By Lawrence Trott While the arbitration tribunal stood by the Bermuda Football Association's decision to deduct two points from North Village for fielding suspended Dwayne Adams, it appears the tribunal was not satisfied the BFA went `by the book' in suspending Adams in the first place.

That was disclosed yesterday as North Village, through secretary Sheridan Smith, spoke publicly on the matter. They referred to three points contained in the tribunal's report which vindicates the club and player of total blame, something which Smith said was not made clear at Tuesday's press conference at the BFA office.

"We accept the decision of the tribunal as being final but we just think the press release of the BFA yesterday was unfair in that it omitted some important points that the tribunal did find,'' said Smith.

The three important points contained in the tribunal report read: Although we accept that the BFA and Affiliates are bound by FIFA rules we ourselves had some difficulty in interpreting their circular 524. We appreciate it applies to all but it seems obviously drawn for professional clubs and professional players. Hence the desirability of including a FIFA approved interpretation of those rules applicable to the local scene in the BFA Constitution and Bylaws.

Indeed FIFA have (since) made it clear that rules about training, and penalties for breaking those rules should be written into the local National Association's Constitution and Bylaws if there are to be valid. Put another way it appears that -- albeit unknowingly -- the BFA did not do it "by the book'' because it had not (yet) been written in their book.

So it can be argued after the fact that the BFA's action (in suspending Dwayne Adams) was premature, hence he and the club should not have been penalised.

Since the club and the association had already agreed that the findings of the tribunal would be binding, the matter will not be pursued further by North Village.

"I would like it to be reported that I'm not here to add any fuel to the fire,'' said Smith.

"It has always been North Village's position that the problem really is whether or not Dwayne was legally, legitimately suspended. That was our bone of contention from the very beginning.

"He was suspended on March 10 and on March 11 we began our campaign of appealing by written letter as well as verbally. We never really got any official meeting with the BFA executives to sort the matter out or to hear our appeal.

When the club did not hear from the BFA prior to their important match against Dandy Town the following weekend they went ahead and played him anyway.

"It was a crucial match in the league and he is the number one goalkeeper in the team so we played him, not necessarily to defy the BFA but as a protest of their decision to suspend him,'' said Smith.

"We really felt we had a good case and that he was illegally suspended because there was nothing in the Constitution and Bylaws of the BFA to say that he was legally suspended.

"When he was suspended we wrote a letter to say that we felt it was unconstitutional based on the BFA's Constitution and Bylaws and that the FIFA circular does not apply, in this case, to amateur players which is what the tribunal found.'' Added Smith: "We accepted the decision and we can't go any further because we agreed to the tribunal's findings.'' FIFA ruled that North Village were at fault for playing a suspended player, to which Smith replied: "They seem to be saying that notwithstanding the fact that specific instructions governing national team players were not in the BFA Bylaws, Dwayne Adams was (still) suspended.

"It's okay for the BFA to break the law but it's not okay for the affiliates to stand up and say `you're breaking the laws'.

"They broke the rules by not adhering to their Constitution but it's not okay for us to say `you're not going by the Constitution.' That's not right because the affiliates are the BFA.''