Bermuda Football Association are refusing to comment on whether they would be ready to take British Virgin Islands? place in the next round of the Digicel Cup ? if BVI were thrown out of the competition for fielding an ineligible player.

BFA general secretary David Sabir wrote to his St. Vincent football federation counterpart Earl Bennett for further information on whether BVI, the team who knocked Bermuda out of Group E in St. Vincent late last month, had used ineligible players. A copy of that letter has also been sent to Caribbean Football Union (CFU) general secretary Harold Taylor.

Bermuda were beaten 2-0 by BVI in their final group match and eliminated from the competition but it was known last week that both national coach Kyle Lightbourne and other members of Bermuda?s delegation as well as St. Vincent officials were concerned by the make-up of the BVI team.

BVI?s win meant they advanced to the second round where they are due to host Trinidad in the first leg this coming Sunday.

Were it proved that they fielded ineligible players against either Bermuda or St. Vincent in the first round, they could be booted out of the competition and Bermuda reinstated.

But yesterday Sabir refused to comment on whether Bermuda would be ready or willing to take BVI?s place and how such arrangements could be made at such short notice.

?At the moment we are waiting for information on whether all of the rules and regulations of FIFA in relation to ineligible players have been met,? said Sabir.

?I am not going to comment any further on that at this stage.?

When asked if the Bermuda national side, who haven?t trained since their return on November 29, would be ready to play in a tournament this weekend or next, Sabir refused to comment.

With the Christmas period approaching and the third round of the tournament scheduled for the second week of January, the logistics of replacing BVI with Bermuda ? if there is found to be an infringement of the rules over player eligibility ? are almost insurmountable.

Sabir believes goalkeeper Montgomery Butler, defender Avondale Williams and midfielder Venton James all played for St. Vincent in past regional competitions.

A spokesman for CONCACAF, the regional governing body, said he was unaware of any letter written by the BFA and refused to comment on whether an appeal could be made in time to reinstate Bermuda into the next round of the Digicel Cup.

He confirmed that players who compete for one national federation at senior level in a competition leading to a FIFA tournament are ineligible to represent another ? except in the case of Yugoslavia and the former Soviet Union where those national teams no longer exist.