visits by overseas teams, BFA president Charlie Marshall said yesterday.

The Bermuda Football Association chief was responding to a decision made by several countries to use Canada as a pre-World Cup training site rather than Bermuda.

Teams such as the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Norway and Holland were among those who at one time or another had shown an interest in using the Island as a training base.

The BFA had sent out circulars to countries during the World Cup draw in New York over a year ago and invited them to take advantage of what the Island had to offer in terms of its geographical position and climate.

But hopes of hosting these World Cup teams were apparently dashed when Canada offered a deal which proved more attractive.

"If Bermuda want big things like this to happen we simply have to get our act together,'' said Marshall. "What happened was that the people who were working with us on behalf of the World Cup countries were unable to get the teams to come to Bermuda for a couple of reasons.

"One was that they made some advance enquiries to other destinations and, of course, this affected our chances. The other was that our facilities were limited for the type of things they wanted to do.'' After taking Bermuda's offer into consideration most countries felt that they could benefit more by preparing in Canada or even in the US itself.

In addition to the lack of proper facilities, Marshall also felt that the high cost of accommodation hurt Bermuda's chances.