Kyle Lightbourne has quickly discovered motivating players to train at the national level is by no means an easy task.

On Saturday only five out of a possible 37 players attended Lightbourne?s first official practice session at BAA Field, four players fewer than the previous two training sessions held at the same venue.

And the newly appointed national coach is not amused, to say the least, by the apathy currently being demonstrated by players toward national team duty.

?I?m not going to stand for this . . . it?s just not good enough,? scalded Lightbourne, who admits he only expects 23 of the players to be available, with the others off Island or injured.

?Players need to make time. . . that?s the way I see it. Everyone talks about being paid but this is where it all starts.

?It?s been very disappointing in many aspects as far as some players seeming to have excuses for whatever reasons for not turning up. But some of them are running out of time and I have spoken to one or two about it.?

Lightbourne said in some cases players did have ?legitimate? excuses not to attend practice but the former English professional striker warned he won?t hesitate to cast the net even wider in search of replacements for those who continue to ignore the call to national team duty ? as early as the end of the week.

?Some of them are on their final warning,? he added. ?And I already have list of new players that I would like to bring into the team and I won?t hesitate to call on them if need be.?

Adding to Lightbourne?s fury is the fact that the Bermuda Football Association (BFA) are presently going to great lengths to again secure the National Sports Centre as a training facility in the lead up to the Digicel Cup competition, tentatively scheduled for the Caribbean late next month, while the majority of players invited to train with the squad couldn?t seem to care less.

?Here we are going out of our way trying to get the facilities to train and only five players turn up for training,? said the former Coventry City frontman. ?This is just not acceptable. I just think it?s easy for players to say ?I?m just not going to train? and they have got away with it over the years. But I?ve been in this job now for a couple of days and I?m just not going to stand for it.?

Lightbourne praised the few players and volunteers who were making the sacrifice but reckoned it was now time the absentees held up their end of the bargain by showing up for practice.

?Others are making sacrifices. . . it?s just not them,? he added. ?The people who volunteer their services to the BFA continually attend training. They have work commitments. . . they have families . . . it?s all the same thing. My training sessions only last an hour-and-a-half max. You get there on time we start on time and then we all go home.

?But I?ve given them (absentees) ample time and if all those names that were originally put forward by me haven?t been in contact with either the BFA or myself to explain why they can?t attend practice, then I won?t hesitate to move on at all.?

Lightbourne hopes to see a vast improvement during tomorrow?s training session, tentatively scheduled for the National Sports Centre.

Meanwhile, BFA president Larry Mussenden has also urged all players invited to train with the senior national team to heed the call to national team duty.

?It?s an honour for one to represent their country and we (BFA) know the beginning of a new season calls for a lot of commitment and training at the club level. But we now have to strike the balance and this was something we were able to achieve during the World Cup qualifying competition last season,? he said.

Describing the lack of interest shown by players at the national level as ?disappointing?, Mussenden was quick to add the association has ?been through this sort of circumstances before?.

?The initial turn-out has been disappointing and I had hoped we would have been beyond it at this point,? he added.

?But what we might have to do again is call a meeting with presidents of all the clubs along with their coaches and have them sit in the room and explain and set out exactly what the Digicel Cup is all about.

?But for the time being I strongly urge all players who have been named to the national squad to support Kyle Lightbourne in his first official outing as national coach because in order to have a successful domestic programme we must also have a successful international programme.?