the "Miami Seven'' in weekend matches have lodged official appeals with the Bermuda Football Association.

That was confirmed by BAA president David Kneisler yesterday, the decision having been taken after the clubs -- BAA, North Village and Devonshire Colts -- met on Tuesday night at BAA club to discuss their reaction to the ban which was issued earlier in the day.

The BFA, however, refused to confirm yesterday what punishment the teams received.

BAA have also seen points from their win over Devonshire Colts on Friday night deducted. Their winning goal was, ironically, scored by the banned Meshach Wade in the closing minutes.

However, the points will not go to Colts because they also played a suspended player, Keishon Smith, who came on as a late substitute. The third player to defy the provisional ban was Village's midfielder Kevin Jennings who played as a goalkeeper in an Alliance Division match on Saturday. Jennings did not play, nor was he on the bench, when the Red Devils played St. George's in a First Division match the following day.

In total, seven clubs have players involved in the "Miami Seven'' drug case but four teams -- Boulevard (Donnie Charles), Somerset (Shawn Riley), Southampton Rangers (Herbie Dillas) and PHC (Tokia Russell) chose not to defy the ban.

As a result just the three clubs involved were represented when a quickly arranged meeting took place at BAA club on Tuesday.

"We've agreed not to go to the press,'' a tight-lipped Kneisler answered when when contacted yesterday. He did say the meeting lasted about an hour.

He also confirmed penalties handed down by the BFA also include further suspensions on the three players who defied the bans.

Kneisler's club stands to lose the most from the action taken by the BFA. The lost points drops them back into the bottom spot in the standings and severely hurts their chances of escaping relegation. Colts, too, remain deep in the relegation zone.

"We've put an appeal in and hopefully it will be heard,'' said Kneisler. "We agreed on the approach to take which is through the appeal. It's been submitted because we have a time frame in which to appeal.'' When asked how the clubs felt about the action taken by the association, Kneisler chose not to respond. "I really don't want to comment because of the process we have to go through, and we (clubs) agreed that we would not go to the press, which I think is the right approach because we don't want it inflated, as you can appreciate.''