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Awards ceremony fiasco rumbles on

Bermuda Football Association (BFA) remained tight-lipped on the 2012-13 awards ceremony fiasco yesterday.BFA Infrastructure Committee chairman Troy Lewis, whose committee has been tasked with organising the prize giving ceremony, was unwilling to provide an official explanation for the delay on the record while other BFA officials that were approached by this newspaper all passed the buck. BFA president Larry Mussenden could not be reached for comment.Local football’s governing body had originally set aside August 28 as the date for the prize giving before it was postponed. A new date for the event to be held has yet to be confirmed.The BFA came under attack last week when Devonshire Cougars and assistant national coach Dennis Brown lambasted the association for failing to hold last season’s prize ceremony months after the campaign ended.Failure to hold the prize giving, Brown said, “is a slap in the face” to the triple crown (Premier Championship, FA Cup and Friendship Trophy) champions.“This was a historic moment with only four (five) other clubs achieving this feat since the existence of the BFA and nothing has been done to show appreciation to the players who made many, many sacrifices last season,” he said in a previous interview with this newspaper. “They (BFA) would have bent over backwards for any other so-called big club in Bermuda, but this is total disrespect to my club.”Added Brown: “Correspondence went out in August to say that a presentation was due to be held on August 28 but we got an e-mail the day before stating that the ceremony was postponed with no explanation or a new date. Whether they had a ceremony or not, the MVP and Young Player of the Year should have been acknowledged with them possibly given a travel voucher or something to show that they are supported.“I had heard when I first went to Cougars about them being disrespected (by the BFA) but to see this is a blatant level of disrespect.”The BFA also came under heavy fire from former Western Stars Sports Club president Cecil Lewis last year after the award ceremony for the 2011-12 season, which saw his club clinch the Premier Championship, FA Cup and Dudley Eve Trophy, was delayed.The awards ceremony was eventually held following the start of the 2012-13 but reasons for the delay were never made public by the BFA.