Former Bermuda Football Association president Dr. Gerard Bean will receive one of international sports' major honours when he is inducted into CONCACAF's Hall of Fame.

The May ceremony will mark the first time that a Bermudian has been recognised in this way.

The announcement was one of many positives that came out of the weekend's CONCACAF executive meeting held at Stonington Beach, according to current BFA president Neville Tyrrell.

"The news was pleasing and naturally something that the BFA and the community at large should be extremely proud of,'' said Tyrrell.

"It was at dinner on Friday night that it was confirmed that Dr. Bean was going to be inducted into their Hall of Fame. It should be one of the last acts that (soon to retire) FIFA president Joao Havelange carries out for CONCACAF at their congress in May.'' Bean was a long-serving BFA president, holding down the position for an unprecedented 18 years before resigning in 1987.

He has also been a long-serving member of CONCACAF and has served as a member of one of FIFA's committees.

Tyrrell believes Bean's contribution to the organisation over the years played a big part in CONCACAF's decision to hold their executive meeting in Bermuda.

And he said he considered the meeting a huge success. "I think it was an immense success as far as having (president) Mr. (Jack) Warner and the executive members here on the weekend. It gave us the opportunity to have a lot of one on one discussions on various aspects of development.

"Jack Warner, who is also the vice president of FIFA, admitted that they were all most impressed with our organisation of this conference combined with the many other things that were done to go along with the occasion.'' Tyrrell, however, would not go into detail on the issues discussed.

"Right now I guess I will just say that a lot is in the pipeline that will be of immense help to us in the future.'' Something that obviously pleased the BFA was news that FIFA would hand over a million dollars for the development of soccer over the next four years.

The money will serve as a huge boost for the BFA's next World Cup campaign, although Tyrrell pointed out that much more financial support was still required from the community.

"Like they say it takes a village to raise a child, well it's going to take a lot of effort to get our team organised and to get to the heights we reached during the 1992 drive towards the 1994 World Cup,'' he added.

"It's going to take a lot of effort from a lot of people. People tend to sit back and wait until things happen as opposed to getting involved and helping to make them happen.'' Meanwhile, Warner's praise over the way the BFA had recovered following the Miami Seven fiasco pleased Tyrrell more than anything.

"Mr. Warner showed his support for the BFA, he made no bones about it ...

that he once had doubts about our capability, indicating that the change in our leadership and the direction in which we are taking the sport appears to be heading towards a good future.'' Tyrrell said such words of encouragement had given him a personal lift and he hoped all of the BFA members and the public at large would now rally behind the BFA.

"All of those negative things that are happening like crowd behaviour will not deter us. We are going to deal with that. It's a question of getting everybody mobilised. And all of these positive steps are going to happen down the road.'' GERARD BEAN -- will be inducted into the CONCACAF Hall of Fame in May.