of the Island's clubs to take a long, hard look at themselves.

No-one, after all, should be under any illusion as to why the game is failing to attract new officials.

Refs are staying away for exactly the same reason as spectators.

A Sunday afternoon out at the big match isn't what it was 10 or 20 years ago.

The haze of marijuana smoke which continues to permeate almost every corner of every ground, the foul and abusive language both on and off the field, and a general decline in the standard of play, have combined to drive away even the most ardent of fans.

And referees are no different from the rest of us.

If officiating is no longer a source of enjoyment, then why bother? Sure, refs know they're going to be a target for criticism whenever they pull on the black jersey, and most are of the thick-skinned variety.

But there's a limit to the amount of abuse -- both verbal and physical -- that any individual can take. And on Bermuda's soccer pitches, refs have been subject to plenty in recent years.

Many of the officials who have stepped down would probably admit that, despite their love of the game, they can do without the constant stream of insults.

It's for the same reason that precious few new faces are coming through the ranks.

When a Premier League match -- one of only three scheduled -- has to be postponed because no referee can be found, as was the case recently, then the alarm bells should start ringing.

If matches have to be switched from one date to another simply because not enough refs are available to cover the entire programme, again as was the case recently, then that's proof enough that we've reached crisis point.

And no matter how much Bermuda Football Association and the clubs work on improving other areas of the sport, the game simply can't progress without qualified officials.

Alleviating the current crisis, as chairman of the BFA Referees Committee Gregory Grimes will concede, isn't going to be easy. He and his fellow committee members have tried a number of new initiatives over the past couple of seasons with limited success.

Now it's up to the clubs to play their part.

If they can't volunteer at least one of their former players, coaches or administrators to pick up the whistle and enrol in one of the BRA officiating courses, then perhaps the BFA should make it mandatory -- any club wanting to participate in league play, whether it be Commercial, First or Premier, should first provide a referee from within their ranks.

If they can't or won't, they forfeit their right to play.

Such dictatorial policy shouldn't be necessary, and in seasons gone by never was.

But the shortage has reached such a level, due mainly to those reasons cited above, that the onus is now firmly on those who want to play the game to turn it around.

Maybe then will the clubs realise that if they'd come down harder and earlier on the reprobates responsible for driving refs away in the first place, then such action would never have been necessary.

-- ADRIAN ROBSON