aimed at solving the current stand-off with Bermuda Football Association apparently expressed their displeasure with the way The Royal Gazette responded to their idea for players to wear gold ribbons for the rest of the season as a symbol of fair play.

The word "disrespect'' was being liberally bandied about after we suggested they might as well be attired in pink tutus as ribbons for all the effect it would have on this season's escalation of violence on the pitch.

Well, sorry, but respect has to come from all sides and there has been precious little of that afforded to the staff of this newspaper as they have tried tirelessly and honestly to make sense of the sporting soap opera that has replaced soccer.

It is hard to have respect for some club affiliates who, having refused comment after their own meeting the previous week, handed a reporter a hastily scribbled statement proclaiming the development of important initiatives, the only one of which they enlarged upon was the wearing of the ribbons.

It is hard to retain respect when a club president, responding to a reporter's request on whether his team intends turning up for an important league match that evening, rings back not to provide the answer, but to launch into a personal tirade about what he sees as "biased'' journalism.

It is hard to retain respect when members of the BFA executive bar a reporter from their special council meeting, leaving him to stand outside the window practising his lip-reading skills and creating further suspicion that the linen being aired is mainly of a soiled nature.

And it is hard to retain respect when those same elected officials afterwards claim everything went very positively, promise decisions on all the boycotted and abandoned games will be made public within three days and then renege on the deal, allegedly after yet more pressure from the clubs.

And what were the actions of Haile Outerbridge, who threw a bottle at a referee, if not disrespectful? What were the actions of Wendell and Ryan Swan, who savagely attacked Vasco's Dwight Basden, if not disrespectful, and what were the actions of those Southampton fans who threw bottles at Vasco keeper Timmy Figuerido? What indeed, are those actions of players and presidents who allow fans, the media and referees to travel to matches, only to announce there will be no football five minutes before the scheduled start? Certainly more disrespectful than a quip about tutus which, if it signifies anything, it's the complete lack of a sense of humour among those involved in the current controversy.

Despite all the protestations that nothing but good things will come from this "painful process'', all the above begs the question: who is really running football in Bermuda? The BFA executive, as elected? The club affiliates, several of whom seem to be hugely enjoying their moment in the spotlight? Or the players, some of whose indiscipline would have been dealt with far more harshly had it occurred outside the confines of the football arena? If it is none of these, aren't we somewhere close to football anarchy? BFA general secretary David Sabir issued a statement on Thursday saying that the decisions on the games had been witheld to "demonstrate to the players, the fans and club administrators that we want football to end on as positive note as possible.

"We want to make it absolutely clear that the association is committed to reporting on these incidents but, at the same time, it is our responsibility to preserve the integrity and profile of the game.'' Read between the lines, or listen to the whispers, and what that means is they were running scared that taking further action now might lead certain players to again refuse to turn out tomorrow. One executive member admitted as much on Tuesday night. "Don't mention that we're worried about that, it might put ideas in their heads,'' he said.

I'd like to think otherwise but football's profile in Bermuda is being allowed to fade despite the best efforts of people like Clyde Best and his national squad players and coaches, while the integrity it might once have had has been diminished by a few who seem determined to spoil the sport for their own egotistical ends.

There is a split in soccer on this Island which, despite BFA president Neville Tyrrell's attempts to "put on a united front'' is as precarious as the San Andreas Fault.

Best admitted that after his national team beat Denmark's Under-23s in front of a disappointing crowd in February.

"Half of the people in Bermuda want us to lose,'' he said pertinently. "It's the Bermuda mentality and it's to do with the clubs. We find a lot more people from overseas are cheering for us than our own local people -- and to me that's really amazing.''