The Barbados Football Association’s (BFA) season will have a different look when it kicks off next year.
First-time BFA president Randy Harris said the association had summoned representatives from the ten Premier League clubs to a meeting on November 3.
“We will outline our plans for our show product – the Premier League – and we will get some feedback from them. Who knows? They might be able to bring some ideas to the table that would enhance the progress of this League,” Harris told MIDWEEK?SPORT.
Although no date has been set for the start of the new season, because of the likely unavailability of the National Stadium in the early stages, Harris said the BFA?had already taken steps to secure alternative venues.
“Already we have written letters to a number of clubs such as Carlton and Empire where we can get gate receipts. What we will do is to play a series a week, two matches on Saturdays or three on Sundays at various venues as we hope to bring some public awareness to games and our competition by so doing,” Harris said.
“We are going to look at the interesting Division One games and play some before Premier League matches at the various venues that we will be using,” he added.
Harris also said the new BFA?executive council had already decided on a major change in Division 1 teams where teams will now get a chance to play home matches.
“We want to take back the football to the communities. Division 2 and 3 are played on a home-and-away basis. In Division 1, we are going to play as much as possible in the communities or near to the communities where these Division 1 teams are based,” Harris said.
“I don’t think all the Division 1 teams have lighting, so we may have to ask them to identify a ground close by where they can really play their football, so that their fans can really come out,” he added.
This, according to Harris, would avoid two Christ Church or two St Michael teams clashing outside their parish.
“Anyway, we don’t have the resources for travel and these games start late because of the distances and people get home after 12 midnight and they have to go to work the following day, so we will discontinue that,” he said.
Harris also revealed that from next season, there will be two rounds of matches in all the divisions.
“There is a big call for Division 2 games to be two rounds and we are going to accede to this call because it is only sensible. We cannot have the Premier League, Division 1 and Division 3 playing two rounds and our Division 2 competition, which is about the middle standard of our tournaments, playing one round, so we are going to change that right away,” Harris maintained.
