Ray Jones was all smiles after receiving the Bermuda Football Coaches Association’s Most Outstanding Coach of the Year award.

The long-serving Devonshire Colts coach was unanimously recognised for his tactical achievements and respect for the spirit of the game, with the award presented to him at a ceremony held at the Clyde Best Centre of Excellence.

“First of all I want to thank the BFCA for this award, it’s definitely well appreciated,” Jones said. “I want to also thank the people that went through the voting process and to actually hear the criteria.

“It’s been a long journey. Just for the people that don’t know, it’s been over 35 years coaching at senior level and I wouldn’t say that I am the same coach today as I was yesterday.

“I think that just comes with maturity and exposure, and I want to thank the BFA because I was allowed to be involved in the academy programme and the national team.”

Colts exceeded the expectations of many under Jones’s stewardship in their first season back in the Premier Division after finishing sixth and reaching the semi-finals of the Dudley Eve Trophy competition.

“Ray Jones crowned an extraordinary two-year journey by steering Devonshire Colts through their first Premier Division campaign since promotion and immediately making them a factor in the title race,” Dennis Brown, the BFCA president, said.

“Jones’s men arrived in the big league on the back of a 16-0-0 First Division season and the island’s first perfect league run in living memory. By early January they had climbed to third place, only three points off the summit, and remained fiercely competitive despite the step up in quality.

“Congratulations to coach Jones on being named the BFCA Most Outstanding Coach for the 2024-25 season, proof that fearless football and first-class character can go hand in hand at the Premier Division level.”

Also recognised during the ceremony was Rude Girls coach and Bermuda Football Association administrator Vance Brown for his contributions to women’s football on the island.

“I am humbled by this award,” Brown said. “I am not in this for accolades but I am humbled to be recognised for my services to women’s football.

“I actually got into women’s football by mistake. Someone was coaching a team and invited me to their training session and never showed up. Then I was stuck and here I am 20-plus years later still coaching women’s football, so I am humbled by receiving this award.

“It’s just been an evolution and a lot of people don’t know that the first season I coached Rude Girls they came last in the league. I said ‘hey, I am from Somerset and used to winning’, so we put a programme together and were successful. We ended up winning the ‘Triple Crown’ three years in a row, and it’s just been building on success.”

The certified Uefa B licence coach has dedicated numerous years to promoting women’s football on the island and in 2018 was nominated for the Concacaf Women’s Coach of the Year award.

“Through 15-plus years of tireless coaching, mentoring and advocacy, Vance Brown has laid the foundation upon which today’s thriving women’s football scene firmly rests,” said BFCA president Dennis Brown.

“Bermuda’s present and future generations of female players owe much to his vision and dedication.

“Congratulations Vance for many years of dedication, not just to women’s football, but football in general. Vance is a champion of women’s football and is also my nephew, so he has football in his blood.”