Homeless Boulevard may lose league spot
Boulevard have until Monday to find a new home or risk being kicked out of the Premier Division.
The top-flight team are currently practising on the public field at Bernard Park, and have been without a base since they left BAA Field at the end of last season.
Club president Steven Proctor had a meeting with several clubs last night, after being given the deadline by the Bermuda Football Association last Friday. The governing body are understood to be anxious to get the schedule for the season confirmed, with the league expected to kick-off on October 3rd.
Proctor had been in talks with both St George's Cricket Club, and St David's Cricket Club about using those fields as their home base. And while St David's was ruled out quite early on because the two sides could not agree financially, there had been some hope that St George's would become the Blazers' new home.
The two clubs are believed to have met before Cup Match, where a tentative agreement was reached, with St George's apparently eager to have Boulevard use their facilities.
However the trouble that erupted at Cup Match saw the simmering tensions between town and country gangs raise their head once more, and the East End club changed their mind over security fears.
Now Blazers are in a race against time to find themselves a home, however with the gang element hovering over their heads that might be harder than expected.
"The trouble at Cup Match was nothing to do with the club, it was other people who were involved," said Proctor.
"We are trying to do positive things with this club and it would be a shame if we were penalised because of the social problems on the Island.
"The problems at St George's raised a few eyebrows with the membership, our agreement was revisited and they decided that they couldn't guarantee security.
"You have to respect that decision, but it is a shame, we are not the only club that has these issues, it is a Dandy Town, North Village, and Boulevard issue.
"The worst case scenario is that we are disbarred from the league, and that would be a total loss to football on the Island. We have been around since 1972, I played for the side in the 70s, and it is a good club.
"We are being made to suffer because social problems are having an impact, but we can't have people thinking that it will happen wherever we go, because then we'll be without a place to play.
"We do a lot of positive things as a club, and we need a chance to carry on doing those things, to make our club better. Worse case is that the BFA kicks us out, but I hope that never happens."
Blazers have been a wandering club ever since their inception in 1972, and while they share the lease with Young Men's Social Club on a field next to Victor Scott Primary School, it is in no fit state to be used for football.
And while being kicked out of the league is the worst case scenario, Proctor has been assured by BFA boss Richard Calderon that he hadn't even thought that far ahead.
"Richard has been great," said Proctor. "I've spoken to him and they are very keen to help us, he said he hadn't even thought about us being forced out.
"But we have until Monday to find a field, and it's causing me a lot of stress at the moment."