Bermuda Football Association's Technical Committee chairman Robert Calderon yesterday backed the association's decision to appoint Wendell (Joe) Trott and George Hayward as assistant coaches to the Under-17 national youth team.

And the former Bermuda international skipper moved swiftly to dispel claims of biased team selection at the national junior level.

Calderon told TheRoyal Gazette yesterday: "I think that it is an extremely exciting and refreshing situation for a former national squad player and coach of North Village's most successful teams of the 1970s and '80s (Trott) to be involved at the national level.

"And what is even more refreshing is that he's apparently done something that's very humbling and that is to assist someone who he probably coached at some point."

Calderon was referring to Trott working under national coach Kenny Thompson who this week came under fire for including mostly North Village youth players in his squad who take on Cuba in a World Cup qualifying, first leg match at National Sports Centre tomorrow night.

While it's understood that some clubs feel strongly that too many Village players are being called up for the national team at the expense of those in other clubs, the situation evidently reached boiling point on Monday after Thompson disclosed that both Trott and Hayward - two Village stalwarts - had also been taken on board.

Reports also surfaced on Monday that many fans had chosen to boycott the recent qualifying campaign held at National Sports Centre early last month because of their belief that the Under-17 youth team was comprised predominantly of players and staff from Village.

Thompson, currently preparing the team for tomorrow's all-important first leg match, again declined to comment yesterday.

Cuba arrived on the Island on Wednesday and held a light practice session at the National Sports Centre yesterday.

Meanwhile, Calderon defended former Village 'keeper Hayward's appointment as assistant coach.

"George approached the association to take a coaching course for goalkeeping and we have assisted him with that," said Calderon.

"We decided that this was a great opportunity for a person who one, is a goalkeeper and, two, has a genuine interest in goalkeeping coaching and improving his education."

Calderon also divulged that others had been invited to come on board.

"We have been running a 20-week coaching course and all clubs were given ample notice in terms of support. It's very, very cheap to participate in and it's been run by the youth director (Thompson) and goes hand in hand with our mandate to improve coaching across the board in Bermuda. Yet we only had four clubs participate."

In regards to allegations of youth team bias, Calderon added: "I can recall in the '70s when the senior national team were heavily dominated by North Village players. We had nine players in the squad and six were starters.

"Sometimes you just end up with players who are actually on form and teams that are doing very well and that occurs anywhere in the world. It just happens that way."

Calderon also backed Thompson's decision to surround himself with personnel with whom he had become accustomed in the past.

"Everyone has, in fact, done that. You choose people that you are comfortable working with. Peppy Dill had Roddy Burchall at the national level and they were best friends and it worked well for them. And I know that it worked well because I was the captain of the national team under both of them. It's just natural that he would bring them in." Calderon insisted.

The BFA executive also dispelled recent claims that Dennis Brown had quit the junior national programme. However, Calderon couldn't explain the absence of Scott Morton, another former assistant coach of the Under-17 team.

"Dennis is now the assistant to Gary Darrell at the senior national level as is Ray Jones," he revealed. "So Dennis is still very much involved in the programme. He's just been elevated to the senior level but I can't explain Scott's absence.

"That is something that will have to be discussed at the technical committee level."

Calderon also threw his support firmly behind his youth director.

"Kenny has proven to me in the past seven months that he's very thorough, comprehensive and a long-term thinking professional," he said.

"He has also proven that he has a model that is successful that we cannot overlook. Kenny's not asking players to be 'A' students. All he's asking for is for them to become disciplined and involved. North Village just happen to have a programme that's built on those three components and you can't fault a club for trying to do things in a proper manner."