Dear Sir,

Finally we are getting some honest assessment of the state of our national games.

The Goat is right on the money. We need to go back many years to the start of the problem, which in my opinion is the breakdown of discipline and the deterioration in attitude, and a lot of the responsibility lies with the governing bodies.

For example, when we had a very good national coach from Germany, he was ultimately sacked for pointing out that half of his squad were taking drugs instead of getting the support he should have had from the BFA.

We have parents who want to sue when their sons fail a drugs test. The players of today do not have the commitment required and throwing money at the problem is a complete waste.

There are many other sports where the participants deserve more financial support and they would be delighted with just a fraction of what has been pumped into the major sports.

We scraped into the cricket World Cup in fourth place and it went downhill from there, no sooner had the contracts been signed than the team were complaining about money and not being able to see their girlfriends, what kind of attitude is that?

Many people in Bermuda are deluded if they believe we can compete with the best in the world and this creates unfair expectations on the athletes as well.

We can from time to time turn out quality performers (Best, Goater, Butterfield, Sims), maybe one or two in a generation but we cannot reasonably expect to produce world-class teams.

That is not to say that the teams we do have should not be trying to play their best but we are not up to it. Reggie Pearman was upset that India and Pakistan did not want so many minnows in the World Cup but they are right. We should compete at a level which is realistic and within our capabilities.

The results of the cricket team in the past 18 months clearly show that we are not good enough and do not deserve to be in those competitions, but we will hear all the excuses about preparation, no proper wicket, not enough foreign trips etc.

Finally, we all like to remember the good old days when we put up a better showing on the international stage but what has happened is that while we have gone backwards in our attitude and commitment, players from all over the world are hungrier, they work harder and their skill levels are higher and we have been left way behind. That is the reality.

ALAN GAMBLE

Dear Sir,

I thoroughly agree with the comments of Mr. Goater. Despite spending more on sports funding than many countries twice our size, our teams are still unfit and under prepared.

Although the cricket team did make it into the ICC World Cup 2007, we did not excel, and despite Dwayne Leverock's stunning catch, we still conceded the biggest defeat in one-day cricket history. Clearly dedication is needed.

In football, the situation is similar. While we may have the raw talent, especially at the younger end of the spectrum, it is clear that there is a lack of dedication to the sport from the team itself.

What these athletes need is the promise of a contract to play professionally, both in cricket and football. Scheduled training sessions with enforced fines, and a stricter training regime would do wonders. These men want to be taken seriously, so they should first take themselves seriously. Come on boys, let's make the country proud!

THOMAS GUTTERIDGE

Dear Sir,

I reflect on my knowledge of the past and present. It is a well-known fact that Bermuda is laden with very skilful football players but not very fit.

Such is my case that nations we use to beat up on are killing us with fitness not skill. I am sure Mr. Goater will have found out that if his Hogges team are mentally and physically equipped this season that they will get good results.

For far too long we as Bermudian athletes have cheated our country and relied on natural ability to win us the prize of victory.

We are and have always been a nation of skilful people but underachievers. I reflect on what the young Cud-joe Matthews who just recently returned from football trials with the Chicago Fire said: "I expected it to be tough but never thought it would be as hard as it was. Skill wise I was OK, but I need to work very hard on my fitness".

Here lies one of our big problems and the easiest to fix from a player's stand point. If half of the team were physically fit they would not be getting injured as often as they do. Time to end all the excuses and stand as man and woman.

BETWEEN THE STICKS

Dear Sir,

I would have to agree 100 percent with Shaun Goater. Bermuda thinks it has world class athletes when it really doesn't. I am not a cricketer myself but I watched the 20/20 game and was embarrassed for Bermuda.

I am a spousal Bermudian who was born and raised in Canada. We see sport differently there as we aim to be on the world level and train our butts off to try and get there.

A prime example is the Bermuda Ball Hockey Association. This is a group of expats who train three to four times a week in preparation for the World Championships or Cayman Cup.

This is a group of men who don't have the funding but want to be a superb athlete and not give a half-hearted approach to sport.

When the athletes in Bermuda realise that looking good or acting like they are good doesn't make you a great athlete, then Bermuda can start putting together a world class sports organisation.

If the players realise that they have to earn a spot and not be given anything, and that their social life will suffer, then they will understand part of what it takes to be a professional athlete.

Hard work seems to escape the Bermudian athlete. As much of a crowd favourite Sluggo is, he is far from a professional. Dropping 50 pounds and turning himself into fine-tuned athlete would make a difference.

TWO CENTS

Dear Sir,

Shaun Goater's views sound self-serving. Bermuda is not struggling on the international sporting stage. Bermuda is struggling on the local sporting stage, which obviously will be reflected when we play internationally.

There are many contributing factors. First and foremost, sport in Bermuda has not declined. It has stayed the same while other countries have improved since the early 1990s.

The key ingredient is that other sporting countries have established sporting bodies, objectives and high standards for their local programmes and started at the youngest level possible and built their programmes upwards. Bermuda unfortunately started or stayed at the top and moved downwards.

Secondly, football and cricket in Bermuda is static because the standards set by the BCB and BFA are not only too low, but are compromised standards.

Standards that are inconsistent when they turn a blind eye to their own policies and procedures, and compromised when they let their own personal egos and agendas become bigger than the sport itself.

Thirdly, local sport is not honest with itself. Take football. Former good football players don't make the best coaches. Former professional players don't make the best advisors. There is too much football being played by the same individuals, playing the same style, all the same way regardless of the field size. The BFA's biggest mistake is approving the ISL and Bermuda Hogges to the detriment of the sport and national programme.

As for cricket, relying on the Under-19 cricket team to restore national pride is wrong and misguided. They are simply a product of the present administration and local mentality.

I would not expect any immediate success from them, but to get to the door, yet not be able to open it. I would, though, encourage youngsters like Malachi Jones, etc. to leave Bermuda immediately and craft their skill elsewhere.

Fourth is Bermuda's reluctance to come clean with drugs in sport and drugs in general. No further comment is required. However, Bermuda's acceptance of a drug and economic dependent culture is making us the people we are today - people who determine success monetarily and achievement physically.

Lastly, is what I call the coach Castle Syndrome. Whenever Bermuda gets a new national coach in football or cricket and plays internationally, we expect immediate success.

When success does not come immediately, the coach is wrong and his system is ineffective!! Will someone please tell Mr. Castle that if the local programme is broken, Bermuda's international programme cannot be successful, even when money is funnelled from the top-down and not bottom-up.

SAM

Dear Sir,

First of all I'd like to disagree with Mr.Goater's statements that Bermuda is an "arrogant sporting nation".

I believe he should have stated that Bermuda is an arrogant football and cricket nation! One just has to look at the results of many of Bermuda's committed athletes to notice that maybe Bermuda's best sporting credentials don't come from an oval or football pitch. Over the past ten years Bermuda has developed young athletes who can compete internationally.

For instance, Bermudian sports that have developed international standard athletes include sailing (too many to name!), triathlon (Flora Duffy and Tyler Butterfield, who now is cycling in France), squash (young Bermudians who dominate the Caribbean region), swimming (Keira Aitken and Roy Allen Burch), equestrian and track and field (Arantxa King).

One may suggest that these are just a few special athletes while the others are just mediocre but that is just rubbish as the sailors constantly show good form in the country rankings at the Optimist worlds, the swimmers have been improving their team ranking in the Caribbean champions, almost 20 athletes have now made the standard to compete at the CARIFTA Games in track and field and the junior squash team recently came third in the boys and second in the girls at the Caribbean championships.

Just imagine if these sports were able to share the money given to cricket and football. They would be unstoppable.

With support in the future, Bermuda could have major success at the Commonwealth Games and maybe even the Olympics!

Now don't get me wrong – I believe cricket and football should be given money to send young and talented cricketers away on scholarships overseas and to improve the next generation but please stop wasting the money on fat cricketers and uncommitted footballers.

Bermuda has one of the best facilities in the world right next to us – the ocean. Maybe the government should utilise this more and push water-based sports such as swimming, diving, sailing, triathlon and rowing.

If there is one thing that defines Bermudians it is our common love for the ocean! Come on – our national wicket apparently isn't even fit to grow potatoes!

FED UP

PS - If one sport deserves to be called a national sport it's sailing!

Readers who want to have their say in The Big Debate can e-mail arobson@royalgazette.bm, cthompson@royalgazette.bm or swright@royalgazette.bm