One of the hooligans being sought in connection with the violence at this week's Martonmere Cup semi-final is believed to be a registered footballer.

Bermuda Football Association President Larry Mussenden made the announcement last night as soccer and Government came together to address the menace plaguing the game.

The joint task force, involving the BFA, the Ministry of Youth and Sport and the Ministry of Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety, was set up after men wielding a baseball bat, a machete and a Samurai sword wreaked havoc at Devonshire Rec. on Tuesday evening.

No arrests had been made up to last night, but CrimeStoppers have agreed to fund an appeal to assist in identification and photos of some of those involved are expected to be released shortly.

Among the “bold and decisive steps” being drawn up to prevent such problems in the future are: greater vigilance when spectators are entering games; the presence of uniformed Police officers; proper training of field stewards; the insistence on modern public address systems and tougher legislation to deal with the thugs when they make it to court.

Mussenden said the perpetrators could run, but they could not hide.

“It is our intention that once these people are identified we will ban them from attending our grounds,” he said. “If, as we have heard, some of them are registered football players then we will be ban them from being members of the Bermuda Football Association and registering as football players in Bermuda. We intend to impose life bans on those individuals.”

The President went on to say he had just cause to believe at least one player was involved in Wednesday's incident, but he would not name him nor say which team he played for or which division he played in.

“We are awaiting for 100 percent identification of the person, but people have told us who some of those people were,” he said.

Many questions had remained unanswered following this latest incident, not the least of which was how, when security officials man the gates at Devonshire Rec., these men were able to get such large and terrifying weapons into the ground.

“Towards the end of the second match we did open the gates as we have always done and I believe it was at that point that these individuals were able to come into the ground,” said Mussenden.

“We also think they came in vehicles and had these weapons in the vehicles.”

Mussenden was also asked why, when there were Police officers in the ground, albeit in their role as football officials, as well as security operatives, nothing was done to try and apprehend the men there and then.

“I don't think it is reasonable to expect that Policemen, who were there to attend to a sporting function with perhaps no ready back-up, are going to go and stand in the way of those individuals who were carrying machetes and things like that,” he said.

Sports Minister Randy Horton said some of the strategies being considered may be costly, but the majority were “common sense measures that required no more than the co-operation and support of sport authorities, players, coaches, spectators and officials”.

“Arrangements will be made for the planning and co-ordination of sporting events to be undertaken with the co-operation of law enforcement agencies,” he said. “Additionally, I will discuss with my Government colleagues the introduction of legislation that will beef up existing laws, extending penalties where certain offences are committed in and around sports grounds.”

In collaboration with the BFA, Horton said Government would look to:

Identify parking and potential parking areas outside of sports grounds in order to reduce parking within sports grounds.

Introduce appropriately trained ground stewards at all club grounds.

The enhanced use of public address systems at all sporting events by trained communications staff; and

Have more strict control and surveillance efforts at points of entry into sporting grounds.

Public Safety Minister Terry Lister said the Bermuda Police Service was fully committed towards ensuring that every member of the public is safe, wherever he or she may find themselves, including at sporting events.

“To that end, the Police will continue to work in collaboration with the Ministry of Community Affairs and Sport and the administration of all sporting bodies - in this instance the BFA - to put in place strategies to address unsatisfactory conducts at events,” he said.

And Minister Lister warned: “We cannot, we will not, tolerate the kind of behaviour that we saw on Tuesday night.

“The perpetrators will be apprehended and dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.”