A split down the middle of amateur boxing was threatening to undermine potentially the most important day in the sport in Great Britain for years last night.

Today, three boxers - David Price, Tony Jeffries and James DeGale - will aim to reach Olympic finals, something not achieved by Britain's boxers since 1956, but that did not stop the Amateur Boxing Association (ABA) announcing its decision to suspend Billy Joe Saunders, a member of the Olympic team, over allegations of a “lewd and disgusting” video he is said to have appeared in, nor an ABA official leaking details to the press of other supposed misdemeanours by boxers.

The timing threatens to undermine Terry Edwards, the head coach and performance director. For the past six months the amateur code has been on the brink of civil war, with the ABA and its chief executive, Paul King, on one side and Edwards, whose British boxing programme acts independently - although its funding comes from UK Sport via the ABA - on the other.

The video, which was shot during a training camp in France in May, was posted on YouTube but has since been taken down. It is believed to show Saunders, who at 18 was the youngest member of the eight-strong team in Beijing, trying to teach a French chambermaid to say rude words.

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The ABA is understood to have been aware of the video for weeks, but chose now to make its announcement, an act that was not lost on Simon Clegg, the British Olympic Association's (BOA) chef de mission.

“The ABA choosing Wednesday to issue Billy Joe Saunders with a suspension relating to an incident which happened months before the Beijing Olympic Games is extremely disappointing,” Clegg said. “Releasing such allegations to the media at this time could prove detrimental to the critical preparations of the other three boxers who will be contesting to reach the final of the boxing competition. Nobody involved with boxing should be distracting the team at this time.”

Saunders, who was beaten in his second bout last Thursday, flew home on Monday, not because he was sent home but because “he was bored”, according to a BOA spokeswoman.

This incident is the latest in a series of steps taken by the the ABA against members of Britain's Olympic team. In March, Matt Archibald, the Britain programme manager and a key ally of Edwards, was suspended over allegations about the method of payment of a hotel bill. Five months on, he remains suspended on full pay with no disciplinary hearing planned.

At one point the ABA is alleged to have threatened to withhold boxers' medical cards, which would prevent them from competing. Because the ABA is affiliated to AIBA, the international governing body, it controls who is entered in tournaments.

The suspension came with the leaking to a national newspaper of a supposed “dossier” of alleged misdemeanours by boxers. Allegations included one throwing an egg at a pensioner, two being arrested after getting drunk at a tournament in Bulgaria, one of demanding money with menaces and compensation being paid to hotels for damages. Yet none of the allegations are thought to involve any member of the Olympic team and the incident in Bulgaria dates back more than two years.

The boxer accused of throwing an egg, who has since turned professional, was suspended by Edwards. But Edwards was then apparently reprimanded by the ABA. “They said disciplining boxers was not in his remit,” a source said. “He introduced a system of fines, but the ABA tried to stop that, too.

“No one is saying these guys are angels. Sometimes you are dealing with young men who have been in trouble with the law or expelled from school. Terry has been very strong on discipline in the team. The timing of this shows that these people couldn't care less about the boxers.”

Another source said that people were upset that Edwards was getting all the credit for the boxers' success, not the ABA, nor club coaches.

Edwards declined to speak to the media yesterday, but issued a statement. “The allegations made in the media about the conduct of athletes on the British boxing programme are, on the whole, unfounded,” he said. “I feel extremely disillusioned that I have learnt of the suspension of one of my boxers from the media. Above all, though, I am so sad that this together with the other allegations made have been raised to distract and unsettle me, the coaching team, and more importantly my boxers ahead of the most important bouts of their lives.”

King, who was in Beijing last week in his role as an executive committee member of the AIBA, is believed to have since flown home. Several attempts to contact him proved unsuccessful.