Football Association president Richard Thompson last night defended his decision to adjourn the Annual General Meeting at Young Men's Social Club until Monday, August 7.

Last night officials from affiliates spent most of their time listening to tedious reports handed in by various sub-committees combined with the president's report and auditor's report.

Matters of more interest such as the Miami Seven were not raised, but are expected to come up when the meeting resumes next week.

Thompson -- who mentioned the Miami incident in his report -- said: "It's not unsual for us to have the meeting adjourned, we just had a lot of business to discuss tonight.'' Thompson, however, did reveal that he was satisfied with Saturday's turnout for the Olympic first-leg tie against Costa Rica and said that the paid attendance was 1,500.

The BFA said that $60,000 was required to cover the home and away matches, and estimated that there remained a short-fall of about $30,000 despite the Bermuda Goverment's commitment of $20,000 to the cause.

Regardless of the financial woes, however, the president confirmed that the Bermuda Olympic team would be leaving tomorrow for Costa Rica to play their second-round tie.

"We haven't raised all of the money, but the team will definitely be leaving tomorrow,'' he assured.

General Secretary David Sabir said that the affiliates came up with a number of "valid questions'' at the meeting and the BFA did their best to provide answers.

"There were a lot of useful questions raised and views being expressed, many of them matters arrising from the past six months which simply had to be put on the floor,'' said Sabir.

It was also announced that two directors had tended their resignation, Carlton Dill and Michael Pemberton with Kenneth Perinchief retiring after ending his term as a director.

Richard Thompson