an alternative.'' It gave players confidence knowing there was a sports-injuries specialist on the Island, he added.

Renegades rugby team captain Mr. Danny Forsyth said the loss of the clinic would be a "blow'' to all rugby players, who often suffered muscle tears and shoulder injuries.

He said: "The facility seems to get players back playing quicker. It has also helped decrease the amount of time out (by players) for injuries.'' And Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association president Mr. Alan Simmons said: "It will be a great loss to lose Dr. Hammond. It was good to have someone specialising in sports medicine because there are so many athletes in Bermuda.'' Cricket and football team trainer Mr. Nick Jones, however, said the centre's closure would force players to take better care of themselves.