The current impasse between Bermuda Football Association (BFA) and Government over the National Sports Centre (NSC) is “an embarrassment to Shaun Goater and to Bermuda”.

Expressing this view yesterday, Shadow Minister of Sports Cole Simons called on the Ministry of Sports and the NSC trustees to meet with all the heads of sports governing bodies and settle all issues relating to the NSC's use once and for all.

“The National Sports Centre is the people's stadium. They have paid for it and it's time that the Government, the trustees of the NSC and the heads of the sports governing bodies get together to try and resolve how they are going to use the stadium and how the fees are going to be paid,” said Simons.

“All I am hearing around the community is that it's far too expensive and that the sports governing bodies cannot afford to use it. There has to be some solution because our sports governing bodies must be in position to showcase our young people's talents at the stadium.”

“The Government must show leadership in this issue. A policy should be set that is affordable to everyone,” said the United Bermuda Party (UBP) MP.

Acknowledging that the NSC must cover their costs, Simons agreed with the idea that a set amount of time be allocated to each sports body for use of the NSC. Thereafter, payment should come into effect, he said.

“They can use those free sessions as they see fit but once they have exhausted those sessions, then the NSC needs to cover its costs.

“We can't do this in a piecemeal fashion. The sports governing bodies must sit with the trustees and the Ministry to come to an agreement on this issue.”

If it remains unresolved, he noted, the “real losers” will be Bermuda's sportspersons.

Simons applauded Goater's initiative in bringing his junior Manchester City colleagues to the Island but expressed disgust that such a row escalated amid such a worthy venture.

“I am disappointed in the way we have treated our national soccer hero who has done so much to represent Bermuda overseas. He comes with something positive and has this thrown up in his face. I am saddened by the whole situation.

“It's embarrassing to him. It's embarrassing to the country, that he organised the Manchester City Youth Team to come here and play against our national (Under-17) team and our national team can't play. Imagine that. It's unacceptable, totally unacceptable.

“We should have done all we could to help him. He brought in people who volunteered to make their time available and surely Government and the NSC could have come to some consensus with the BFA so we wouldn't have had this impasse.”