A row between the trustees of the National Sports Centre and Bermuda Hogges rumbled on over the weekend with the Board of Trustees claiming they were well within their rights to cancel the game on Friday night.

In a statement, the trustees claimed that they told the Hogges days before that they might have to cancel the game and insisted that they were only doing what was best for the pitch ahead of yesterday's clash between Bermuda and Trinidad and Tobago.

And they said that the reason North Field was given to Trinidad to use for training when the Hogges were told it was unavailable, was also to protect the pitch which Trinidad had been scheduled to use for training on Friday afternoon.

However, they failed to explain how they thought major damage might occur to the pitch, or who decided that it was a possibility, given that both groundstaff and the referee said the surface was not under threat.

Paul Scope, Hogges co-owner, has responded to the trustees' claims, saying that they had taken things out of context in order to justify their decision.

The Board's statement said, in part: "The Board has the responsibility to deliver a World Class, pristine facility for this match (against Trinidad).

"We reluctantly agreed to accommodate Friday's match as this match had been booked in advance (of the Trinidad game being announced). The communication (an e-mail sent to Scope) to do so, however, provided the following caveat, 'It must be understood that if weather conditions on Friday, 20th June prove adverse to the degree that major damage might be caused to the pitch, that the said match must be postponed'.

"The decision to postpone the match was not made lightly. The weather forecast provided by the Bermuda Weather Service indicated that there was a thunderstorm watch in effect and heavy rains were forecast for Friday afternoon and evening.

"After heavy rains on Friday afternoon, Board chairman Dr Gerard Bean contacted Paul Scope of the Bermuda Hogges at 2 p.m. and advised that the Board was considering the cancellation of match in light of the potential damage that could be caused to the field surface prior to Sunday's match. He further advised that a final decision would be made at 5 p.m. and suggested that he enquire as to the availability of an alternate venue.

"At approximately 5.15 p.m., Dr Bean advised Mr Scope that the decision had been made to postpone the match."

While Scope took issue with the trustees' version of events, it is the paragraph containing the phrase 'major damage' that has caused the most consternation in the Hogges' camp.

"I've got the upmost respect for Dr Bean, Sean Tucker and Clifford Wade at the trustees, who have been supportive of us in the past, but I have to just disagree on this subject," said Scope.

"It's not my habit to release personal or private e-mail correspondence, but as that paragraph was taken out of context there is another paragraph after that, which said that 'the trustees would do everything in their power to make sure that the game would go ahead'.

"We feel strongly that the game could have gone ahead. If there was the threat of major damage we'd be the first ones to say that the game shoudn't go ahead.

"But given the weather forecast which (said that it) was clearing up over the weekend, like we've seen it happen, and given that after Dr Bean's first phone call to me at 2 p.m., . . . he didn't cancel the game but just said 'can you do an alternative at BAA tonight'.

"I said absolutely not, because we were struggling to get it ready for Saturday, and certainly couldn't do it for Friday night. Once I said no, the decision was deferred till later, and in my opinion the rain had eased up to a light drizzle by then, I belived the game would go on. It was a surprise when I got the call at 5.15 p.m. and then at 5.30 p.m. to confirm that the game was cancelled.

"Shaun and I and all the players know that field well, it does better when it has had a bit of water.

"If we had more water in Bermuda we would be watering that field. The only time we see that field cut up is when it's dry and it gets a little crumbly.

"The amount of water we had on Friday would have only improved the pitch in our opinion. That's our bottom line on it and that's why we were so surprised when the game was cancelled."