The Bermuda Football Association awards was just as much about recognising former players and administrators as it was about acknowledging present players.

Allan Peacock, who died in 2017, was one of the Legends honoured for his long service to Hotels as a former captain and coach in the 1970s and 1980s.

Between 1972 and 1985 Hotels, who dropped out of the league in 1993. were one of the leading teams in top flight, boasting such players as goalkeeper Sam Nusum, Frankie Brewster, David Kneisler, Kaz Ryzner, Ian Morrison, Tony Dill, Coolridge Bell, Anthony Dill, Eddie Simpson, Myron Piper, Allan DeSilva, Stan Young, Eric Levon and Stan Ray.

Peacock was player-coach in 1979-80 season when Hotels won a second league title to go with the one they picked up in 1974-75.

“Many of Allan’s former team-mates and players remember him as a tenacious player who knew the game and coached it very well,” Charryse Bean, the BFA women’s committee chairperson, said at the event held at City Hall on Saturday.

“He had a footballing brain, knew how to play the game and had a strong love and passion for the game. He tried his very best to take football to a higher level, both on and off the field.

“He used his overseas contacts to bring teams to Bermuda, most notably Aston Villa in the 1980s, and supported the BFA in his capacity of executive director to drive international football activity for the national team in the 1980s and 1990s.

Allan passed away suddenly in 2017; he may be gone but legends are never forgotten.”

Leslie White, a former top women’s player, grew up playing football with the neighbourhood boys in Somerset and then at Warwick Academy with long-time friend Janice Hankey.

They were the first two Bermudian women to play football at university, facing against each other in Nova Scotia, Canada, with White at Dalhousie University and Hankey at Acadia University.

In her second year at university, White won the Atlantic Conference MVP playing as a defender and was selected to the All-Conference team. In that same year, she was also captain and MVP of the Dalhousie team and the following year was selected again to the AUAA All-Conference team.

Locally, White played for Telecom and BAA and was instrumental in bringing university and club teams to Bermuda in the 1990s. White teaches at Saltus Grammar School and has coached the middle school girls team for more than ten years.

Also honoured were former North Village trio Randy Bean and twins Richard and Robert Calderon, who were a part of the North Village Triple Crown winning team in 1977-78. Bean started at Southampton Rangers, making his debut for the senior team aged 17, before joining Village two years later.

Bean was also a part of the Bermuda team that qualified for the Pan Am Games in 1979. Bean returned to Rangers to play two more seasons before he finished his career as a First Division player at the age of 32, helping the team win the league in his first year back in 1980-81.

In retirement, Bean staged youth football games at Warwick Secondary School.

The kicks were great, something that footballers from all around the island looked forward to with great anticipation,” Charryse Bean said.

“Randy was so dedicated to the Warwick community that at 6.30 on a Sunday morning, he could be found cutting the high grass with a push mower that he walked from Khyber Pass to TN Tatem.

“He then set the fields up with cones, take an old rock and write the scores on the road.

“One thing that was a must was a circular prayer with all the players involved. These kicks were the essence of the community. Competition, love and respect is synonymous with the way Randy Bean, a man of God, has chosen to live his life.”

Bean has fond memories of playing in midfield with the Calderon twins in an outstanding Village team that won the Triple Crown under coach Larry Smith. Robert captained and coached the Bermuda team and won a bronze medal at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Medellin, Colombia, in 1978.

Robert is a former BFA vice-president and served as chairman of the technical committee. Richard also had an outstanding career as a player with Village who won every major domestic trophy. He was the team’s MVP in that Triple Crown year and represented Bermuda.

After their playing days, the twins formed the Bermuda Football Foundation along with Clyde Best.

Richard went on to become the president of the BFA and is the founding member of the Bermuda Football Coaches Association along with Leroy “Nibs” Lewis, Carlton “Pepe’ Dill, Clyde Best, Ellsworth Christopher, Alfie Eve, Andrew Bascome, Larry Smith and brother Robert. Paul Scope received the Order of Merit for helping countless local players gain football exposure overseas.

Scope is a former player, coach and president of Robin Hood and was an assistant coach of Somerset Trojans, as well as coach of the women’s national team coach for three years and assistant coach of the men’s team from 2003 to 2007.

“During that spell and without a competitive home game, we improved our Fifa rankings more than 50 places,” David Sabir, the BFA general secretary, said.

“That’s when he realised we needed to do something different to compete with the Caribbean heavy weights, Jamaica, Trinidad, Cuba and Haiti, as most of their teams comprised full-time [professional] players, yet we had one, maybe two.

“Paul was very instrumental in establishing the Bermuda Hogges from 2007 to 2010, who competed in the United Soccer League, giving our senior players overseas experience. After the Hogges, Paul started using his own resources to help players get opportunities overseas in the United States, Canada and Europe.

“He and others were able to assist more than 50 players, either financially, donating air miles or just using their time and contacts in the game. Not all have made it big but all have benefited from the experience and have returned better players and better people.”

Sabir added: “As well as Nahki Wells, who played for the Hogges as a youngster, Paul assisted Reggie Lambe, Dale Eve, Danté Leverock, Roger Lee, Jahquil Hill, Jaylon Bather, William White and others who currently play for the senior national team.”