availability for World Cup qualifying matches in the hands of their legal committee, administrative assistant Joe L. Brown confirmed yesterday.

As was reported exclusively in yesterday's Royal Gazette , Goater's club Rotherham United are trying to avoid losing their top scorer for two months while Bermuda's plays El Salvador, Jamaica and Canada in second-round qualifying matches for the World Cup.

The club's manager Phil Henson has told Goater that he is only required to release Goater for seven international matches a year, and that the five matches Goater played for Bermuda during the off-season this summer would count towards that number.

Yesterday, however, Brown quoted a FIFA regulation under Article 35 which calls for clubs to release players for international matches.

It reads: "Any club which has concluded a contract with a player who is ineligible to play for the national association (English FA in Rotherham's case) of which the club is a member shall be obliged to release him to the national association (BFA in Goater's case) of which he is a national in the event that he is selected for one of its representative teams.'' The regulation also called for the club to release that player a minimum of five days prior to the match if the match is an international competition and if it is a friendly the player should be released at least 48 hours prior to the match. For any final of an international competition the player should be released 14 days prior to the match.

Brown said the association had not yet been in contact with Rotherham United.

"At the moment the matter is being looked at by the association's legal committee but in the final analysis Rotherham must release Shawn,'' said Brown, who added that the association would likely be contacting the club later this week after hearing from the legal committee.

The club could also be seeking compensation for Goater during his absence and while the BFA may not be entitled to compensate the club, it may agree to some compensation, Brown said.

Article 36 states: "Any club which releases a player pursuing Article 35 should not be entitled compensation except if compensation may be agreed upon in the case of an extended period of release.'' Added Brown: "That's something we will discuss with the club.'' SHAWN GOATER.