Class One referee Cal Simons has never been placed in such a powerless position during 12 years of officiating as he was during Sunday's Premier Division game between Somerset Trojans and St. George's.

Both he and the Trojans bench were left scratching their heads when Somerset skipper Dwight Basden refused to be substituted on two occasions in the second half at Somerset CC.

Eventually Simons was left with no option but to ignore the substitution request and get on with play.

And yesterday the official said he still believed he had been correct to overlook the matter and not delay the match any further after three minutes of stoppage time had already been added.

"It really surprised me." he said. "The laws of the game gave me no power to intervene, it was a situation solely between the player and his coach because the referee just goes out there to enforce the laws of the game. In my 12 years of refereeing and watching soccer I have never come across anything like that."

Simons said that referee's assistant Andre Manders got his attention about the intended substitution and identified Basden as the player going off.

But Basden insisted he was staying on the field, ignoring demands that he be replaced.

Basden was told by Simons that he was being asked to come off but the player politely replied that he intended to remain on the field.

"I have had it where a player would say `I am not coming off right now' and a coach decided to substitute him a little later, but nothing like this," said Simons.

"He simply told me: `Mr. Simons I am not going off the field', and I just waved to Mr. Manders to let him know that I was going to allow play to continue when it happened the first time. Then when it happened a second time about six minutes later and the player continued to resist I just went over to Somerset's coach Mark Trott and told him that Mr. Basden said he wasn't coming off and I suggested that he make some other substitution," said Simons.

"There wasn't anything Mark could do. If the player decided he wasn't coming off then what could you do? Nothing really.

"I felt that it was something that he would have to deal with after the game, that's an internal thing. I don't know even if the BFA (Bermuda Football Association) will be able to do anything about it.

"I put it all in my report but I don't know if the BFA have any jurisdiction over anything like this. I would think it's a club matter."

Neither club president Colin Smith nor coach Trott commented yesterday.