The Premier Division match between Paget and Devonshire Colts was cancelled this afternoon after an attempt was made to attack a Paget player during the warm-up.

The Bermuda Police Service was called to Southampton Oval just before 3pm when a group of about five men were able to evade security and tried to assault a member of the Paget squad.

The player is believed to be unharmed. After the incident, referee Martin Wyer consulted with both sets of coaches and the Bermuda Football Association match commissioner before calling the game off.

A witness, who was at the stadium but did not want to be named, said the incident was dealt with quickly.

“A group of about five or six spectators evaded minimum security to get onto the pitch with a mindset to attack an unknown Paget player as the two sides warmed up to prepare for the match,” the witness said.

“Southampton Rangers president Darren ”Butch“ Burchall quickly called the police to alert them to the situation and they arrived within five minutes.

“The attackers had already fled the scene before police arrived and match officials and the security staff alerted them to what happened. Thankfully, the player attacked did not sustain any injuries.”

The incident was believed to have been in retaliation for an incident that took place at PHC Field on Friday night when a Paget player was involved in a confrontation with Southampton Rangers players and supporters.

Burchall, president of Southampton Rangers, spoke to The Royal Gazette last night and laid out details of the incident.

“This was a Paget home game and we rent them the ground but they are in charge of security,” Burchall said.

“They usually do a great job and have no issues. But today I went down to the changing rooms and there were about five young men there that were aggrieved.

“There was an incident at PHC on Friday night after the football match that Rangers played there and it involved a Paget player.

“During the warm-up this afternoon, the Paget player was taunting these guys and they were adamant that they weren’t going to let him play. A couple of people tried to talk them down but they were aggrieved.

“Our sports chairman tried to have a word with one or two of the Paget leadership to see if the guy could be taken out of the team but it didn’t happen. Long story short, these five gentlemen then got past the security and then entered the field to go after the player as both the clubs were getting ready to line up to come on the field.”

Burchall immediately got on the phone and called the Bermuda Police Service and is angry that this incident could undermine the good community work the club is doing.

“We can't tolerate this,” Burchall said. “It's unfortunate that our ugly issues in society raise their ugly face during sports events sometimes.

“It’s just unfortunate that it happened at our club and at our field and that everybody is going to think it’s Rangers again.

“I’m sitting here with people in the community that are grieved at this. We were just sitting there talking about all the good things that we’re doing and the positive stuff that we're doing for our community and this raises its ugly head.

“It’s one step forward and two steps backwards, but we’ll continue to think and do positive stuff here for the community.

“If and when we identify these people, we’ll give them very long bans from Rangers. If they come on our premises, we'll call the police and have them charged with trespassing. We have to take these steps and that's the only way we can move this forward.”