hold for two weeks.

The weekend's entire senior soccer programme is almost certain to be postponed after Bermuda Referees' Association announced they would withdraw their services for the next fortnight in reaction to an on-field assault by a player on one of their members last Saturday.

And there is little likelihood of a resumption in action the following weekend as the BRA say they will not officiate until they have presented their "urgent recommendations'' to Bermuda Football Association -- on December 1.

But the door was last night being left open to the possibility of games going ahead this weekend as an emergency meeting between top officials of the BFA and BRA was called for lunchtime today.

With BFA president Neville Tyrrell and general secretary David Sabir off the Island, treasurer Delroy O'Brien and chairman of the Referees' Committee Gregory Grimes will spearhead the association's attempt to avert a mass postponement.

At press time last night, it was still uncertain whether or not tonight's Premier Division clash between PHC and Devonshire Colts at Somerset would go ahead.

The referees officially withdrew their services as a result of the attack on Class Two official Perry Scott by North Village Rams player Kacy Simons last weekend.

Members of Bermuda Referees' Association voted to stage a boycott at their meeting on Wednesday night and made it official yesterday.

During a noon press conference BRA vice president Richard Knight read from a statement: "In view of many incidents which involved the unsafe conditions and violence concerning match officials which last week resulted in one of our members being hospitalised, we find Mr. Simons' behaviour last week unacceptable by all means. We the members of the BRA have elected to suspend our services as of today, November 16, from all organised football.'' The statement continued: "The duration of this suspension entirely depends on the outcome of a number of urgent recommendations which will be presented to the BFA on Friday, December 1. Should these urgent recommendations be addressed and implemented by the BFA and other affiliated clubs immediately, we will be more than happy to continue with our services.'' Grimes said he advised Tyrrell of the developments by telephone yesterday and the president had insisted on emergency talks between referees and the BFA to try and save the weekend programme.

"As chairman of Referees Committee I am terribly disappointed and saddened that this action has been taken by the referees. Obviously it's a democratic society and they have to do what they think is right,'' said Grimes.

"But looking at the bigger picture, and in the best interest of soccer, I don't think it was the right thing to do.

"The president has advised that a meeting be set up for tomorrow and chaired by our treasurer Delroy O'Brien at which attempts should be made to come up with a resolution to at least have the games played on the weekend in the best interest of the sport and the fans.

"Also I can assure the public that there will be a meeting with the executives of BRA planned for next Tuesdsay when Mr. Tyrrell comes back at which the letter and their concerns will be fully discussed.'' When asked if he thought it would have been more reasonable to have given the BFA and its affiliates more notice before boycotting, BRA president Lyndon Raynor said the decision was left in the hands of the members.

"A number of proposals were put on the floor but this decision is what the members were most comfortable with...a few others proposals were put on the floor and defeated,'' he said.

"I don't want to be specific but security was obviously a main priority for the action and I would like to think that the clubs will take the initiative themselves to make sure that their grounds are at a level where referees can feel more comfortable when they are on duty.

"There is only one club that has demonstrated an ability during the past two seasons to satisfy us regarding security and I have no hesitation to say that club is Ireland Rangers.

"Other clubs have made some improvement and I applaud them, North Village in particular, but each year we let clubs know what is needed but little is done.

The Perry Scott case is the final straw in the opinion of the members and action needs to be taken now.'' Raynor doubted whether matches would go on this weekend despite today's emergency meeting.

"The BFA are aware of some of our recommendations because they are not entirely new, but part of the problem is that some of them have not been implemented and collectively those involved in soccer have to take responsibility for that.

"The December 1 deadline was set by the members themselves, giving them time to submit the proposals. But it's my hope at our BRA meeting on Monday at 7.00 p.m., that we can get the recommendations to the BFA well before that deadline and hopefully some of them could be acted on immediately and who knows, maybe we will be back in action long before then.'' Raynor admitted to having talks with Tyrrell about the risk of a boycott, but felt that the referees were satisfied there was no recourse.

"I had a talk with Mr. Tyrrell before he left, he expressed his concerns about whether a boycott would be the right thing to do. I assured him his concerns would be expressed to our members but I am guided by what our members want and they could not accept his request.'' Grimes said that the BFA were still recovering from the shock and reckoned that the weekend schedule of matches looked doomed. But he had not given up hope that today's meeting could produce a compromise.

Refs vote to walk out after weekend attack Refs walk out From Page 17 "Tomorrow night's game at Somerset between PHC and Devonshire Colts, based on the letter we have from the BRA, looks as though it will definitely be off.

But hopefully we can get their members to participate in matches on the weekend,'' he said.

Did the referees jump the gun by acting too quickly? "I think they are a bit frustrated over what has happened in soccer the past few years. But I would have thought that the most logical thing to do would be to come forward with all of the recommendation s and work in partnership with the BFA and the clubs in order to get things right and if they were not improved, then they could consider other alternatives,'' said Grimes.

Time to get tough: Bermuda Referees' Association president Lyndon Raynor (left) and vice-president Richard Knight explain their boycott decision during a press conference yesterday.