Football boss Larry Mussenden believes the sporting euphoria created by a summer of cricket success will spill over into the upcoming soccer season.

The Charity Cup officially kicks off the new campaign in just three days and the Bermuda Football Association president was visibly excited yesterday about the year ahead, both domestically and internationally.

?The first thing I want to do on behalf of the football family is congratulate the cricket board and all the players for all their success,? said Mussenden following the draws for four of the BFA?s knockout competitions at the Captain Lounge.

?And I?m sure we are going to see some of the excitement about our other national sport rub off on the footballers and the fans.

?The beginning of the season is always a very exciting time but this year it is even more exciting because of all that has happened on the cricketing front.

?Most of the cricket clubs are linked to the football teams so we can expect to see renewed endeavours from players and more participation and interest from fans.?

Mussenden, on his summer fitness runs, walks and cycles around the Island, has been impressed with the pre-season endeavours of Bermuda?s top footballers.

?I?ve seen a few of them in training and it is good to see how seriously they are taking it,? continued Mussenden.

?One of the teams was doing some work running across the beach in the water while others were running the trails and the hills behind the South Shore beaches.

?It is good to see how hard players are working and I am pleased with the attitude towards the sport here. I think we are going to be in for another exciting season and I expect to see high quality football across the country.?

And Mussenden was hoping for another good year off the field, following a noticeable drop in violence around the sports grounds last year.

?Last year was much better than the year before,? he continued, with a more serious tone to his voice.

?It was a pleasure to be reading the papers and seeing the news and it being about the football being played and not other negative things going on around the sport. That?s what we want to be reading about and aside from the incident with the national team and the drugs (the banning of three players for failing to take mandatory tests) it was all about the football.

?I hope to see that kind of better behaviour from fans again this year and the law is in place to assist ? with the new three-year mandatory sentence for having blades in a public place as well as the sports grounds being increased penalty zones for violence and drugs.?

He also revealed that Digicel were providing metal-detecting wands to all the clubs as part of their sponsorship of the top divisions.

Mussenden was keen to point out that the extra division in the Commercial League for veteran players was very much in keeping with FIFA?s policy of increasing the quantity of football played around the world, as well as the quality, and that women?s football ? he offered congratulations to the women?s team for their Island Games bronze in their first major foray into international competition ? was receiving more than the mandatory $25,000 of funding.

Although there are no immediate plans for international games, Mussenden revealed that next year would be a busy one for the national teams, with Under-17 and Under-20 World Cup qualifiers as well as the qualifying rounds for the Digicel Cup on the calendar for 2006.

There was also talk of a women?s regional event and potential Pan Am Games qualifier?s for the senior men?s team subject to further discussions with the regional governing bodies.

Draws were made yesterday for the Friendship Trophy, Shield, Reserve and Commercial Cups although the FA Cup draw was postponed for administrative reasons.

In the Friendship Trophy opening round, last year?s Premier division challengers Dandy Town and Cougars were drawn together in the tie of the first round while newly-promoted sides Ireland Rangers and Devonshire Colts were drawn against each other.