The Ministry of Youth Development, Sport and Recreation is "incensed'' over an Island soccer club's effort to circulate its own commitment toward a drug-free sports policy.

With a Friday deadline looming for sports groups to respond to a mission statement agreed upon at last month's National Sports Conference, Devonshire Colts have drawn up and sent out another version.

"I've never seen anything like this before in my life,'' said Sports Director Anthony Roberts, livid after receiving calls from confused sports groups inquiring about the dual statements.

The mission statement -- a critical step in unifying 36 national sports bodies in the fight against substance abuse -- was mailed out by the Ministry more than two weeks ago. Organisations were asked to either pledge their support for the one-sentence commitment to action or indicate reasons why they were unwilling to do so.

Last week, Colts -- unbeknownst to the Ministry -- offered their own statement to "about a half-dozen'' other national organisations, club secretary Stanford Bean confirmed.

With two mission statements now in the hands of sports groups, Roberts feared the Colts' version would only "confuse'' the issue. He urged the sports bodies to ignore Colts' statement and send in the official form by the end of this week.

"They didn't have the courtesy to call the Ministry,'' said Roberts, calling Colts' actions "disruptive'' towards a national drug free sports policy, currently in its formulative stages.

But Bean didn't understand what all the fuss was about.

"All we're doing is circulating our opinion for further discussion,'' he said last night.

Dissatisfied with the wording of the Ministry's statement, Bean said his organisation merely provided "additional touches'' to the manifesto in an attempt to clarify and improve it. It in turn was submitted to various groups as a suggestion to keep the dialogue flowing.

"They are under no obligation to contact me in any way, shape or form,'' said Bean. "It's just food for thought ... There was no directive to sign this (and) no solicitation.'' He insisted Colts were not working against the Ministry and that their intent was the same.

While Roberts felt the wording of the two differed "substantially,'' Bean said Colts' version consisted of two additional clauses, altering a total of eight words.

Bean said Colts attempted to invoke more "emotion'' by providing a frame of reference for all participants, regardless of their age or activity.

"The original statement is good in its intent but it's too clinical,'' he said.

"I don't want it to be a hollow statement. This is a way of selling the idea and getting individuals to buy in to it and help educate them on the issues.'' Bean added that Colts were also looking at the long-term in offering a statement that could be built upon should the need arise to tackle other social issues.

One sports group that received both statements was the Bermuda Golf Association. Secretary Tom Smith said he wasn't sure of the wording but the two "were similar in appearance, that's for sure.'' Smith said he signed the Ministry's form on behalf of the BGA and sent it back. None of the other sports groups had responded directly to the Colts statement, said Bean, indicating Colts would also be responding to the Ministry's mission statement this week.

"I can see how it might be misconstrued,'' Bean said of the Colts statement, but quickly added that the intent was only to get organisations working together for the betterment of sport.

The Ministry will count up responses by Monday to get a firm indication of which sports groups are on board.

DRUGS DGS