The article that appeared in The Royal Gazette this week highlighting the achievements of the 1968 youth team certainly brought back some memories and I’m sure it got the players from that team, and others, talking about that wonderful era in Bermuda football.

Even though I went on to enjoy a memorable professional career, I never forgot those players that I played with in that International Youth Tournament, which we won in Bermuda 45 years ago this Christmas. Those were fantastic times and times I will always cherish and I say thank you to the players for being a part of such an outstanding team.

We all bonded together, there were no gripes and if one person was on the field, the other people cheered them on. I can say that about both national teams because I played in two World Cup qualifying matches for the senior team around that same time. I was in England and came home for that youth tournament and ended up missing the FA Youth Cup match against Leyton Orient, which we lost. It was nice to come home and show the people what I learnt in that short time in England.

Richard Simmons is no longer with us, but I do see some of the other players from time to time; people like Cal Rayner when I visit my sister in St George’s and I speak to Clarence Symonds on the phone. I see “Choe” Smith now and again and David Frost all the time. A lot of the guys I went to school with, so we played on the same high school team. There were about six or seven people in that team who went to Churchill.

Over the years, we’ve had many players in Bermuda, who, given the opportunity to play professionally, I know could have made it. Lots of times, it was just the luck of the draw, being in the right place at the right time. I know Richard Simmons could have made it if he had been given the chance and Roger Hunt was unlucky. Even older guys like Lionel “Baldy” Smith and Eddie Wright could have made it, but the opportunities weren’t there.

I was fortunate to have a person like the national coach, Graham Adams, who saw the potential and made arrangements for me to go. What I tell people lots of time is that age plays a part. Nowadays you have players 22 and 23 who want to be professionals, but they are taking young players at clubs in England at 9, 10 years old. I tell youngsters all the time, “Go as early as you can and never let people tell you you can’t do it.”

I knew at a very early age after seeing Tottenham play in a sportsreel in the movies somewhere around 1961, just after they won the league and Cup double, that that was what I wanted to be: a professional footballer. Bermuda, for a place so small, had some fantastic athletes in football and cricket back then. With the electronic games and gadgets now, you don’t see as many youngsters playing in the streets or on the fields; they are playing with their thumbs.

I went over to West Ham at 17 and was able to play with my peers in the youth team. When I went to England, there were people like Allan Hudson, Charlie George, Stevie Perryman, Eddie Kelly, Ray Kennedy and we were in the same age group, playing against each other at youth level. These were all good players and you had to be special.

Many a Saturday I was playing in the third team when I first went to England and they put you in that team to toughen you up and to learn how to take being kicked. I didn’t play many reserve games, I went from the youth team to the first team, once they saw that I was ready. Ability plays a big part, but luck plays a big part, too.

I was fortunate to play with and against some of the best players in England at the time and had some of the best coaching. Ron Greenwood, my manager, was a genius and knew the game inside out, and he taught us a lot. I also learnt from people like Cal “Bummy” Symonds, who was one of my role models. I liked the way he played — rugged, tough and no-nonsense — and that’s how you have to be if you want to get to the top.

To be a good player, you have to be hungry, have a good appetite for the game and be willing to work. How many people picked up on the comments from tthe Bradford City manager this week when he mentioned how Nahki Wells has been practising free kicks, like the one he scored last weekend against Leyton Orient, ever since he has been at the club?

If you don’t have heart and aren’t prepared to put the time in, you are wasting your time — and everybody else’s.