It may not rival the razzmatazz seen on the streets of Beijing last week following their successful pitch to stage the Olympic Games, but Bermuda could be celebrating holding a sporting spectacle of its own in the not too distant future.

Following the nation's acceptance into the Island Games fold, chairman of Bermuda's Games committee Jon Beard said there was no reason why the event could not be staged here within the next decade.

The Games, similar in format to the Olympic and Commonwealth events, are held every other year and involve Islands with a population of 125,000 or less.

They are currently being held in the Isle of Man, near England, where Beard has just returned from having witnessed Bermuda become part of the family.

Although there are a number of hurdles to negotiate before the Island can realistically make a bid to stage the event, Beard said he had no doubt Bermuda could make a success of them.

"When the officials from Island Games came out here they thought we certainly had the ability to do it once the (National) Stadium is finished and as I have said before the stadium in the Isle of Man looks remarkably like the one we are trying to put together in Bermuda," he said.

The Games feature a whole host of different pursuits, some of which are currently alien to the Island but will need to be catered for if the event is to come here.

"We would need sites for things such as archery and shooting," said Beard. "I think we have got enough gymnasiums to do what's needed for the likes of volleyball and basketball. So facility-wise I think we are going to be in very good shape."

With destinations for forthcoming Games decided well in advance Bermuda does have some time to play with before considering a bid.

"In two years time it is Guernsey, after that is the Shetland Islands, who have a phenomenal amount of facilities up there, and then two years after that Rhodes have put in a bid for it," Beard said.

"That does not mean that they will get it - it is just an initial bid - but their advantage I guess is that the Olympics are in Athens and some of the training sites are going to be in Rhodes.

"But I don't think it's cut and dried, so that may be our first opportunity to put in a bid. Somewhere around 2007/2009 we should be in good shape."

Beard said he thought the idea of Bermuda playing host would be received well in many quarters, although problems with travel might have to be overcome before the green light was given.

"Obviously, people are very keen to come to Bermuda," he said. "But having said that there is always the problem of funding people coming to Bermuda. For example, St Helena have got enough problems getting to the UK . . . but on the other hand all these people say they have got enough time to raise the funds and their Governments help fund a lot of these things. If they chartered a few flights out of Gatwick or Heathrow it's possibly do-able. But that is something down the road for us to look at."

For the moment, Beard and his fellow committee members will be restricting themselves to addressing those sports on the Island who might want to compete at the next Games in 2003.

"The next thing is for me to get together with the national sports governing bodies and it's a question of deciding who is going to go, who wants to go and who doesn't," he said.

Beard said he was confident of a positive response.

"I know already volleyball and basketball are very keen to go, swimming are as well and track and field, so I think the next stage is simply to meet with them, give them an idea of the costs involved and start working it from there," he said.

"When we formed the Games Association everybody was on board and happy to go, so I think it's not so much a question of pitching it to them, it's giving them an idea of the costs and the dates etc.

"Cayman were able to manage to get 100 athletes to the Games, St Helena had 10 there and it was a five day boat trip to Cape Town and a flight from Cape Town to the UK, so people are out there doing it and I really don't see any reason why we couldn't have a decent number of people there."

Beard believes medal success would be within the nation's grasp at the Island Games.

"The times for the swimming and track are well within something we could do," he said. "The football is certainly something we could compete with very well, the men and the women. From everything I saw it is very competitive and we could be competitive in it."