The visit to the Island of Shaun Goater's Manchester City youth team has brought to a head a simmering row between Bermuda Football Association and Government.

And last night the dispute took another twist with the BFA announcing that they had withdrawn their Under-17 national team from tonight's scheduled match against a City side at the National Sports Centre.

The game - the first of two this week involving the English club - will go ahead with Goater himself having to pick the local team.

But the row has taken the gloss off a week of activities which the Bermudian star and his sponsors have been planning for several months.

It all stems from Government's insistence that national soccer teams under the direction of the BFA be charged a fee every time their players train or play at the National Sports Centre.

It was learned yesterday that, having run up a bill of more than $40,000, the BFA were informed by the Director of Youth and Sports, Brenton Roberts, at the end of April that they and all of their teams had been banned from using the Centre's facilities.

The BFA, it is understood, were being charged $125 per hour for training at the Centre as well as an additional $125 an hour for the use of floodlights.

According to Government, no effort had been made to settle their account.

Since the April 25 letter, banishing all BFA players from the NSC, the national Under-17 team have not trained.

And it was against that background that yesterday's decision was taken by the BFA not to field a team for this evening's friendly fixture.

Goater, however, remained upbeat, claiming his Grassroots Festival which is running throughout this week at various locations with the help of Manchester City Youth Academy staff, would not be affected.

“I'm just so pleased that Bermuda will still have a team, for which I have selected players,” he said.

“I'm just pleased that they will have the opportunity to go and play against the Manchester City team. And who knows, some of them might go on to become professionals themselves.”

Tony Meehan, marketing and communications manager for the Festival, said last night: “We're aware of the background but there will be a game tomorrow (tonight).

“I can't speak for the club specifically but from obviously the organisers' point of view, we just want to play football and give Bermudian youngsters the chance to shine in front of representatives from a club in the biggest league in the world (English Premiership).

“Whilst it's unfortunate they (the BFA and Government) have got issues, that's nothing to do with us. We just want to put on a game and as part of the Festival we want to give kids the opportunity to show off their talent.

“It would've been a shame had they not been given that chance. Obviously now there is a compromise position... the BFA have their reasons, and the Government have theirs, it's just unfortunate that politics gets involved in sport.

“We're delighted there's going to be a game tomorrow (today) and a game on Friday and we hope that for the sake of Bermuda football the issues are resolved.”

Announcing withdrawal of the official Under-17 team last night, a BFA statement noted that president Larry Mussenden had stated some months ago that in the association's opinion the BFA should not have to pay to use the NSC for any national team activities.

“Over the past two years, the BFA have been steadily developing programmes that focus primarily on raising the technical and tactical skills of all our football players from youth through to seniors including girls and women,” continued the statement.

“... During this two-year period, we have also faced numerous obstacles. Some we have been able to overcome with the generous support of our corporate partners, from parents together with the assistance and support of our clubs... sadly, there have and still remain some obstacles that continue to stifle our goals.

“One such obstacle is the cost associated with using the National Sports Centre. We have met with officials of the Ministry of Youth and Sports on numerous occasions specifically requesting that they provide the necessary funding that will enable football and other national sports to utilise the stadium without cost on a consistent basis.

“We made this plea for the following reasons:

“1) That our elite players deserve to conduct their training at the best facilities available in Bermuda in order to optimally develop technically and tactically, and;

“2) Because the financial limitations in Bermuda for raising large sums of money necessary to offset the cost of training and playing matches at the stadium.”

However, the statement added, a letter was received from the Director of Youth and Sport on April 25 recommending that the NSC Trustees refuse the BFA further access to the Centre.

Following a meeting with their affiliates, the BFA decided to suspend all national youth team activities “to the disappointment of the 86-plus young players and parents involved.”

“The Under-17 national team haven't trained at the Stadium since receipt of the letter,” said the statement.

“... Consequently, having no proper facility in which to prepare, the BFA have decided that the Under-17 team will not play against Manchester City's youth team.

“However, we have allowed the opportunity for any player, those who may or may not be a member of the national team, to be a part of a select team to be coached by Shaun Goater.

“We believe the issue is financial. We also believe sufficient financial resources need to be allocated for football to use the Sports Centre. This is a significantly important investment that can be made on behalf of one of the two named national sports of Bermuda and the social development of our young people.”