With the shortage of soccer referees approaching crisis point the Bermuda Football Association have been forced to bring forward one of Sunday's FA Cup first round games to tomorrow night -- and they are poised to postpone others if the situation worsens.

The current pool of referees hovers alarmingly at 15, leaving no leverage for any alterations with the remaining seven matches scheduled for Sunday.

Gregory Grimes, chairman of the Referees Committee, pointed out that the matter was serious and that further matches faced being put off if any other officials became unavailable.

"What we have had to do, because such is the shortage of referees, is move the FA Cup game between Hamilton Parish and Wolves to Friday night at Devonshire Rec. at 7 p.m., preceding the 9 p.m. FA Cup replay between Dandy Town and Paget.

"Everything else should be OK provided nobody falls down and breaks their ankle like Richard Knight,'' quipped Grimes.

The shortage has become a crisis because so may officials have become unavailable at a crucial period. Among those on the list are Vance Campbell who has reported to have suffered an injured leg, while abroad are regulars like Tony Mouchette, Gregory Simons, Tracy Adams and Andre Manders.

"We are down to bare bones so two of the venues will have double-headers and someone will run the line in the first game and then referee the second and vice-versa and in the other games we have people going from one field to the other to cover.'' Going into the season Grimes indicated there was a shortage and made pleas for clubs to come forward and offer their assistance but few seemingly have bothered to offer any help.

Grimes directed his concern at the clubs, admitting that they should be duty bound to play an role in assisting the BFA in this regard.

"I have been involved in refereeing for more than 10 years and I have seen the BFA and the Referees Committee come up with all sorts of ideas to help the shortage problems.

"We have beat our heads against the walls without really being able to make vast progress and that's unfortunate.

"What concerns and annoys me is that the clubs have never really become that involved in offering their assistance, they just seem to be content to leave it up to the BFA to resolve and that's no good.

"Everybody who is interested in soccer should join forces and help us to come up with something. If we can just get a pool of clubs to allocate people who could become referee's assistants, people who can be given a few briefings where they can assist the referees and improve the current situation,'' he said.

According to Grimes, every year the BFA take the initiative, with the help of the Bermuda Referees Association, to hold recruiting drives and refereeing seminars for aspiring officials, but the response has never been as well as expected.

He has seen numbers dwindle from the 30 during the 80s down to the current 15, something that should concern all soccer lovers.

"Unless we get help from the clubs and the general public we are heading into real trouble, the shortages are not good for the game,'' he added.