The traditional kick-off time for First Division soccer matches on a Sunday is about to change.

Bermuda Football Association general secretary David Sabir announced this week that as of October 17 all First Division fixtures would kick off at 12.30 p.m. ? half an hour earlier than usual.

The change in starting time, explained Sabir, has been made to assist local referees who, because of the current shortage of officials, are being forced to double-up on weekends between First and Premier Division matches.

The decision to alter the kick-off time, said Sabir, was unanimously agreed upon by affiliates at a special meeting held at Social Club on Wednesday evening.

?We have already experienced shortages during the first weekend of matches and, as such, have proposed a couple of measures that will hopefully assist all our efforts to ensure that Sunday matches get played as scheduled,? explained the BFA executive.

The biggest challenge on Sundays, Sabir added, was ensuring a sufficient number of referees and assistant referees were available to officiate in both Premier and First Division games.

Faced with what has been a perennial shortage, Bermuda Referees? Association (BRA) are finding themselves stretched to the limit with only 27 members currently among their ranks.

?On many occasions First Division matches do not have a full complement of officials, which in some cases affects the available number for Premier Division matches,? said Sabir.

?This results in a number of match officials doing both First and Premier Division matches on the same day. And, in many cases, they are doing this at the same venue or must travel to another venue within a 15 to 30 minute time span.?

The earlier kick-off time will afford officials more travel time between matches in those cases where a referee or assistant referee has been assigned two games at different venues, or where a last minute appointment has to be made.

It will also provide sufficient time for officials to recover inbetween matches, added Sabir.

?This was seen as very important as our pool of referees is getting older,? he explained. ?And so we must also look out for their physical well-being in this process.

?The new change will afford extra time between teams moving in and out of the same changing rooms as well as provide grounds staff a chance to clean up changing rooms before the next team enters.?

Sabir, meanwhile, has urged all clubs to designate one member as a standby referee assistant.

?Along with the earlier kick-off time, we are asking every club to find, select, and recruit at least one person to be the stand-by assistant for their team,? he added.

?This will ensure that should any one of the three scheduled match officials fail to arrive the game can still proceed as scheduled without any delay.?