WHEN Pele accepted an invitation from FIFA earlier this year to name the world?s 100 top players of the century, he probably had no idea what he was getting into.

He could have hardly imagined that his honest assessment would create such a backlash, particularly in his native Brazil where since first stepping onto the World Cup stage as 17-year-old he?s been feted as a football god.

But having omitted from that list three of his own much-heralded World Cup team-mates while including others of far less repute, he quickly discovered there can be a very fine line between hero and villain.

The trouble with any ranking system of this sort is that it?s purely subjective.

As great a player as Pele was ? and most who follow the game would argue there?s never been any better ? his views on the sport and those who have played it at the highest level, as would be expected, are not going to meet everybody?s approval.

Those responsible for drawing up the inaugural list of nominees for the soon to be launched Bermuda Sports Hall of Fame probably have some idea of how he felt.

It?s simply impossible to please everyone.

While the Hall of Fame list appears to have been met with general approval, it?s certainly provoked plenty of comment.

How, for instance, could those football players who brought back a silver medal from the Winnipeg Pan-Am Games of 1967 be overlooked?

Why are there no golfers or tennis players included?

Is it right to include someone with a long criminal record? Shouldn?t all of the Hall of Fame inductees be seen as role models for those aspiring to follow in their footsteps?

These are some of the questions that have been posed since the list was released last week.

Everybody has their own idea of what constitutes sporting greatness and while some nominees ? Clyde Best and Alma (Champ) Hunt might be the best examples ? would be included in everybody?s book, there are sufficient borderline cases to warrant lengthy discussion.

One absentee, for example, that this writer finds hard to comprehend is that of athlete Ray Swan, who reigned supreme on Bermuda?s roads for many years, capping his career with a Masters victory at the Boston Marathon, the oldest and perhaps most prestigious of all marathons. If that doesn?t warrant some kind of recognition, then what does?

But again, it?s a purely subjective view.

By and large, the Hall of Fame committee appear to have done their research well.

Most significantly, they?ve finally brought to fruition a project that has long been talked about but until now never acted upon.

More?s the pity that W. F. Chummy Hayward ? ironically one of the Hall?s nominees ? isn?t still around to see his dream realised.