Last night?s Wellington Oval guilty verdicts bring the curtain down on a dramatic chain of events starting 18 months ago with a day that sickened Bermuda. What began as an innocent celebration of football at St. George?s on a sunny Sunday afternoon last April, ended with the worst outbreak of violence at a sporting stadium on the Island in living memory.

Many believe it was local football?s darkest hour.

Amid horrific scenes ? crucially captured forever by photographers and a fan with a video camera ? gangs of youths armed with machetes, knives, swords and planks of wood launched sickening attacks on each other.

Waves of terror swept the stadium, bringing a premature end to the keenly anticipated Friendship Trophy clash between North Village and Somerset Eagles.

As women and children fled the stadium screaming and in tears, up to 40 young thugs battled it out on a pitch quickly deserted by players and officials.

The harrowing display of public trouble in full view of one thousand fans lasted a matter of minutes. But it left three men needing urgent hospital treatment. One, Tarik Foster, was critically hurt and suffered multiple cuts, while another victim, Wolda Gardner, also diced with death after being stabbed inches from his heart.

To date, six men have now been convicted for the part they played in the orgy of violence that will forever haunt Wellington Oval. The wheels of justice may have stopped slowly turning after 18 months, but as the injured continue on the road to recovery, the wounds the culprits inflicted on Bermuda ? at both a sporting and a deeper social level ? will be felt for many, many years to come.

In the immediate aftermath of the violence, and in a stark admission of the severity of the incident, a team of 50 police officers was quickly scrambled by Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith to investigate the riot and bring the perpetrators to justice. Road blocks were put up on The Causeway in an attempt to catch the offenders and seize weapons.

Premier Alex Scott issued a warning that lawlessness would not be tolerated in the Country, and as concerns were raised by the Island?s business chiefs, officers wasted no time making arrests. Senior Police indicated the clashes may have been fuelled by simmering feuds over territory between notorious ?town and country? gangs of youths.

Before the second game was abruptly cancelled, Paget Lions had played Somerset Trojans, and the prime target for arrests were the Paget and Warwick areas ? stumping grounds of the Ord Road Crew.

Within a week of the ugly riot, a total of 12 men ? aged 21 to 27 ? had been taken in for questioning by detectives.

Three days later, in a whirlwind of police activity, eight of them had been charged.

As an exhaustive investigation continued to gather pace, the ninth and final man to be charged in connection with the soccer trouble was arrested at the end of May.

The first four to appear in court were greeted by what one lawyer branded a ?police and media circus?. The four who stood accused were Jahcai Morris, John Glasgow, Kijah Butterfield and Jamie Ford.

Appearing on similar charges, ranging from weapon possession to attempted murder, were John Everest Trott, Ki-Roy Kinta Butterfield, Kavon Earlstone Smith and Wolde Trott. The last man to be charged was Tahir Nesta Bascome.

The trial of Ford, Ki-Jah Butterfield, Smith and Wolde Trott started in Magistrates? Court mid May ? just over a month after the riot hit the headlines.

But prosecutors were dealt a blow at the end of June when charges against Ford and Ki-Jah Butterfield were dropped. They walked free after Magistrates ruled there was insufficient evidence for conviction. Charges against John Trott were also dropped at a later stage.

Identification quickly became a key issue in the case, with defence lawyers questioning the validity of DVD and photographic evidence.

In what would prove a continuing theme in forthcoming months and later trials, they also raised doubts about the ability of witnesses ? often unwilling to testify in gang-related trials ? to make proper identification of defendants accused of brandishing offensive weapons.

The two remaining defendants told the court they only took up weapons out of fear and for protection. Smith picked himself out carrying a sword; Wolde Trott with a machete.

Both claimed they found the weapons on the playing field. Both men were handed nine-month jail terms last August.

The second trial ? this time featuring the more serious charge of attempted murder ? began at the start of 2005 at the Supreme Court.

Ki-Roy Butterfield, Morris and Bascombe all denied trying to kill and seriously harm Tarik Foster. But with just over a week of evidence heard, and seen, the trial was dramatically stopped because a diabetic juror fell ill. Before the retrial, which dramatically ended last night, the ?chief attacker? at Wellington Oval, John Glasgow, was jailed for seven years.

Glasgow, the drunken ringleader in that group, hit the helpless victim in the head with a machete at least three times, the court was told. Now Glasgow is being joined behind bars by three more men ? Ki-Roy Butterfield, Jahcai Morris and Tahir Nesta Bascome ? thugs forever associated with a day that shocked Bermuda.