One of the Bermuda's top football referees is considering quitting after becoming disillusioned with the game.

George O'Brien says he has had to put up with physical and verbal abuse at games this season and believes he is not getting the level of support from Bermuda Football Association chiefs that his position merits.

His decision to speak out was prompted by the BFA's recent decision to agree to a request from Premier League club Wolves to review a sending off he ordered.

Striker Mark Ray was one of three players dismissed by O'Brien at Devonshire Rec in a match between Wolves and Southampton Rangers on January 12.

Unhappy with the decision, Wolves coach Dennis Brown delivered a video tape of the game to the BFA in a bid to get the red card and subsequent ban overturned.

The appeal was dismissed, but O'Brien believes that by agreeing to look at it the BFA undermined his position as a senior official and have now set a dangerous precedent.

"I've been very, very disgruntled all week about the whole situation,'' he said.

"I don't think it's right for a private club to send a tape to be reviewed by the BFA of a referee's decision. I think a referee's decision is final.'' O'Brien, who has been refereeing for 12 years, believes there is no ruling in the BFA's constitution which allows tapes to be viewed after a game, and in particular ones made by an interested party.

"My strong belief right now is to address the situation. Because if they (Wolves) can do it, another club will do it to another referee and that will make our job much harder,'' he said.

O'Brien said he was called at work by the BFA and invited to go and view the tape. He was made to point out the incident and after several plays, officials agreed he was right to send the player off.

"Afterwards I called the president of the Referees' Association and told him what happened because I was disturbed when I left the BFA,'' he said, adding, "I believe that I'm one of the top referees on the Island and my decisions have always stood, but now for whatever reason I'm being called to view a tape.'' O'Brien said this was just one of the incidents that had led to him reconsidering his future. He has also been confronted in his dressing room by an angry club member, whom he claims abused the name of his mother and grandmother, and has had a bottle thrown at him from the stands after awarding a penalty.

"As a player and as a lover of the sport I am losing my enthusiasm day by day,'' he said. "With the bottle throwing incident at Devonshire Rec neither the president or any other member of the BFA called me. All they did was accept my report and that was it.'' O'Brien said he had a deep love for the sport and was dismayed at the way it appeared to be heading. "It is very sad, it is pitiful to see the way football is going here in Bermuda. It's degrading every day. I cannot blame the players themselves because it's easy for them to say I'm not playing today or I am not going to train today.

"Most of them have commitments. The country is expensive and they have bills to pay -- football isn't taking them anywhere. The game is deteriorating badly.'' Ref angered by video appeal From Page 25 O'Brien believes if the game continues in the same direction he may have to call it quits.

"I'm losing the taste daily. I already submitted my resignation before this season started but after talks with my secretary, Vance Campbell, I decided to keep it on file,'' he said.

"I reconsidered and decided to give it a shot. But if it continues like this I don't think it's going to last.

"The abuse you get day in day out, the pay is not enough for it.'' George O'Brien: upset by what he claims is a lack of support from the BFA.