HAS a sense of national Bermudian identity been awakened as a result of the Bermuda national football squad's heroic efforts to qualify for the World Cup? We have seen this type of reaction before, when the whole country has grown excited and giddy as a result of some international sporting triumph.

Who, after all, can forget the feverish excitement surrounding the efforts of our national cricket team when they were recently on the international stage?

But the problem is that such national fervour is often short-lived and our international sports people often come in for bitter criticism when they fail.

It has always been my belief that Bermuda and Bermudians have a certain level of nationalism despite the great efforts made to have us believe that we cannot exist as a nation in our own right.

But those who do not want to see Bermuda become an Independent nation often strike at the very heart of what gives a people an awareness of their capabilities, their self-reliance and their will to succeed.

What I am talking about is our confidence in ourselves; a God-given ability that every human being has as a natural birthright. And this confidence is undermined every time it is stated that Bermudians need outside help to succeed.

I look around this world and I don't see any other people or nation who voice such sentiments. Who else says that they cannot succeed or solve their own problems, no matter how great those problems may be?

I often point to the following example when I am making pro-nationhood arguments. I often invoke the tragedy that befell the peoples who suffered the calamitous tidal wave that struck the nations of the South East Pacific and the Indian Ocean on New Year's Day, 2004.

Yes, the whole world rallied to their aid in an international disaster relief effort of unparalleled scale.

But when this story faded from the news to be replaced by news of fresh disasters and outrages, these people then had to rebuild their lives, their families, their communities and their nations. And the only thing they had to rely, no matter how much aid they received from the international community, was their sense of self, their birthright, which gave them the confidence to carry on.

I have touched on a fascinating aspect of our shared Bermudian past before and I will do so again now. In the 18th century, when we were half-slave and-half free, Bermudians had more confidence in themselves, in their ability to succeed and exist in our own right, than is the case now. Bermuda had failed as a plantation economy and indeed would not develop a thriving agricultural sector until the 19th century.

So, in order to secure a livelihood for this remote little island Bermudians had to be inventive and bold. Consequently they turned to the sea.

Back in those days, there existed what historians now call the "Atlantic economy" which was centred on ships and trade and Bermuda was a participant in this economy in its own right.

Bermuda built its own fleets of fast, long-range ships, ships that were built by blacks and whites and manned by blacks and whites Bermudians. Yes, the blacks involved in this venture were slaves, among them my ancestors (see sidebar below on Bermuda's seafaring slaves by historian Michael Jarvis)

But I have longsince learned to view the past in its proper historical context and to take the kind of dispassionate overview that allows me to draw lessons from the past, lessons that will hopefully provide us with the strength we need to build for the future.

And the chief lesson to be drawn from that period is the fact Bermudians demonstrated initiatifve and independence when it came to determining their collective fate.

You could not have told the Bermudian of that day, that they needed outside help to succeed. The Bermudians of that day did not behave like residents of a colony, waiting for the Mother Country to rescue them from hardship and economic adversity.

No, when the need was there they made decisions and acted in Bermuda's best interests. How else can you explain their audacious decision to help the rebellious American colonists steal the British gunpowder stored in Bermuda during the American Revolution? The Americans were at war with Britain, Bermudians were not. But the locals knew, given Bermuda's close proximity to America and the island's dependence on trade with American markets, that they would have to take such a calculated risk in order to ensure ongoing good relations with our neighbour to the West.

It might seems that I have strayed far from the performance of Bermuda's national Football team and the subject of national pride. But that is not the case. Because this brief history lesson demonstrates that in the past a strongly developed sense of national pride was a determining factor in Bermuda's very survival as a community.

I began this Commentary by posing the question: "Has a sense of national identity been awakened?"

To that, I could also add this follow-up question: "Is there anything different about our recent football victory over Trinidad & Tobago? What distinguishes it from the many other sporting events where we have glimpsed budding pride in our shared Bermudian national identity?" I

I believe that there is a difference this time, a significant one. And also an ironic one. For I believe the tremendous displays of Bermudian pride we witnessed when our national football team upset Trinidad & Tobago were inspired, at least in part, by another people's sense of national identity and pride. What I am talking about are the demonstrations of Portuguese nationalism that have taken place here as a result of that country's success in the Euro football challenge, all of the celebrations and flag-waving that have been going on in Bermudian faces.

And this itself speaks to another irony. For there was a time that Bermuda's Portuguese community made great efforts to insist they were a part of the Bermudian society, to the point that some were even prepared to deny their Portuguese ancestry and culture and become what I call Anglicised Portuguese-Bermudian. Something has happened between than and now which has prompted a kind of cultural reappraisal on their part. Today they seem to be asking themselves the questions: "Which is more important, a Portuguese identity or a Bermudian identity?"

In any event, all of those foreign flags flying in Bermuda during the European Cup have prompted a Bermudian reaction, a heightened desire to establish the Bermuda national identity.

No wonder we were waving Bermuda's own flag so fervently during the games against Trinidad & Tobago.

While we did not prevail in the last leg of the clash with that Caribbean country, with them beating us two goals to nil, we should not forget the nationalist feelings that were exposed during these games, feelings that clearly lie just below the surface of the Bermudian psyche.

Personally, I don't believe those feelings will ever be completely covered up again.