And the winner is ... Neville Tyrrell! While the saga of the United States presidency between Gore and Bush continues to meander through counties, courts and counts, the localised version that questioned Neville Tyrrell's right to the Bermuda Football Association throne finally concluded last night.

A five-member committee of honorary vice-presidents sided in favour of the sitting president, shooting down objections launched by an affiliate sect as to the constitutionality of the July 24 elections that saw Tyrrell win by one vote over challenger Mark Trott.

However, while Tyrrell basked in victory -- albeit delayed -- PHC president Chris Furbert, who had in the past stood as the spokesman for the objecting affiliates, was anything but pleased.

Furbert lambasted the job performance of the committee chaired by Austin Woods, indicating them to have barely scratched the surface.

"Let me just say that the three honorary vice-presidents were asked to do an investigation,'' said Furbert. "I can't speak for the rest of the affiliates, but, certainly from Pembroke Hamilton Club's point of view, I don't think they done an investigation.

"Mr. Woods, who was the chairman of the honorary vice-presidents group, said that he looked at the minutes of that particular meeting and, between him and the other vice-presidents, they made a determination from the minutes that they saw.

"But his terms of reference was clear. They were supposed to do an investigation, and an investigation means that you investigate exactly what took place.

" I would have thought that he would have interviewed some of the executive, interviewed some of the affiliates, to find out exactly what happened on the night of the 24th and then came back with their conclusion ... I'm not happy ... I'm not happy at all that he did not complete the investigation.'' But the PHC head man indicated that his club would adhere to the ruling for the betterment of soccer.

"Naturally I will go according to the ruling,'' Furbert continued. "but I'm not happy because, basically, once we said we were going to be bound by what the honorary vice-presidents brought back, I would have thought that they would have done a complete investigation and I would have been satisfied with that.'' "They did not address (the issues) . .. they absolutely did not!'' At the opposite end of the spectrum was Tyrrell, who can now get on with the business of running soccer without a dark cloud continuing to hover overhead.

"Yes, I am relieved and happy that this is now behind us and we can get on with the work of running soccer, which was what we were elected to do,'' said Tyrrell, who chaired the meeting attended by some 50 club executives and representatives.

"You will see coming up very shortly some very exciting things coming out of football with our current executive.

"I would say this issue has slightly delayed some of the actions of the BFA, but it's just one of those things one has to deal with running an organisation like ours.

"I am very delight the committee was able to accept the challenge of looking at it in terms of what had to be done, they were given very concise terms of reference so they didn't have to go too far outside of the boundaries and I think they deliberated on the facts.'' Meanwhile, Trott, who sat in on the proceedings, respectfully accepted the decision by the honorary vice-presidents.

"At the end of the day you have to respect the decision that was made by the five individuals,'' said Trott, who will now refocus on coaching. "I think they all took a close look at the situation and made a decision.

"I can't argue with the decision and feel that it's time now for us to go ahead and get football rocking and rolling.'' Tyrrell: will remain BFA president.