Bermuda forward Zeiko Lewis is playing domestic football on the island for the first time in almost a decade after rejoining Young Men’s Social Club.

Lewis played 90 minutes for Social Club in their 3-0 Dudley Eve Trophy defeat by PHC at Devonshire Rec on Tuesday night. The 31-year-old has been unattached since the expiry of his contract with USL Championship side Union Omaha at the end of last year.

“It feels good to be back,” Lewis told The Royal Gazette.

“It’s nice to get back to the club that was part of nurturing me. Between them and Dandy Town, they nurtured me as a youth coming through.

“I grew up at Social Club and Dandy Town, so it was always going to be one of those two. But Social Club means more to me as that is where I played senior football when I was in school overseas in 2016.

“Outside of football, Social Club helped me in terms of not only football growth, but relationships, personal growth and becoming an adult.

“My family have been involved with the club for many years, so to me it’s a family club. It goes back to my grandfather, Fred ‘Pinks’ Lewis, as he and his brothers played for Social Club.

“My father, Troy Lewis, played for this club and my aunts also played netball back in the day for Bluebirds.

“I knew at some point in my career I was going to come back and play for Social Club. I’m a parent now so I might as well give back while I can.”

National coach Michael Findlay is hoping that Lewis serves as an inspiration to younger players on the island hoping to represent Bermuda at international level.

“I think he’ll bring great experience and influence as a domestic player in Bermuda,” the coach said.

“It’s important that players see a player who had a strong professional career off island coming back, setting the tone and communicating to players who are striving to be a part of the programme.

“It’s crucial that those aspiring to be part of the programme have an appreciation of what it takes from a standard point of view.

“Zeiko has been a key piece to the national team programme for many years.

“His experience, leadership and influence on the group is an important component to our programme. Going into games that we have in a number of weeks, it’s important to have this type of experience.

“We know that Zeiko is moving into a period of his life and career that is transitional. He continues to be able to contribute on and off the field, and we’re happy to have him.”

Lewis is eager to contribute to the competitiveness of the league and reintroduce some heated rivalries into the Premier Division.

“My goal is to make the league more competitive,” he said.

“I don’t want players filtering to one club and I would like to see us get back to when we used to have all those rivalries back in the day.

“I want it to be just like how people have Eastern and Western Counties in cricket, where you’re coming to support your team and each game is competitive, as opposed to two teams dominating the league.

“People are playing for communities that they grew up in, versus just playing for who they think is going to be the best team.”

Reflecting on the match against PHC in which he mainly featured in a defensive midfield role, Lewis feels that his younger team-mates can pick up valuable lessons.

“It was more of a learning curve for some of the players,” Lewis said.

“I think it’s going to be a bit of growth that happened for a lot of them. They will learn and take a lot from the game and what we need to work on.

“But at the end of the day, as long as we’re growing and making steps in the right direction, that’s all that matters.

“We can’t just focus on the wins and losses. The season’s just started; it’s going to be a long season and a good amount of games to be played.”

Lewis has not ruled out an overseas return in future, but the father of two has certain considerations to make before taking up future offers.

“There’s still the possibility that I can go back abroad,” he added. “It’s just a case of making sure it’s right for my family, I’m happy and also what I’m being offered.

“My family always come first. They’ve made sacrifices for me and I’m greatly appreciative of what they’ve done for my career because if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have gone as far as I have.”