Miami. Who is paying the bills? We do not know largely because no one will tell the public exactly who is responsible for what although it seems clear that the Bermuda Football Association stood bail for the seven arrested Under-23 players.

There seems to us to be a strong feeling that people should be responsible for themselves. Partially, the BFA operates with both public and charity funds. It would be hard to convince people that any part of those should be used to a private purpose, including a defence attorney.

People travelling in their own cause would not expect to be financed by the public. Why is this situation any different? The largely discredited Bermuda Football Association has adopted a policy of silence. It is refusing to comment or to tell Bermudians what is going on. Yet the BFA accepts public funds from Government and it uses charity funds from a number of Bermudian organisations, including extensive funds which belong to the shareholders of the Bank of Bermuda. Clearly in refusing to speak, the BFA is denying the public's right to know. The BFA has forgotten that on a number of levels it has a duty to be accountable to the people of Bermuda for how it runs the national sport.

From the very beginning of this whole unhappy incident it has been clear that the executive of the BFA should learn to behave like adults, shoulder some responsibility, and clear away the debris by resigning. Yet, the members do not seem even to understand the concept of responsibility. First the BFA left the seven players alone in Miami after they were arrested and officials flew home. Then officials rushed back to Miami, apparently bearing bail. Stung by calls for resignations, the BFA has continued to meet in secret and to stay silent which has only served to fuel doubts about their ability to perform properly. If there is nothing to hide, then face the public.

Now the BFA has fired its outspoken but highly successful technical director of coaching, Mr. Burkhard Ziese. The fact that the Bermuda team won in Jamaica is the proof of Mr. Ziese's football ability. Yet he has been fired and the public can only think that he has been fired because of his open criticisms of the conditions existing in Bermuda football, criticisms which appear to be justified and which must rest at the doorstep of the Bermuda Football Association.

We understand that it was difficult for the BFA to have an employee who was so open, especially when the BFA is so secretive. However Mr. Ziese was hired to get results from the players, which he did, and not to pander to the officials of the BFA who are notoriously thin-skinned and unseeing. It seems clear now that the BFA hopes that firing Mr. Ziese will divert some attention to him and away from the BFA's own troubled existence. Shooting the messenger is an old and very transparent ploy. It could say two things, either that the BFA is unwilling to face its problems or that Mr. Ziese knows something the BFA wants to hide.

Incredibly the BFA has fired Mr. Ziese while Sir John Sharpe's commission into the problems of football is sitting. They may think that Mr. Ziese will leave Bermuda and not "spill the beans'' to the commission. That must not be allowed to happen.