players with poor attitudes continue to have their way.

That's the view of Gregory Grimes, president of Bermuda Football Referees Association, who was reacting to the latest violence in soccer on Sunday when angry fans hurled bottles at officials during a First Division game at Devonshire Rec. between Devonshire Cougars and Devonshire Colts.

The incident, which just fell short of developing into a riot, eventually caused referee Rex Osborne to abandon the game after 82 minutes with Colts leading 1-0.

"I haven't had a chance to talk with the officials yet, but one thing's for certain -- if referees continue to be abused like they have then the real loser is going to be the sport of soccer,'' said Grimes.

"There is an acute shortage of officials as things stand right now. And if any one of the active few that we have decides to quit then we will be facing a real dilemma.

"If there is no change for the better, referees are going to ask themselves is it worth continuing, it's as simple as that. We can ill afford to lose anybody at this stage.'' Meanwhile, Mark Jennings and VANBI Holdipp, co-coaches of Cougars, claimed it was indecision by Osborne that led to the troubles, although they admitted the behaviour of some fans was "unfortunate''.

"I consider what happened to be another grey day in soccer. We had two teams fighting a beautiful game of soccer and then there was this decision which prevented us from equalising,'' said Jennings.

"I thought Osborne's decision to take the goal away from us was distasteful and very unprofessional, especially the way he and the linesman went about doing it. I really thought that things were badly handled.'' According to Jennings, Osborne blew for a goal and was running back to the middle when he was alerted by Colts' players that the linesman had his flag raised.

After consulting linesman Lawrence DeShields, Osborne disallowed the goal.

"The long delay because of the consultation led to problems. Once he blew for a goal and then ran to the middle to have play restarted he should have stuck with his original decision,'' said Jennings.

According to the coach, DeShields originally withdrew his flag after raising it as Cougars attacked. After the goal he raised the flag again, claimed Jennings.

"That's what I saw with my own eyes, nobody told me it happened,'' said an upset Jennings.

Added Holdipp: "The period of indecisiveness caused the problems to happen.

We cannot control the fans every time there is a dispute.'' But neither coach condoned the missile-throwing which left the Devonshire pitch littered with more than 50 bottles.

"People should never throw bottles or enter the field of play. That's really silly and dangerous stuff. We cannot act chaotic and be like animals, there is no place in sport for anything like that,'' said Jennings.

However, Jennings himself could face disciplinary action after being one of the first to approach Osborne and DeShields during their consultation.

He raced about 75 yards from his bench to the opposite end of the field to lodge a vehement protest.