Devonshire Cougars? trio Omar Butterfield, Heys Wolfe and Raymond (Packy) Beach never signed waivers subjecting them to take mandatory national team drugs scans on the eve of Brazilian team Santos? tour of Bermuda last year, can reveal.

The trio were immediately banned from playing all domestic and international football for one year for failing to take a third drugs test at the National Sports Centre (NSC) on January 29, after initial scans were deemed ?invalid? by Bermuda Council for Drug Free Sport (BCDS).

?This is a massive technicality because they (BCDS) should have had all of their things in order before handing down any rulings. Had they done so they would have discovered that the players had not signed any waiver and as such should not have been tested or involved with the national team in the first place,? said an official from Devonshire Recreation Club who spoke to on condition of anonymity.

?A doctor can?t release any information regarding specimens taken from someone?s body unless the patient has consented. And the same should have applied in this case as well. This was not an unreasonable request. However, before they (BCDS) used their findings they should have done their research.

?The conditions for all national team players should have been clarified from the outset. And each and every member of that squad should have signed a BFA waiver for anything pertaining to the team. And if any player did not, then they had no reason being involved with the team in any way, shape or form from the beginning.?

Devonshire Recreation Club appealed against the bans in February, 2005.

Wolfe and Butterfield were then cleared to resume playing last April after it was discovered the testing methods were ?flawed? and they had never been officially notified by BCDS to show up for a third test at the NSC on January 29 last year.

?The BFA?s technical committee should have been aware that these players never signed any waiver and none of them should have found themselves in this unfortunate position,? added the official.

?The boys were never informed by the BCDS that they had to take a third test and so they never knew about this. And the BCDS were admonished for their actions during the appeal proceedings in which those boys? (Wolfe and Butterfield) suspensions were immediately lifted,? he revealed.

However, learned yesterday that Beach?s ban was upheld because it was the second time he had contravened Bermuda Council for Drug Free Sports (BCDFS) laws.

Beach, when 14 years of age, was deemed to have failed a drugs test in 1998 as a member of the national youth programme.

?Beach?s punishment is based on actions that occurred when he was 14 years-old and nowhere else in the world is sensitive information like this shared around like here in Bermuda,? added the official. ?They just closed the door on Beach for committing a cardinal sin.?

Beach took drugs tests on January 27 and 28, 2005 and refused to show up for a third test after refusing to complete the necessary paperwork and storming out of the offices.

?Such a refusal or failure shall be treated as a drug use related infraction as defined in the Bermuda policy on penalties for drug use in sport, in accordance with section nine,? read a letter dated January 28, 2005 that was mailed to Devonshire Recreation Club from the BCDS.

?This is the second offence, the first having been committed on October 16, 1998. In accordance with BCDS policy on penalties, section B, the sports eligibility penalty for this is three years ineligibility.?

With the future of their top marksman hanging in the balance, officials at Devonshire Recreation Club opted to take the player?s case to the Ministry of Sports Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) arbitration panel in June last year.

But several months have elapsed since the matter was brought before the ADR, with Bermuda Football Association officials declining to forward further submissions.

It was learned that the BCDS were not represented during Beach?s arbitration hearing on October 29.

Officials at Devonshire Recreation Club now claim the ADR are deliberately stalling the process and that Beach?s eligibility to play should be reinstated based on the fact he never signed a waiver to play at the national level, was never informed directly by BCDS officials to show up for a third test at the NSC and that his previous case occurred when he was a minor.

?Repeated calls made to Helena Rawlins, Larry Scott and (sports) permanent secretary Derek Binns have proved fruitless,? added the official.

The Devonshire club also believe that BCDS president and Bermuda Football Association executive Jon Beard and BCDS vice president and ADR secretary Helena Rawlins? involvement in the proceedings constitutes a direct conflict of interest.

Attempts to have the arbitration proceedings hastened have also been ignored, the club claim.

?The thing we don?t wish to see happen here is any litigation in the courts,? he said. ?But that is the only recourse of action left to take. This process has taken nearly a year now with no end in sight.?