A dismayed Knights coach Keishon Smith described his team's meltdown on the final weekend of the ISL regular season as "total anarchy".

Smith was left in the lurch when a raft of his key players failed to turn up to the National Sports Centre (NSC) for two crucial matches in protest after not being selected for this weekend's All-Star showpiece, which will be screened on Fox Soccer Channel.

As a result of the embarrassing 'no show' the Knights, who were locked in a dogfight for a play-off place, slumped to a pair of defeats and crashed out of the competition.

"I made my decision on who was going to play the All-Star match and those who didn't make the list basically walked out on their team and their friends," Smith told The Royal Gazette. "It was total anarchy."

"That is the highest crime in sports – to walk out on your team.

"Three days before our final two games we're on top of our division then some players stop coming to training. That's why we are out now.

"In the end we were here to win a trophy, not to win anAll-Star appearance to boost our profiles.

"It seemed premeditated because they came training on Wednesday, didn't come Thursday and then didn't show up Saturday or Sunday.

"They left me with no choice but to go and field new players for us to remain competitive.

"My boys put in a lot work and to sit in the changing room on Saturday with only eight players, wondering where the rest of your team-mates are is very disheartening."

Smith said his All-Star selections had been based on the attitude and work ethic of his players, while the number of training sessions they had attended during the season also influenced his decision.

He believes the lack of respect the 'missing' players showed him and their team-mates is an attitude that plagues Bermudian football.

"My team knows how I feel about work ethic.

"How can you not come to train and then expect to be in the All-Star team?

"I've had roughly 30 training sessions since the draft of which some players came to 25, while others only came to 15.

"On this basis alone I knew who I was going to select.

"When players signed up for the league no one knew of the Fox Soccer Channel deal and now that it's here everyone is wanting to be on television.

"The ISL commissioner (David Bascome) said the situation would be dealt with accordingly, so we will see what happens.

"I'm not going to name any names but this attitude plagues Bermuda football.

"Certain players feel they should be getting all the glory by being on Fox, but I made it known to my team that if you train hard and work hard you will get your reward.

"I want to let all the coaches know that playing players who don't train, and don't have the right work ethic, is an injustice to not only their players who do work hard, but also to the league itself."

Smith, who said his skipper Coolridge Durham was "still hurting" after the Knights' exit, has vowed to draft players who were stronger mentally than those who walked out.

"Next season I will draft players who have stronger mental stability because I would rather lose but stand for what's right, than win while standing for what's wrong.

"This is what my team is about. All the teams in the league were of high quality, so we will have to come back stronger next season."