A war of words broke out between Bermuda Football Association and Sports Minister Randy Horton yesterday as the row over the use of the National Sports Centre escalated.

While last night's match between a local youth team and the Manchester City Youth Academy side went ahead as scheduled - a day after the BFA had officially withdrawn their national team, claiming they had been banned by Government from using the Sports Centre - allegations of dishonesty were levelled by both parties.

Minister Horton lit another fuse early in the day when he released a lengthy statement addressing yesterday's front page Royal Gazette story which detailed the ongoing dispute.

Horton flatly rejected the BFA's claim that national football teams had been banned from using the NSC by either Government or the trustees.

And he claimed the implementation of an NSC training policy allowed national teams to train and play practice matches at the Frog Lane facility for free whenever they were preparing for international competition.

However, told of Horton's statement, BFA general-secretary David Sabir quickly hit back.

Sabir produced a letter from Youth and Sports Director Brenton Roberts, sent on April 25 this year, which states: "I hereby advise that I have recommended that the BFA be refused further access to the National Sports Centre after April, 30, 2003, should there be no effort to settle your account..."

Sabir further produced documents showing that the sport's governing body had been charged more than $30,000 for national team training at the Centre, while getting ready for international fixtures.

In total, the BFA are believed to owe in excess of $40,000, but claim as a designated national sport their teams should not be charged for training.

Full story, see Sports.