The Bermuda Sports Hall of Fame could be back in action by the end of the year, The Royal Gazette can reveal.

Rick Richardson, the Hall of Fame chairman, said yesterday that the Bermuda Sports Hall of Fame Board had taken steps to resume the selection process after discussions with the Department of Youth, Sport and Recreation.

“We anticipate a series of meetings to scrutinise the remaining list of Bermudians who were nominated by the public when we initially put the questions out for public response,” Richardson said.

“When we started up in 2004 we actually went to the public who nominated people from all different sports and we work from that list which is pretty extensive.

“We had about 300 names and we couldn’t just go like everybody’s in so we filtered through that list and we are still working on that list and add to it.”

The Hall of Fame was established to honour those who have gained prominence in sport or who have made substantial contributions to Bermudian sport.

So far 48 athletes and teams have been inducted into the Bermuda Sports Hall of Fame.

In order to be considered for induction into the Hall of Fame athletes must have retired from the chosen sport for a minimum of five years.

The last Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held in 2009 at the Fairmont Southampton Resort with triple jumper Brian Wellman, running legend Stanley Burgess and sailor Eugene “Penny” Simmons among the elite sportsmen chosen by the selection panel.

However, the Hall of Fame was suspended the next year and has remained on the back burner ever since.

“The primary reason at that point were two reasons,” Richardson said.

“We wanted to take a breather and really focus. We had gone through a number of people and inducted almost ten at a time.

“We also wanted to examine new people out of the sport and let some time go in between and look at the list and also there were budgetary constraints.

“But having had the breather the present government wants to take a look at it and basically honour those people who have excelled and have been outstanding for Bermuda.”

As well as bringing the induction ceremony back online, Richardson said that the Hall of Fame Board were still looking for a venue to display precious sports memorabilia for the public to view.

He added: “The Board is searching for a suitable location to house the many video presentations and material gathered thus far of the inductees and memorabilia of Bermuda sports in general.”