THE island would be hard pressed to find an issue in recent times that has given rise to such passion as the failure to include Bermuda's sole Olympic medallist, boxer Clarence Hill, among the inaugural inductees into the newly-created Sports Hall of Fame.

The outcry has been so intense and prolonged that not only has it dominated the talk shows for a week after the selections were announced at the Saturday night Hall of Fame banquet, but it has even spilled over to the Letters to the Editor page.

There any number of writers have been expressing their disappointment and outrage that Clarence Hill was not among the first ten sportsmen to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Chairman of the Hall of Fame board of directors Rick Richardson was at great pains to explain the public had been involved in the voting process on no fewer than three occasions before the final decisions were made. Hill, he said, did not end up on the final list of ten inductees.

An attempt at damage control on the part of Rick Richardson, when he appeared on one of the radio talk shows to try to explain his position and that of the board, only added fuel to fires of controversy as callers became even more outraged.

The whole affair almost became a political issue when Sports Minister Dale Butler, again in an attempt to dampen what had become a growing public concern, himself phoned the talk show and tried to get Bermudians to look at the big picture and to honour those who did make the final cut.

This was not enough to assuage mounting public anger. The truth is that the entire concept of a Hall of Fame, conceived with the best of intentions, has been spoiled because Clarence Hill was excluded. He would have and should have been the jewel in the crown of the new Hall of Fame as most of the public fully expected.

Of course, to pick just ten deserving Bermudians who have made a difference in the sporting affairs of this country was always going to be problematic because so many people were deserving of being inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame. But even so I am willing to bet that if Hill had been among the first ten inductees, then we would have seen nowhere near the level of controversy that we now have before us.

How did we come to find ourselves in this predicament? For not to have put Clarence Hill among the first inductees into the Sports Hall of Fame must seem to outsiders, long practised in honouring their own, to be inexplicable.

One would have thought that as a country we had learned some valuable lessons in recent years as regards honouring our own and recognising their accomplishments both locally and on the international stage.

The outrage seems to be spreading across the entire sweep of Bermudian society. After all, you do not have to be a family member or someone who knows him personally to know that his country's failure to properly recognise what Clarence Hill did in becoming the only Bermudian to win an Olympic medal ? then or now ? has hurt not only this Bermudian but the entire Bermudian community.

When Gina Swainson won the Miss World title in London in 1979, we as a community pulled out all stops. People were let off their jobs as the City of Hamilton itself closed to honour this Bermudian who had brought such glory and fame to her homeland, Bermuda.

In fact, this is the only way small countries or peoples can see themselves on an equal footing with the rest of the world, through sporting achievements or, as was the case with Gina Swainson, coming out on top of a significant international event such as Miss World.

Sports has always played a significant role in this regard. For example, cricket in the West Indies is more than a game. When the West Indies win, all of the Caribbean wins and likewise when they lose, all of the Caribbean is plunged into a state of gloom. It is almost as if the whole fate of the West Indies and its place in the world is dependent on how well the West Indies cricket team do in Tests and one-day internationals.

first person to identify the importance of this for the peoples of the Caribbean was renowned Pan-Africanist, political writer and Third World commentator C.L.R James. Born in Trinidad in 1901, he went to England in 1932 and was a pioneer in arguing the case for West Indian self-government. He was also an early advocate for African Independence.

Among the many books on the subject of decolonisation was one he wrote about the role of cricket in the developing of the West Indian identity and its sense of self in the wider world. An avid cricket fan and commentator on the game, C.L.R. James put the game of cricket and its role n the Caribbean in its true cultural and political contexts when he wrote the landmark book on the subject (1963). And truly the impact West Indian cricket had on the game did the region proud and it was often the individual performances that stood out and were duly marked. From Sir Garfield Sobers to Brian Lara, to name just two greats of West Indian cricket, the great cricketers are viewed as immortals in West Indian homes.

And Bermuda too, in its heyday, can recall the times when visiting teams used to come here and be beaten by the local boys. So that when Clarence Hill won his Olympic bronze medal, it was a big thing.

It was Bermuda's chance to shine before the world. Only the powers that be did not see it that way. Clarence Hill did not receive his just due and, worse for the black community, this failure was one more insult to them as a whole.

So there we have it, what lies behind the intensity of the failure to induct Clarence Hill into Bermuda's inaugural Sports Hall of Fame and the outrage expressed by the people. In some ways it could be argued that Bermuda's historical failures have caught up with us. For in truth this is just one more example of something that should have been done years ago. But this is a country that is loath to do anything nationalistic.

Yes, the talk has been hot and heavy on the subject of Clarence Hill with some Bermudians voicing the opinion that all 25 nominees should have been inducted into Bermuda's newly-created Sports Hall of Fame.

It is too much to hope in the wake of this outcry that the board is going to reconsider, admit that it made a mistake and right a wrong. Such things are just not done. However, there is nothing to stop the people from continuing their outcry on Clarence Hill's behalf.