A NEW YEAR but nothing new . . . at least not on the football field.

How disappointing was it to read a report in The Gazette this week of boys behaving badly? - boys being the operative word.

As the Under-17 youth league resumed at the weekend, referee DeRoy Butterfield had the misfortune to be assigned the match at Bernard Park between a visiting Trojans side and hosts North Village.

When it was all over, he could barely believe what he'd seen and heard.

What Butterfield had encountered was, in his own words, the worst conduct he'd ever experienced on a local pitch.

The youngsters' foul-mouthed language apparently flowed continuously through almost the entire 90 minutes - directed at fellow players, opposing players, the ref himself and even spectators.

Somerset, it would seem, were the main culprits. They finished the match with just nine men after two were shown the red card while another four were booked - meaning that more than half the team eventually ended up in Butterfield's little black book.

To their credit, Village - who generally boast an exemplary disciplinary record at all levels of the game - had just one player cautioned.

While such behaviour, sadly, is all too common among the senior ranks, it's hardly what one would expect from young teens representing two of the Island's major clubs - ostensibly our players of the future.

And it's hardly the way in which Bermuda Football Association would want to kick off a new year, which following the relative success against visiting Jamaica, promises so much.

To be fair, the BFA can hardly be held responsible for what transpired at Bernard Park on Saturday.

While the youngsters themselves are certainly old enough to know a lot better, their parents as well as club officials must shoulder much of the blame.

If the language and general behaviour was as bad as we're led to believe, the guilty players should have been hauled off the pitch by those in charge long before Butterfield even had time to reach for his card.

And they should have been told in no uncertain terms that they would be no longer welcome back until they cleaned up their act.

If that means the team disbanding, so be it.

If the kids can't play by the rules, it would be best for all concerned that they not play at all.

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IT WOULD seem like a clear case of 'we told you so'.

When 500 truck loads of rubble and dirt were dumped on Wellington Oval to facilitate the Bermuda Motocross Open back in November, everybody except the organisers and hosts St. George's Cricket Club was of the opinion that one of Bermuda's premier soccer and cricket venues would suffer irreparable damage.

Despite assurances to the contrary from those who arranged the one-off event, it appears we were right.

More than six weeks on, huge mounds of dirt along with five derelict buses remain on the field. The pitch has been closed indefinitely, all St. George's soccer matches switched to nearby Lord's, and - more importantly - there are growing fears that long term damage may have been caused to the wicket, threatening this summer's Cup Match which is scheduled for Wellington Oval.

And the longer the field remains as it is, the less likelihood that it will be restored to its previous condition.

St. George's might argue they can do what they want with their own ground.

But when Cup Match, such an historic and important event on Bermuda's sporting calendar, is thrown into jeopardy by poor decision-making, then it's not only their own members who suffer, but the entire community.