If Bermuda are to continue to invite top football clubs from around the globe, then local sports facilities must raise their standards, according to former West Ham striker Clyde Best.

Speaking in the wake of Santos' brief tour of the Island last week, Best said it was crucial that Bermuda kept pace with the rest of the sporting world in terms of providing more suitable facilities for players, team officials and spectators.

"It's important that we in Bermuda start to pay attention in making sure we have proper facilities in order to keep spectators comfortable, where they can still enjoy the spectacle," said Best after witnessing crowds brave nature's fury during Santos' clash with Dandy Town.

"Sport is played everywhere else in the world in the rain but this is an issue that I've been talking about all along, having facilities which can't be affected by rain," said Best. "It's like having one section of stands covered and then the people sitting on the other side haven't got any shelter ? that's not fair to the people. Cover the whole thing so that everyone can have shelter even if it means doing it in stages.

"We must get the facilities in order to be able to do what is necessary, even with our present field situation. In order to play good football you must have good fields. Whenever you bring teams down here you can't have them playing on cow pastures. You have to ensure the field is in good playing condition so that players can knock the ball around."

Though Best praised local club groundsmen for their endeavours, he believed the time has come for current methods to be improved upon.

"Club groundsmen have to find a way to educate themselves on how to keep our football pitches looking in good shape," he continued. "Even the grass here is kept too high and that's why players have to chase the ball down hard. The grass on a football field should be just covering your boots. In professional football, training grounds are like the pitch at the National Sports Centre . . . they are like billiard tables."

One stumbling block, Best noted, was the common practice in Bermuda of subjecting pitches to extra "wear and tear".

"We must find alternate grounds for children to play football on at weekends because most fields here suffer a lot and practice sessions should not be held on the main field and stuff like that," he argued. "We have enough potential here but we don't use it."

Best also took issue with changing facilities at the National Sports Centre.

"The dressing rooms up there are pitiful for international standards," he said. "There are no bath tubs in there or space for trainers to set up massage areas and only one toilet in the bathroom. What happens if four people need to run to the toilet at the same time?"

Best insisted these issues would have to be addressed if Bermuda wanted to play host to more high quality tours and other sports events in the future.

"It's really ridiculous and if it needs to be knocked down and doing it all over again then let's do it properly," he said. "Because we can't bring top clubs here without some of the higher standards that they are used to."