“NORMALLY I would be writing about the Champions League games in Europe this week but instead I want to talk about the need for people to come out and support football in Bermuda. I am part of the company Set Play which have been bringing in the New England Revolution for an annual tour for the past few years and this year we managed to persuade the LA Galaxy to come as well. We at Set Play are not in it for money — let me make that perfectly clear. We just want to help football in Bermuda. But quite honestly we are losing money on these tours because fans have not been coming out to the National Sports Centre to watch these Major League Soccer sides play each other and also take on Bermuda’s national team.We have gone to a lot of effort to bring in these teams and I really want to urge people to come out and help us to pay the bills. We need assistance and hopefully people will answer the call. We are going to continue to have these tours because it is good for the game here.

We have already been told by both teams that they would like to come back so that means next year we might be able to get the big fella — David Beckham. It would be wonderful to get Beckham here because all the football fans in Bermuda have watched him for so many years. And we are hoping that we can get a Premiership team to come as well. There are a lot of possibilities out there.

The coaches and players from the Revs and Galaxy have all told me they love it here — they are being treated really well and they love the practise field and the surface of the National Sports Centre.

By having these teams come here for pre-season training and matches, the whole country benefits. The teams do bring their own fans with them and I feel that if they can fly all the way here we can at least come to the game from our own homes.

The hotels at this time of year are not normally packed so the tours help them as well. What I will say to the hotels is that I would like to see them give us some assistance and try and work things out with us. We are paying some big prices and we could use some help.

Hopefully we can get back to the days when we had a lot of tours coming to Bermuda — the likes of Celtic, Spurs, Manchester United and Chelsea. We have had tours from German teams as well as Russian ones. We in Bermuda may find it a bit cold at this time of year but I can guarantee you that the players coming from New England find the weather nice and warm and they love to get out in the open after training indoors.

Also anyone out there who is reading the column and who wants to come and help us out in any way — especially sponsorship — just get in touch. We always can use more help. We are losing money but we still want to put these tours on but you can’t continue to lose money.

I spoke to the coach this morning for the Galaxy and he told me they would love to come back. Let’s work things out.

There are some quality players coming with both teams — players like Landon Donavan and Cobi Jones from the Galaxy and Taylor Twellman and Avery John from the Revs — these players are all quality. Come out and see how far the American game has come — and gone away from us compared to the days when we used to beat them. That is not happening any more.

The BFA have just been given a lot of money by Government to help football in Bermuda so we have to make this a new era for the game here. We can’t let this opportunity go to waste. Bermuda will be playing regular international matches as well and practise matches and we all have to come out and support them. We have to be more responsible — let’s do what is right for the game for once.

Last week the Bermuda Football Foundation, of which I am a part of, had the first tournament which is named after me. I am so very honoured by that. We had a number of young teams come here from the United States to take on our local kids all day on Saturday and Sunday at the National Sports Centre. Our kids — especially the Under-13 and Under-14 teams who won their divisions, did so well. And the visiting coaches and players all want to come back next year. Other teams in the US have already heard how great the tournament was and they have contacted us saying they also want to come out next year. This is fantastic for our football. We have to get the kids playing in these competitive matches when they are young.

That tournament as well as the tours here by the Revs and Galaxy is all a part of making football better in Bermuda. Let’s just do the right thing. It not only takes the coaches and players to make the game better in Bermuda, it takes all of us. We all have to pitch in and help. Let us all do our part.