IF TIM PATTON'S recent proposal that sailing be declared Bermuda's national sport ruffled a few feathers, then it seems last week's Friday Forum discussing the issue positively sent those feathers flying.

The mere suggestion that sailing be hoisted above soccer and cricket - historically and by Government declaration the only two sports deemed to be 'national' - threw some into almost apocalyptic fury.

Nobody could argue that sailing hasn't enjoyed more international success than any other Island sport in recent years. But that, it would seem, barely matters.

The issue would appear to be which sport best reflects not success but participation.

And those within cricket and soccer will contend that they still command the lion's share of Bermuda's sportsmen and women - cricket, it might be argued, far less than its winter counterpart.

Dexter Smith, former Mid Ocean News and Royal Gazette sports editor, currently working for The Times in London, and a former national team player, is one of many who believe that tradition alone dictates that cricket still belongs atop the totem pole.

In a letter to Sports Mailbox this week, addressing the many problems cricket has encountered in the last ten years or so, Smith remained adamant that neither sailing nor soccer carried the same elevated status as his chosen game.

It's an argument not without merit.

Certainly those outside these shores have always perceived Bermuda as a cricketing nation.

In England, for instance, Bermuda is often ignorantly but quite innocently seen as a part of the West Indies where, despite the growth of other sports such as basketball and baseball, cricket still very much reigns supreme.

Ask most sports observers in England, or for that matter on the other side of the pond, what they would consider Bermuda's national sport and the most likely answer would be cricket - oblivious as they are to the internal problems the sport so frequently encounters.

Meanwhile, as vociferously as someone like Smith defends cricket, there as dozens of others who would argue just as forcefully that soccer is more worthy of top billing.

With four senior men's leagues, a women's league and numerous youth divisions, football's popularity in terms of both participation and spectator interest by far outstrips any other game.

Two weeks ago when there were about as many spectators at Somerset Cricket Club as the 54 runs a Bermuda Select managed to muster against the visiting Barbadian cricket team, close to two thousand fans huddled into BAA Field to watch the opening game of the soccer season.

David Sabir, general secretary of Bermuda Football Association, makes the point that while soccer opens its doors to all, sailing, despite the number of youth programmes now available, remains somewhat elitist.

Racial barriers may have been broken down but it is, contends Sabir, still a sport out of reach for those with limited financial resources.

Opinions, of course, vary depending on who one talks to.

And at the end of the day, the question remains, does it really matter?

While Government went to the trouble of officially declaring football and cricket as the Island's joint national sports, they never actually explained the benefits.

As far as can be determined, financial or otherwise, there aren't any. Indeed, earlier this season the BFA crossed swords with Government over the hefty bills they were receiving for use of the Sports Centre. National sport, maybe, but no national privileges.

New Sports Minister Dale Butler would probably like to steer clear of the issue, but sooner or later he's going to be asked to clarify the meaning and the significance of the words 'national sport.'

We wish him luck!

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A SUGGESTION for Bermuda Track and Field Association. With the CARIFTA Games just around the corner, there's no doubt that the governing body are in need of more cash and more manpower.

A sponsored 'trash run' might help in both areas.

In the wake of Hurricane Fabian, Bermuda has never looked worse. Litter-wise, it was pretty depressing before the storm. Now, as any runner who regularly pounds Bermuda's roads will have observed, the trash - bottles, cans, candy wrappers, cartons - on just about every roadside, trail and beach, is evident in monumental proportions.

A trash run or even walk, in which athletes were assigned to various routes and prizes perhaps offered for those who collected most litter en route to the finish line - or any similar format - might just endear the BTFA to the community at large, helping to swell the army of volunteers who will certainly be required to successfully run next year's Games, and at the same time providing a much-needed service.

As far as can be seen, whoever it is who's running Keep Bermuda Beautiful these days seems to have lost the plot.

At present, much of Bermuda is about as beautiful as the Bronx.