IF BERMUDA'S two national sports are renowned for anything in particular, it's their failure to provide statistics on a regular, if any, basis.

That's improved slightly over the last couple of seasons although the service is sporadic at best.

In football, for instance, trying to get accurate league tables for both the Premier and First Division hasn't always been straightforward.

Attempting to get standings for the old Commercial Division, Reserve Division or junior leagues was almost mission impossible. And leading goalscorers? Forget it!

Much the same has applied in cricket. Again it has improved, but not a great deal.

Who scored the most runs in the last campaign, took the most wickets, held the most catches? Who knows?

It's open to speculation. You can guarantee there's no accurate figures for any of those categories.

Observers of both sports can do no better than flip the pages of this newspaper to get whatever information they require. And certainly The Gazette isn't in a position to provide anything that we would claim to be entirely accurate.

That stems from a number of problems – in football, the lack of accurate match reports from officials, and those from referees who filled in at the last moment, to a shortage of scorekeepers in cricket.

There was a time when sports journalist Dexter Smith, an avid cricketer and keen follower of the winter sport, spent hours of his own time compiling stats which he published religiously in the Mid Ocean News.

Alas, his departure to The Times in London, where his services are no doubt equally appreciated, has caused a downward spiral.

Nobody, it seems, has taken up the mantle.

Bermuda Football Association and Bermuda Cricket Board, of course, can't shoulder all of the blame for this lapse.

Invariably it rests with the clubs themselves or the referees and umpires, of whom there are far too few (a statistic which needs no explaining).

But the situation in Bermuda in some respects is something of a blessing.

We could be like our neighbours to the West where sports statistics have become an overbearing obsession.

Results, it seems, no longer matter.

What matters most to our American friends is how the result is achieved.

Such ludicrousy was driven home on a visit to the US earlier this week.

A reputable big city newspaper, reporting on Saturday night's fight between Floyd Mayweather and the much smaller and lighter Juan Manuel Marquez, dwelled on the fact that the American landed 'x' amount of punches during the bout, how many hit the target, how many were thrown by his Mexican opponent, and again where they landed.

It wasn't until the fourth paragraph of this article, that the reader learned that Mayweather had actually won on points.

The writer found it more relevant to describe the action, forgetting to mention exactly who won – never mind the fact Mayweather dumped his hapless victim on the canvas in the second round and continued to batter the living daylights out of him over the next nine rounds.

Did anyone care how many punches it took to destroy his man?

Although, quite rightly, he did point out that next time Mayweather might want to pick on someone his own same size.

But that seems to be the way of all American sports these days. A mountain of statistics are thrown at TV viewers hours before games begin and during the marathon analysis that follows.

And no sport is more guilty of such trivialities than the NFL.

At the risk of insulting the hundreds of NFL followers in Bermuda – almost as many who follow the real game of football played on the other side of Atlantic – it has to be said the American version has descended into a numbers game where the final numbers are almost irrelevant.

When the tubs of lard, wide as they are high, set off on a four-yard sprint and within seconds are in need of an oxygen boost to ensure they can continue, commentators and sports writers alike can't help resist regurgating the ground they've lumbered over during the entire season – often without the ball – while their team-mates take a 'well-earned' break.

Perhaps they could add to that stat list how many oxygen masks were required in the process.

As for the celebration and analysis that follows a so-called tackle – for which the cottonball-wrapped players are presumably paid enormous amount of cash to make – and one that invariably has no bearing on the outcome, reaction borders on the farcical.

Were our so-called NFL superstars to take off their helmets and space suits and travel to the far less glamorous rugby league minefields of Wigan, St. Helens or Widnes, the only statistic worth mentioning would be the number of ambulances required.

Outside the NFL, baseball and basketball seem to suffer the same statistical malaise. And this awful obsession has now found its way across the pond.

In the Premier League, the cable networks go to great lengths to inform their viewers which team has had most possession of the ball, how many shots at goal, how many saves, how many fouls, how many corners, etc, ect.

Is anybody really interested?

None of those stats had any bearing whatsoever on last week's Manchester derby. What mattered was that three goals were scored in the last few minutes and, as we all should have expected, it was the Reds who came out on top. Isn't that always the case in a match involving a team revered by millions around the globe and loathed by twice as many?

So on the statistical front, to some extent, in Bermuda we are fortunate . . . although with a new football season set to kick off it would still be nice to get a little more than the official result, and preferably before the following weekend.

Is it too much to expect to get an accurate and official copy of every league standing every week rather than a random selection, and once in a while a list of our leading goalscorers?

With a new PR company on board and a larger staff than ever, the BFA should be able to provide that service.

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HAVING trouble getting tickets to the big games in Europe and UK? Then Clyde Best might be your man.

The former West Ham star, saluted by thousands when he was presented to the crowd at Upton Park earlier this year, has forged a contact in the UK through which those tickets can be made available.

He and friend George Bremar say they can now almost guarantee seats at grounds from Liverpool to Lisbon.

Call 504-2400 or 337-4911, and the Big Man will do his best to oblige .

– ADRIAN ROBSON