One of the greatest footballers to wear a Somerset Trojans jersey has died.Ex-Trojans and Bermuda defender Rudy Minors died on Thursday at the age of 69 following a long bout of ill health.Minors is perhaps best remembered for his trademark long throws as well as being captain of Trojans’ all-conquering squads of the late 1960s and early ‘70s.During that era, Trojans won the coveted triple crown championship (First Division, Friendship Trophy and FA Cup) an amazing three times on the trot to earn the distinguished title of ‘Silver City’.No other team has achieved the remarkable feat since.Minors’ football career began at West End Rovers but he eventually became a Trojan after Rovers and Somerset Colts amalgamated in the 1960s to become what is known today as Somerset Cricket Club.He made a number of stellar appearances for Bermuda on the international stage and after hanging up his boots also had a coaching stint with Trojans.Former Trojans team-mate, Larry (Muscles) Hunt, described Minors as a great leader.“Rudy could’ve skippered a world-eleven, that’s how good he was,” Hunt said. “He was definitely a giant and well respected.“When I came into that team I never called him Rudy, I would call him Skip or Mr Minors, that’s the kind of respect he had from all the young guys in the squad like myself, Dirt (Richard Simmons) and Roger Hunt.“Rudy told you off in a very, very nice way and you got the message. He was the only guy who could control Randy Horton and if you could control Randy Horton you could control anybody. That’s how much he was respected and he will be missed.”Throughout his career Minors also had a positive influence on some of his rivals such as ex-North Village and Bermuda captain Wendell (Joe) Trott.“Rudy was my first room-mate when I got into the national team in 1968 and we would talk about football and life in general,” said an emotional Trott. “He sort of set me on the right path and we have been friends since.“We also had our battles with Somerset with North Village being upstarts coming up from the lower division.“Even to the present day we still talked about how football affected our lives and the way the game has sort of deteriorated. It’s a really sad day for football as well as for softball which he was involved in as well.“This is really rough and I don’t think people realise how much camaraderie there is among footballers. I think they must think we just play against somebody without realising the camaraderie we have between us. It’s a life experience and really something special.”Former Young Men’s Social Club forward John Roach described the late footballer as a father figure.“Rudy was almost like the father figure in the side that kept everybody else under control and things like that,” he said. “He was one of Somerset’s steady players that really did well for them in that era.“Rudy was a steady, no-nonsense player who knew the game really well. When we played against him he was always at left back but his vision of the game on the whole was from that backline and he was able to make decisions for his team.“Naturally for us when we played against Somerset we had a plan worked out for everybody but he was a steady player and did well for Somerset. I don’t ever recall him being rude in any way to the referee and things like that.”