X-Roads Warriors president and founder Saleem Talbot has broken his silence over a long-running dispute between the Premier Division club and the Bermuda Football Association.

The dispute centres around the BFA’s scheduling of fixtures on Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons, which prevents some X-Roads players from playing because of their religious beliefs and work commitments.

Talbot feels the association’s decision not to honour repeated requests by his club to have their games switched puts them at a significant disadvantage, as was the case in their season opener in the league against champions Dandy Town at PHC Field on September 18.

“They [BFA] knew that it would be an extraordinary disadvantage to us because even our captain would not be able to play as well as two or three other starting players, but they just ignored it,” Talbot told The Royal Gazette.

“We sent them a proper letter and they came back a couple of days later and said ‘no’ with no proper explanation

“This happens every season and if I’m not mistaken we have at least four more matches in this situation, with players eliminated from playing in these fixtures. They know that it’s going to cause the same disadvantage to our team and they are going to do it anyway.

“In Bermuda football is an important sport that brings the community together and when it comes to scheduling matches it should be inclusive, not exclusive. This has been going on for a decade and a half and the question is why are the BFA doing this?

“It is often said the clubs are the BFA, but sometimes it doesn’t feel like that because the clubs are saying they want players to play and yet they’re being excluded, sometimes in very important matches such as semi-finals and finals.”

Talbot said the issue is not just a matter for X-Roads and that all clubs should be concerned.

“This affects every team and people should not be prevented from playing football. It doesn’t make sense and everybody should be included in this beautiful game as it’s called,” he said.

“Back in the day there was a time that if a club had a problem in playing and had a legitimate reason you could simply reach out to the BFA and they would have a chat with the two teams and work it out. That was very simple and I don’t understand what has happened.

“We don’t have this commonsense approach to fixtures and sometimes it seems some clubs have preferential treatment. Just two weeks ago Social Club had an issue and their fixture was changed. We were the opposing team, we didn’t object and the BFA changed it. But whenever we have asked for a change in the last ten to 15 years, it’s never honoured.”

In response to Talbot’s criticism, the BFA Competitions Committee provided reasons for denying the club’s repeated requests in a statement.

“Subsequent to the release of the senior league schedule, the Competitions Committee received correspondence from X-Roads, which constituted a formal objection to the scheduling of its Friday evening and Saturday afternoon fixtures for the 2026-27 season,” the statement read.

“Following consideration of the request, the Competitions Committee determined that the request to reschedule these fixtures should be declined. The committee’s decision is consistent with the approach taken in previous seasons in respect of recurring requests from X-Roads to reschedule Saturday afternoon fixtures due to the stated ‘work commitments’ of club players or representatives.”

The committee said it based its decision on scheduling constraints and equitable application of the schedule, significant constraints arising from venue and referee availability and the distinction between exceptional circumstances and recurring scheduling preferences.

“The Competitions Committee’s decision to decline the X-Roads request is consistent with the established approach to league scheduling and the need to apply the scheduling framework fairly and consistently across all Member Associations,” the statement read.

“While the committee recognises the challenges that Friday evening and Saturday afternoon fixtures may create for individual clubs, accommodating such preferences would significantly restrict the Association’s ability to manage venue availability and the shortage of match officials and would create an unsustainable precedent for future scheduling.

“The committee’s position is therefore that fixtures should remain as scheduled, except where a genuine and objectively identifiable conflict or exceptional circumstance warrants consideration of a change.

“By way of example, the committee recently considered a request from Young Men’s Social Club to reschedule their Matchday 5 fixture in the Dudley Eve competition. In that instance, the request was made to avoid a direct clash with the funeral of a Young Men’s Social Club player and goalkeeper. The players and members of Young Men’s Social Club intended to attend the funeral on that day.

“The committee agreed to the request, consistent with the approach taken in previous seasons where fixtures have conflicted with significant events such as funerals and other exceptional circumstances. This represents a materially different set of circumstances from a recurring request to avoid particular match times due to work commitments.”