This time of year is always filled with nostalgia and happy memories of Christmases past. Like when you were in school, and the Christmas season meant two whole weeks of sleeping in, watching as much TV as you pleased, and, if you were lucky, going to all the mid-season football games.

For those of us who grew up longing for the Christmas break, hoping against hope that our team would finish the first half of the season in the top four, Christmas meant 'Dudley' Eve time! The four team double elimination tournament often produced some of the best football of the season back in those days.

I grew up supporting PHC (which I recognise is strange for a St. Georges boy, but who can deny the appeal of the Zebras of the klate 1970s to early 1990s? Or even the 2007 edition for that matter … GO ZEBRAS!), so I have quite a few wonderfully vivid memories of glory tucked away in my Christmas break file, under the heading "Dudley Eve Trophy".

Legends like Kyle Lightbourne, Derek 'Nails' Douglas, Brian 'Bulla' Anderson, Winston Trott Jr., and Kenny Mills feature prominently in my memories of Christmases past. Scoring goals, making vital tackles, racing past defenders, dropping perfect passes into the box, and eventually, inevitably, lifting the trophy one more time!

Indeed I do believe that my beloved Zebras have lifted Mr. Eve's Trophy more than any other local team. I mean, the way I remember it, they rarely lost the title back when I spent every Boxing Day at Lords in St. David's, and every New Year's Day at Wellington Oval. Well, I do recall those pesky Hornets lifting the trophy once or twice (or was it the Red Devils? What's that? Their called the Rams now? Well are they still from North Village.)

OK, so the Trojans got a couple too! But the real winner back when the Dudley Eve Tournament was in its prime was the Bermuda public. The event was an absolute gem on the Bermuda footballing calendar, and the team that started the New Year by lifting Mr. Eve's Trophy almost always installed themselves into the favourite-to-win-the-league position. It was a tradition like no other, a tradition that has changed a bit over the years, but is still a highly anticipated and feverishly supported local event.

The tournament was originally conceived in an effort to honour a giant amongst men: Mr. Alfred 'Dudley' Eve. Mr. Eve was an instrumental figure in the formation and organization of the Bermuda Football Association (BFA), helping to merge the old Bermuda Football League (BFL) with the Bermuda Football Commission (BFC), into the BFA we know and love today.

Mr. Eve, in fact, was a primary organiser of the classic Christmas season matches between the BFL and the BFC, which were held annually on Boxing Day. This detail was a direct influence on the decision to hold Mr. Eve's Tournament over the Christmas holidays. The tournament has always been a very prestigious affair; something of a showcase for the Premier Division's best teams, and the cream of Bermuda's footballing crop.

The fact that a team has to be amongst the top four teams in the league to even qualify for the tournament virtually guarantees an outstanding level of play, and an intense, exciting experience at each game. I mean, Who can forget the drama of Derek 'Nails' Douglas 'roofing' the ball into the net to finish off Dandy Town in a penalty shoot-out at the Somerset Cricket Club field back in '91 (The team and year may be inaccurate … my apologies for the quality of my memories … or lack thereof).

The point is, the Dudley Eve Trophy Tournament is, and always has been, a fabulous part of the traditional Bermudian Christmas experience. It's like our Winter Cup Match with football instead of cricket! It's our own American Thanksgiving Football at Christmas, except we actually use our feet to play the game! It's a tradition, a history, and a reason to love being Bermudian all rolled into one.

The BFA has confirmed that the 2007 edition of our beloved Christmas football showcase will return to the old format: a double header to open, pitting the top four teams against each other, followed by another double header pitting the respective winners and losers from the first two games against one another, with the loser of the losers game bowing out of the tournament and the winner of the winners game going to the two-leg final, then a single elimination game between the winner of the losers game and the loser of the winners game from the previous round for a place in the final, and finally, the explosive two-leg aggregate final! If you can understand all of that then you should apply for a genius grant.

As for me, well that tournament format is virtually stamped on my grey matter; right next to all those memories of Christmas glories past.