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10 teams or eight?

Don Burgess
The BFA will decide on whether to bump the Premier Division up to 10 or leave it at eight. Moving it to 10 will create a minor problem as to who gets included in the the revamped Premier Division, but the proposed solution seems simple enough - have the 7th place Premier team playoff against the 4th place First Division side and the 8th place team gets the First Division's third best team. Both the first and second place teams would automatically move up.
The move to 10 teams would help remove the lengthy gaps in the schedule, but goes against the reason why the BFA moved to eight teams in the first place - to have the best players only playing against each other as the way to develop players. By making the move back to 10 teams, the BFA is admitting that plan was a failure.

Can Cougars go unbeaten? - err no

Don Burgess
Halfway point of the season and Devonshire Cougars were finally felled by Dandy Town in a 2-0 loss. The title race is wide open amongst them, Town and Boulevard. At the other end of the scale, Colts look like they've broken a leg, and you know what they do to lame horses. Parish and Rangers have been pleasant surprises and could pull off a rare two come up and stay up scenario. But that would require either Village or PHC faltering. It would appear both of those sides have more class players than Southampton or the Hot Peppers, but class will only take you so far if you don't get the results.

A breath of fresh air

James Whittaker
It's rare in sport, even more so in football, for someone to stand up and admit they were wrong. So respect is due to the Bermuda Football Association for issuing an apology to Andrew Bascome and his fellow Under-18 coaches yesterday. Bascome was furious after the BFA turned down his request to postpone his Under-18 game on Sunday after six of his players were involved in the schools finals on Saturday night. He had a point. Still, it would have been tempting for the association to escalate the conflict with a coach who is understood to be in line for the national job. Instead they did the right thing and in a refreshing break from tradition said sorry. End of story.

Minnows get their chance

James Whittaker
Looks like there’s still some magic left in the FA Cup. Fears that the Commercial teams wouldn’t get any ‘glamour ties’ against Premier opposition because of the new format seem to have been unfounded. Three Commercial teams — Tuff Dogs, MR Onions and Robin Hood — beat First Division opposition this weekend to earn their spot in the last 16. Onions got drawn against North Village, Tuff Dogs got Southampton Rangers and Robin Hood got Colts. So there’s still a chance for the minnows to upset the big boys. Cougars v Dandy Town was the only all Premier clash while Somerset Trojans will face PHC, Somerset Eagles will play Parish, Prospect take on Ireland Rangers and Boulevard are at home against BAA.

Putting the brake on breaks

James Whittaker
After a cricket season full of football — the Hogges, the ISL, the World Cup, the Digicel Cup —  we’re now into what used to be known as the football season and we’re getting nothing but breaks. The Premier Division just took a three-week hiatus for the FA Cup first and second round, which no longer include the top eight teams. There are games this weekend and then there is another break. By mid December some of the teams in the top division will have played just five games. How are teams supposed to find any rhythm, build momentum or even keep players interested in training when they have virtually every other weekend off? At the end of the day it’s the paying customers that suffer. Lack of match practice leads to scrappy, disjointed football. The players want to play every week, the fans want to watch competitive football. So why all the breaks?

FA Cup first round: the big yawn

Don Burgess
Just in case you missed it, the new and improved FA Cup kicked off week before last. It involved all Commercial League teams and I popped my head into a couple of games - very, very small crowds. One game couldn't have had more than 50 spectators. Obviously someone cares, but the gate for those games weren't very big. The media coverage was just as small. The new format may prove to make for exciting later rounds but the first round is now one big sleeping pill.

35 goals is out of reach

James Whittaker
Is it possible for a Premier Division striker to get 35 goals? That was the challenge thrown down by Coolridge Bell — who set the total in the 70s. Hamilton Parish striker Jamie Smith, who has had a fantastic start to the season, and has targeted the trophy and $1,000 top prize. But it seems like an unrealistic target. Even the strikers that play in the Martonmere, the Charity Cup and the Dudley Eve will get a max of 29 games. And the new FA Cup format means they won’t get the chance to run-up a cricket score against a lowly Commercial B side. With an eight-team Premier Division, Bermuda’s top strikers will play at least six games less than Bell did when he set the record. It might be more realistic to take an equivalent goals-for-fames ratio and set a target of 25. That would still be tough but it’s an acheivable enough total to make the challenge worthwhile.

FA Cup changes - good or bad?

James Whittaker
Will the change in the FA Cup format take away the magic of the cup? The decision to allow Premier Division sides to sit out the opening rounds definitely reduced interest in the early stages. I can understand the BFA wanting the big clubs in the quarter-finals but part of the excitement of the old format was that the Premier sides could take each other out and pave the way for a team like Hamilton Parish in 04 or Colts in 07 to break through and reach the final or even win the tournament. Now there isn’t going to be too much difference between the FA Cup and the Friendship tournament – the same teams we see week-in week-out playing off for the title.

Upset special: Is the Premier Division wide open?

James Whittaker
All pre-season predictions are off the table after some funky results in the opening weekend of Premier Division action. PHC’s title defence immediately faltered against Boulevard, the Dandy Town revival took a huge hit from Devonshire Cougars and new boys Hamilton Parish and Southampton Rangers defied critics who said they would be the league’s whipping boys with encouraging results. Perhaps the most intelligent pre-season prediction came from Village midfielder Keith Jennings, who told the Bermuda Sun on Friday that this would be one of the most competitive seasons in recent years. Who do you think will win the league and who will go down? Has the opening weekend changed your view?

Andrew deserves a chance

James Whittaker
If anyone deserves a shot as a full-time coach on the BFA payroll then it’s Andrew Bascome. Whether it ends up being as senior coach or as youth director, Bascome has earned the right to be there. He’s coached virtually every club on the island and worked wonders with his own youth academy. The dreadlocked guru has also been a mentor to more players than he cares to remember, including the island’s most famous football export Shaun Goater. He’s been coaching kids for nothing but the love of the game for more than 25 years and would like to take his skills to the next level in Bermuda’s new academy set-up. Let’s hope the BFA grant him his wish.