This weekend will see the start of the Island Games in Bermuda with the national football teams involved in action tomorrow night.However, with about four teams taking part the standard of the football may not be that high and may not be the type of competition the national men’s team needs in order to be severely tested.It depends on what we want from this tournament but if we want to learn and get better then we have to start playing teams much better than us.It is something we have to ask ourselves, where is it we want to go and what competitions do we want to be in, because there are some classy competitions out there and I think we need to start aiming for those sorts of competitions.The England C team toured here last month and beat our national team, but it is not a good mark to be beaten by an international C team.I know it comes from a lack of activity on the players’ part. That was probably the first match since the World Cup qualifiers last year some time.You have to be playing on a regular basis and us as a country we have to understand the importance of playing international football at the highest possible level.The Gold Cup is going on right now in the United States and that could be something for us to aim for.I think it would be a good thing for us to get to that level.If you look at countries like Panama, Guadeloupe and Honduras, they weren’t even playing at that level years ago but look at them now. They are serious and are investing in their people.Thirty or 40 years ago you wouldn’t have a C team coming down here to play . . . and beating us in the process.You would get a Premier League team or Second Division team and they would know they were going to get some good competition. Now the tide has changed and we have to fix it.We have to look at our facilities and our national programmes. Government gave the sports money years ago so we can’t just look at Government, it’s everybody.The money is not there now and we have to find a way to get it and that means the community and the business sector getting together. We need to be serious about what we need to do. Everybody has a part to play and that’s where honesty comes in.I have heard about the mural painted on the side of the building on Court Street which featured myself, Shaun Goater, Kyle Lightbourne, David Bascome and Nahki Wells players who have played professionally in England.I haven’t seen it yet but will make an effort in the next few days to go and have a look. I think it is a good idea and we need more things like that.We’ve had some outstanding former athletes in various sports who should be recognised for their achievements, players who have so much to give and would love to give back.When I finished playing professionally in America I coached at a high school, but here if you want to go into the schools they will tell you you don’t have a teaching degree.When you go to schools in Bermuda very few of them have pictures of Shaun, Kyle and myself.Cup Match is coming up but none of the schools have pictures of some of the former or current players. This is where the history is lost when you don’t do these type of things to let the younger people see some of the players who came before them.Just yesterday I was with my friend Mel Roberts and he had his grandson and he said to him ‘do you know who this guy is’ and he said ‘no’.Once Mel told him my name he was able to put the face to the name. For a country so small we have a lot of people who have achieved outstanding things and made things better for others and we have to recognise that.