An in-depth review of local soccer is planned that could eventually see the phasing out or streamlining of cup competitions such as the Dudley Eve and Friendship Trophy.

Charles Clarke, chairman of Bermuda Football Association's League and Competitions Committee, confirmed yesterday that moves were underway to scrutinise all competitions and the overall league structure of local football.

"Some of our executives have tossed around ideas that certain competitions should be scrapped and even though we are in the midst of the Dudley Eve right now that's one of the trophies we will be looking at seriously because, when it came into place, it took away from having those incoming Christmas tours which people looked forward to every year," said Clarke.

"If we are going to try to improve the standard of soccer maybe we need to give some of our players that exposure to incoming teams."

One idea already put forward is to restrict the Dudley Eve to just two teams in a one-off game, perhaps involving the side that wins the FA Cup and the team that wins the Martonmere Cup or Friendship.

Clarke noted that the Friendship, in particular, was a tournament that needed to be looked at seriously as there were some concerns over whether it remained "financially viable".

"I am not going to say we are looking at scrapping it at this point, but we are looking at restructuring some of these competitions to make them a little more competitive," he said.

"We are going to be looking at both those competitions and the restructuring of the leagues around the middle of next month. I hope to be meeting or sending out correspondence to some people involved some time next week to see whether a date can be set so that we can sit down and discuss these issues.

"The review of the leagues was actually spoken about at the BFA's AGM in August where the affiliates felt that we should look at the restructuring of the leagues as regards the eight and ten team system.

"At that point what they spoke on and what we did agree on was that two teams would go up and two would go down. As for the the rest of it, we said we'd get back to them when we had some clear cut idea of what we were definitely going to do.

"If the review and restructuring takes place prior to the end of this season then ultimately the last two teams will automatically stay up and the first two teams in the First Division will go up to bring the the Premier back to ten teams.

"But in this restructuring process we will not only be looking at the Premier and First Divisions, we will also be looking at the Commercial League and with them we are going to review the area in which they were basically started for players over the age of 30.

"Now we have a lot of good teams with teenagers and that's something we definitely have to review in order to bring the leagues up to the number of teams that we would like to have.

"For some reason players have been allowed to play in the Commercial League at any age and serious consideration has to be given to what impact this would have on those players who do want to play, even if they don't want to play competitively in the Premier or First Division.

"That's something that we really have to look at and the decision that's going to be made has to be a careful decision because it's a delicate process. We don't want to alienate an 18-year-old who doesn't want to play in the higher leagues."