In the wake of a possible season-ending injury last Sunday, Bermudian David Bascome is pondering his indoor football future with the Harrisburg Heat - a team he has served for the past decade.

As he awaits a decision on whether he will be able to play in any of the Pennsylvania-based club's remaining nine matches this season, the midfielder was non-commital about staying with the Heat.

"I can't say right now," said Bascome. "I talked to the club's owner two days ago and said changes have to be made. I want to win a championship. The thing is that I said the same thing last summer and they guaranteed me they would bring in players and do other things to try to win a championship and it hasn't been done.

"It's a situation I'll have to deal with, make up my mind what I'm going to do. Obviously, I'd love to be back playing with the Heat and that's my intention but there's no telling what's going to happen . . . I've got doubts about my club right now and in what direction they plan to go."

Bascome, 32, suffered a knee injury in the third period of his side's 17-14 loss to the Cleveland Crunch. It was the Heat's seventh successive defeat and they have now tied their single-season record for losses, set two seasons ago when they finished with 16 wins and 28 losses.

"I went into a tackle with the goalkeeper and I tore a bit of my MCL (medial collateral ligament) on the inside of my right knee. There may be some cartilage damage but we'll see after the swelling goes down in the next two days," he said, recalling the incident.

Given the team's dismal performance for 2001-02, he explained that the Heat were not in any hurry for him to return to action since they were not in play-off contention.

"I'm definitely out for the three games we have this weekend and maybe even for the rest of the season. The club is saying 'With our record, we're not going to make play-offs' so they don't want to take any chances with me trying to rush back. It's very frustrating because I had a tough season and now I have to be trying to get myself healthy again," he said, his tone echoing his feelings.

One of his team's leading players, Bascome said the Heat were "fighting an uphill battle from day one" as they began the season with some key injuries and it was only now, near the end, that any changes were being made. He termed this "a little too late", adding that his new role of assistant coach did not allow him to get involved in the decision-making as he would have liked.

"My job is basically 'as needed, when things come up'. That's been frustrating too. Sometimes you think you can help but your hands are tied. Being assistant coach you're limited to a minimal.

"Obviously, the coach has the final say and he selects the players and picks the team," noted the injured player.

Bascome pointed to the underlying frustration in the Heat camp as being partly responsible for the post-match fight between his team-mates and members of the Baltimore Blast a few weeks ago.

The game, he said, had reached "boiling point" and afterwards, as players shook hands, one Baltimore player began taunting an opponent.

"There was an outburst and it ended up in a fight. Security had to come and break things up. Three (of our) players were suspended with fines and our coach was suspended for three games. Another two Heat players were suspended for two games and the same with Baltimore," he added.

However, Bascome is confident his team-mates will not be quick to let their emotions take such an unseemly turn again.

"I am sure both sides have learnt a lesson because the fines were very heavy. The guys have paid the penalty for it."