yesterday he hoped that by the time the new season begins next September "workable, helpful plans'' will be in place so that Government, Bermuda Football Association and club affiliates can begin to follow through on recomendations made in the report which was tabled in the House of Assembly on Friday.

"I think it'll probably be a slow process, but I would hope by the time the soccer season opens...between Government, clubs and the BFA they'll have been able to look at all these suggestions we've made and get things started,'' former Premier the Hon. Sir John Sharpe said in an interview with The Royal Gazette yesterday.

Bermuda soccer officials got their first glimpse of the 90-page report on Friday and Sir John said yesterday that he had received little feedback since it was introduced by Sports Minister Pam Gordon.

Among other conclusions, the report stated that the "incident in Miami...which turned our `pride into despair' and `our glory into gloom''' following the arrests of seven Under-23 players could have been avoided. He also called for sweeping changes at club level as a result of drug and alcohol problems which are besieging the sport.

Sir John said that he, along with the four other board members -- Eugene Blakeney, Louis Mowbray, Kenneth Richardson and Calvin Symonds -- would be prepared to carry on the work they began when the board was first appointed last December, in order to ensure that the report's recommendations were carried out in full.

"I have a fair bit of experience over the years with reports and I think most of the other members on the board of inquiry have too,'' said Sir John. "And we did make a suggestion that unless things are monitored on a regular basis, that human nature being what it is, more topical items sometimes take precedence and things get set aside for another day which never comes.

"So we did offer ourselves to follow up on one or two important matters, and on a quarterly basis monitor progress on other recommendations.

"But that's a matter for the Government and the Minister to respond to, but I would certainly hope they will put a monitoring facility in place. I could say on behalf of the rest of the board we believe it's something we could do because we've got a demonstrated interest and knowledge of the situation. We'd like to see the results of our efforts followed through to helpful conclusions.'' Sir John said that widespread use of drugs in soccer was the most startling revelation to emerge while the board conducted interviews earlier this year.

"One thing we did find out is there have been a lot of blind eyes turned to all of these things by coaches, club officials and maybe even by the authorities.

"But certainly talking to coaches and club officals we got a very strong impression that they had come around to the point where now they can't ignore it anymore and that they aren't prepared to use a soccer player who they know is smoking marijuana.

"They really didn't want to deal with it because it would affect the quality of their team and gates which then would affect the drawing power which would ultimately affect the club's viability.

"But I think there's a fresh determination, perhaps as a consequence of this unfortunate incident that people have reached a realisation as to how serious it is. To that extent the outcome may be good for football.'' To illustrate just how pervasive the problem of drugs in soccer is the report revealed how one club president discovered his entire team was smoking marijuana.

The last part of the report offers a wide range of recommendations designed to encourage a better environment for Island soccer.

Some suggestions include drug tests and background checks for national players and voluntary drug tests for members of the BFA executive. There's also a call for a police presence at major games and clubs are being asked to consider banning the sale of alcoholic beverages during matches as an experiment.

"Selling alcohol is a part of their financial dependence,'' said Sir John.

"But experimentally if a few clubs would try that, they may reach a determination as to whether their gates would improve because there's a number of people that don't take their children to football games anymore. It's not the family sport that it used to be.'' Sir John admitted that the board put pressure on themselves to complete the report as soon as possible.

"We had completed it, I suppose, about six weeks ago but there was some delay in getting it printed afterwards. We pressed on to the extent we could. It took us about three or four weeks to write some drafts and go over them and finally produce a final report. I think we did it as expeditiously as we could under the cirmcustances.'' The report also urges affiliates to work more supportively with the BFA executive. Sir John, meantime, said he was confident that the current BFA executive could carry out any proposals the board has made and should not be replaced.

"They're all we have and people have to be reminded of that,'' said Sir John.

"There's no guarantee they can be replaced by better people.''