There was excitement at the Clyde Best Centre of Excellence on Saturday morning as Premier League icons John Barnes and Andy Cole unveiled a Peace Bench.

Cole and Barnes, who were in Bermuda for the Don’t Cut Your Future Short Bermuda Football Association U13 Invitational last week, revealed a plaque on the bench with a famous quote from American writer Alice Walker: ‘Peace comes wherever it is sincerely invited’.

The bench has been installed to commemorate and promote the enduring values of peace, dialogue, respect and community cohesion.

Barnes, who had a mural celebrating his Liverpool legacy unveiled in 2023, felt it was time for Cole to be honoured in a similar way.

“Why I feel bad is because that’s 2-1 to me, because I know there’s a John Barnes mural,” Barnes said.

“But now that we have the Andy Cole and John Barnes bench, what we need just to even it up for Manchester United is an Andy Cole statue.”

It is the third time the Liverpool legend, who was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, before moving to London, has been to Bermuda. He recalls visiting the island as a 12-year-old and last year witnessed the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifier between the Gombey Warriors and the Reggae Boyz at Flora Duffy Stadium.

“It’s great supporting an initiative like this, because we know how important football is in terms of making a difference in children’s lives, in terms of highlighting the problems,” Barnes told The Royal Gazette.

“Of course we have multiagency co-operation between football and lots of different organisations because that’s what it needs. Football can’t do it by itself, but what it can do is highlight the problem, which is why we're here.”

Barnes emphasised that the two football superstars on island were not on a scouting mission as some of the players were new to the sport.

“We weren’t here watching the talent, these are just young players,” the 62-year-old said.

“Some of them couldn’t play football, some of them could play football. We weren’t here with the Bermudian under-15 team, who are very talented as I’ve seen.

“These were just children around the area who came to enjoy some football and some messages. We weren’t here to scout for Liverpool and Manchester United because this wasn’t an elite football programme.

“It’s a footballing programme to support the situation as we have here, but they love the game and there were some good footballers.”

Cole did not speak as he was eager to get back to his round of golf at Ocean View Golf Course. Also taking part in the initiative was former Bermuda coach Kyle Lightbourne, who played against Barnes and Cole during his time at Coventry City.

Jason Hayward, the Minister of Economy and Labour, was also in attendance and highlighted the value of sport in bringing people together.

“Being a young boy who grew up in sport, I know the importance of sport to our community,” he said.

“We live in a community that is fractured and, at times, sport is what actually unites us.

“Some persons can travel to the other end of the island, engage with other persons, build relationships and friendships with like-minded people.”

Polaris Holding chief executive Randy Rochester, whose company sponsored the peace bench, noted it was its way of giving back to the community.

“Polaris Holding has a number of companies under it and one of them is Ornamental Concrete Products,” he said.

“We were asked to donate a bench, so we had our supervisor pull this bench together and installed it here. That’s our way of giving back to the community and we were more than pleased to actually offer this bench as our thank you.

“Schoolchildren pass by this area frequently. Our hope is that they come across here and see this bench, take time to read it and they’re reminded each day if they’re having a hard time.”

Several local footballers, including Domico Coddington, are employed by one of the subsidiaries of Polaris, which plays a critical role in driving the island’s economy.

“We have a number of players that work for one of our companies, Stevedoring Services Ltd, that played or are still playing Premier Division football in Bermuda,” Rochester said.

“They came out to take part in the video footage a couple of weeks ago to inspire the young children, letting them know that they were heroes on the football field and now they’re heroes in Bermuda by keeping the economy going.

“These are the same guys that were once heroes in the football field are now bringing all the goods in on the docks and manage everything. So if the docks come to a grinding halt, then the island comes to a grinding halt and these are the ones that keep the island going.”

Bermuda Football Association youth committee chairman Jibri Smith was pleased to have the bench located at their headquarters.

“We are proud to have the peace bench,” he said.

“It’s always important for our young people in our community to understand the role that our legends play, both locally and internationally.

“Hopefully they can be inspired by the work done by Andy Cole and John Barnes have done in football and progress through the ranks, both domestically through youth football within the Fifa Talent Academy Bermuda as well as on the international scene if they are so fortunate to do so.”

On Friday night, some of the youth clubs came out in full support of the skills and drills event at North Field, National Sports Centre.

“We had the skills and drills tournament put on by Tammy Richardson-Augustus,” Smith said.

“She had various stakeholders and that was an excellent tournament. Our technical development director, Maurice Lowe, organised some of our Fifa Talent Academy Bermuda coaches.

“All our teams were represented and it was a beautiful sight to see everyone come together and be outside of the regular club environment and mingle with everyone.”

Richardson-Augustus, one of the DCYFS organisers, was delighted that the island’s young talent got to meet Cole and Barnes.

“I’m really delighted that we have our young people walking with legends this weekend, understanding what preparation, character and thought work can bring,” she said.

“We thought this was a fitting tribute as a lasting reminder of this visit and of the need for community and togetherness. So we thank the legends for coming.

“It is also the start of Police Week, so we’re delighted that we have Arthur Glasford, from the Bermuda Police Service, with us to support us in this initiative and we’re really delighted.”

Barnes and Cole had a packed schedule from the moment they arrived on Thursday, when they were given a true Bermudian welcome at LF Wade International Airport.

“We were really delighted to partner with a number of organisations in bringing this to fruition,” Richardson-Augustus added.

“We had a tremendous welcome at the airport with the H&H Gombeys. The following day, we went to Whitney Institute Middle School where Principal Swan had a phenomenal turnout.

“We had the band, a number of their footballers and they interviewed the legends. We followed that by a sponsored Q&A, before we went to Dellwood Middle School.

“Our signature event was on Friday night. We had a unique format, six stations, four of them were football stations, two of them were character building and profile building stations.

“We worked with a number of individuals from across real estate, insurance, media and human resources.

“It was a tremendous evening and reached about 75 people. Between the two schools over a hundred children, so in total we probably reached 200 children.

“On Saturday, we had a phenomenal event with Better Days, a collaboration which saw our legends meet and greet the golfers before tee time. We had Andy Cole joining the team of Kyle Lightbourne for a wonderful day of golf.

“Better Days are a young group of talented Bermudians who believe in community upliftment and giving back, so it was natural for us to partner with them.”