IT will be football, but not as we know it. Forget 11-a-side, bumpy pitches,
IT will be football, but not as we know it. Forget 11-a-side, bumpy pitches, a winter chill and poor spectator facilities, which sum up today’s typical local football experience. Instead, imagine six-a-side football, played at a fast pace on a small pitch with a true surface. Imagine a few hundred fans sitting in the National Sports Centre grandstand, enjoying a family atmosphere, munching on snacks and sipping at a soda, watching the goals go in on a balmy early summer’s evening. David Bascome imagined just that and after several years of planning, he is about to make the vision a reality.After a successful 16 years of playing professional six-a-side indoor football with the Harrisburg Heat and the Baltimore Blast, Bascome wants to bring this distinct brand of the game back to Bermuda. His CellularOne Island Soccer League (ISL) will be officially launched on the evening of May 15, with eight teams and 120 players, who will have financial incentives for being successful.
There was no lack of support for Bascome’s idea. Around 200 local players signed up to take part in the new league and coaches of the eight teams picked their favourite 120 players in a US-style draft, staged at the Spinning Wheel in February. He has got some financial backing from the local and international business community, but knows all too well he needs the support of Bermuda’s football fans to make it a success.
Although ISL commissioner Bascome, who is still a player and assistant coach at Baltimore Blast, wants to bring a business-like approach to Bermuda football, business has not been the motivating factor in the years he has spent working towards the league’s launch.“This is personal,” Bascome said. “What the ISL is all about is not just the game — we are trying to create a community. Every time you look in the paper, there is something about a young person who has died speeding in a road accident, or who has gotten involved in gang violence or drugs.
“I believe that sport can take you back to community values. These players need the game. I came through my own struggles and football helped me to achieve that. That is the reason why I wanted to play and to win championships. Every time I stepped on the field, it felt like a safe place.
“The ISL will give players the controlled environment they have been craving. We have many players with the talent and the skill. In this league, they will have to prove they can handle a professional environment.
“I want this league to create 120 role models. I want these players to go into schools and inspire 13- and 14-year-olds to want to play in the ISL when they get older. I have benefited from the game and I want others the chance to benefit from it too.”
There is no doubting Bascome’s passion for his project. It comes at a time when Bermuda football is going through a chronic malaise. The game has suffered from incidents of gang-related violence and drug-taking, as well as foul language on and off the field, with widespread disrespect for officials. The problems have dissuaded families from attending matches and with plenty of competing attractions, football has been gradually losing its support base.
Bascome wants to bring back into the fold those who have turned their backs on the sport, by offering a radically different product with the underlying foundation being respect for everyone involved — whether they be players, referees, coaches or spectators.
“It’s all about respect for the game and for others,” Bascome said. “And it’s about what the players and the coaches can do for the community. Just imagine them going into schools and telling their life stories and kids going home and saying, ‘I want to be that professional’.”
Although the players will be the same players who turn out for Bermuda’s Premier League and First Division club sides, fans watching ISL matches will see something very different from them, Bascome promised. The rules of the game will ensure it.
The pitch is less than half the size of a conventional football pitch and is divided into thirds. If a player kicks the ball from his defensive third right over the middle section and into the opponents’ defensive third — without bouncing — then a free-kick will be awarded against him. Fast, incisive passing along the ground is the way to play this game.
Rolling substitutions are allowed throughout the match and so the match officials have to be alert to ensure that each team has no more than six players on the field at all times. To keep up with the rapid pace of the game, there are two referees on the field — each monitoring one half of the field — and a third referee in an elevated position over the halfway line.
It’s the third referee’s task to ensure that no-one makes a change too quickly and brings on a seventh player. That will result in a “blue card” and a “shootout” opportunity for the opposing team. A shootout involves a player being given the chance to take on the opposing goalkeeper in a one-on-one situation and having five seconds to score a goal.
Bascome wants it all to add up to an entertaining experience for fans. And drawing on his experience of indoor soccer in the US, he intends to maximise entertainment on and off the field.
“I want the coaches to choose players who will entertain,” Bascome said. “I expect to see at least four or five goals a game and usually more. Every time there’s a goal, a song will be played. And I want to see the players really celebrate their goals.
“On the first match night, I will be there at the gate to personally greet every single spectator. Football has lost a lot of people and once you’ve lost them it’s hard to get them back. But I want to offer everything possible to make this a great experience for the fans, with attractions off the field as well as on it.”
After a pre-season tournament on Saturday, the ISL’s opening league matches will take place on May 15. There will be 18 match nights, with two games each night. The original plan was to play matches on Friday and Saturday nights. Due to lack of weekend availability of the National Sports Centre, lost matches will instead be played on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
The league will culminate in play-offs between the most successful teams in July. Fans will be asked to pay $360 for a season ticket — which works out at $10 per game with a guaranteed seat in the grandstand. General admission at the gate will cost $20 or $22, Bascome said, with those fans being asked to stand around the pitch.
Bascome, who remains player-coach with the Baltimore Blast, will encourage his contacts in the US professional game to fly out to Bermuda to watch ISL games and size up Bermuda’s most talented players. The ISL will also have an All-Star Game, which will be a major opportunity to players to showcase themselves to club scouts and maybe open the door to a pro career.
Bermuda football may have been ailing in recent years, but the ISL is one of three shots in the arm for the game in 2007. The Government has decided to make an astonishing $15 million investment into the game, which will maximise opportunities for youth development and overseas competition. The money will also allow governing body the Bermuda Football Association to embark on a long-term improvement plan, which will be overseen by a technical director.
Last weekend the Bermuda Hogges made their debut in the semi-professional USL. The new club was the brainchild of former Manchester City star Shaun Goater, a friend of Bascome from childhood. As the seasons coincide, ISL players will not be able to play for the Hogges as well.
“The ISL will not clash with the Hogges — they will complement each other,” Bascome said. “Players from the ISL may thrive in a professional environment and then want to move on to play for the Hogges. The ISL is going to be very competitive and we are going to be pushing the envelope and that’s what the Hogges will be doing too. It will all be good for football.” If all goes to plan, Bascome hopes to offer around $40,000 in prize money to the winners. At the time of writing, commercial backing had come from title sponsors CellularOne, as well as kit maker adidas and soft drink distributor John Barritt.
The eight teams have been given the names Apex, Arsenal, Kings, Knights, Royal, Storm, Titans and Union. The head coaches include some who have enjoyed success in the Bermuda Premier League, including John Rebello, Andrew Bascome, and Dennis Brown, as well as Herbie Bascome, Jeremy Salaam, Ray Jones and Nick Jones.
“I believe this will be something good for Bermuda football and that’s why I wanted to get involved,” said former Bermuda national team player Karl Roberts, who is registered as a player and assistant coach of the Titans.
“When the regular season finishes, there has been nothing for footballers. But the ISL gives them an opportunity to play all year round. And the more you do something, the better you get.”
If the ISL grabs the public imagination and summer six-a-side thrives, Bascome sees big changes ahead such as people moving in as “owners” of the different teams. And Bascome already has expansion plans. “I am looking to take the ISL outside Bermuda and by 2011, I hope the ISL will be played on three islands,” he said.
“I will hold my hands up and be accountable if this does not go the way I expect it to. Whatever happens, I will know I tried.”
