BERMUDA Under-17 football coach Kenny Thompson broke his silence this week following the attacks on him by club coaches - attacks which claimed that Thompson was biased in favour of naming North Village players to the Under-17 team who are set to take on Cuba on Sunday in Havana in a World Cup qualifying match.

Last week, a couple of days before Bermuda met Cuba in the first leg at the National Sports Centre, club coaches and officials of the likes of Jack Castle, Franklyn Simmons and Mark Wade said Thompson was biased towards Village where Thompson had formerly been a player and technical director. Castle, a former Bermuda Under-16 and Under-20 coach, pointedly said: "He (Thompson) is definitely showing his true colours by stacking the deck with North Village players."

Thompson at the time refused to comment on the allegations.

This week he did.

And his first reaction was one of disappointment.

He said: "I am disappointed by the comments - it is unfortunate that there are some people who feel this way. What's disappointing is that those people have never bothered to contact the BFA office and express their concerns. Had they done that they would have found that in fact every player has been given a fair opportunity to be part of this programme."

Thompson said that Jack Castle from PHC complained about the makeup of the squad. "There are two players from PHC in national team programme. But there were seven others who were in the programme and who are not in it anymore for various reasons."

And five of those seven players are solely responsible for not being in the programme, said Thompson.

"I am not going to name any names but Player A was given an invitation by the national team programme to come to a meeting with his parents. He never responded. He didn't come to the meeting and didn't contact us at all.

"With Player B it was the same thing. He didn't respond to the invitation. We did end up getting hold of him and managed to get him to come to training. But he trained no more than three times over the summer and then went missing. We contacted him again and asked him to come back and he came back to training but then disappeared and has not been seen since.

"Player C was initially not selected on account of his bahaviour in school. We finally brought the player in and gave him a chance hoping to improve his motivation and his overall behaviour. He was a part of the last qualifying round against Trinidad, St. Lucia and Guyana. Between those matches and last weekend's Cuba match we held 18 training sessions - he came to only one. On top of that we sent the names of the squad to the Ministry of Education and the high schools seeking support and permission for those players to be out of school during the Cuba matches. They agreed with all the names we sent them except one name and that was this player. They said they could not support this player being a part of the programme because of issues of academics and his behaviour in school.

"Player D initially accepted the invitation into the programme and was a part of the programme. He was a good technical player - a good footballer - but he needed time to develope. He chose not to continue to be a part of the programme. It was his choice.

"Player E was a part of the programme but then he suddenly disappeared and has choosen to not be a part of the programme.

"There were two other players who had legitimate reasons for not being involved - one did not have a Bermuda passport which we only found out after his initial selection. The other player is still part of the programme but he is abroad in school.

"That is seven players from PHC and adding the two who are still with us you have nine PHC players."

Thompson said there are players from other clubs who have also choosen not to be with the Under-17 programme. "They have done the same thing. We have never dropped a player from the overall training programme. Any player that has been selected and who is no longer a part of the programme has chosen to leave of his own accord."

And Thompson was unhappy at the timing of the criticism. "The timing was very poor and without any real merit. I do not have a problem with anyone who has a concern - they should come to us and we can discuss it - we can explain our position to them. And even at the end of the day if they still do not agree with us then we can agree to disagree. But to not have any understanding about what is really happening here and then run off publically and make accusations like that is very disappointing.

"When we select players into the programme it is not based on what club they play for. When I go to a match or I send others to scout for me, we select players based on whether that person can compete at the international level. And the character of the player will also come into it.

"We ask: 'Can the player function well in a group? What is his level of behaviour in social settings and what is his behaviour in school? What kind of attitude does the player have?'"

And then there is the issue of the drugs.

Thompson said: "The players and their parents are advised that there will be mandatory drug testing - that is part of the national team progamme. And that drug testing can occur at any given moment. If a player doesn't want to be a part of the programme because he knows he will be drug tested and he is not willing to give up whatever activity he is doing then that player has made that choice himself.

"I feel we have become a society where we accept mediocre behaviour. We do not seem to hold our young people accountable. Some parents are so willing to blame anyone else except the individuals themselves. This is a big problem in this society - we want to blame everyone else."