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Bermuda's sports

Soccer and cricket are most popular. Water sports are shown separately

By Keith Archibald Forbes (see About Us) exclusively for Bermuda Online

To refer to this file in your e-mail, use "bermuda-online.org/sports" as your Subject.

This is a basic file. As Bermuda is only 21 square miles in total land area, it  seems appropriate to exclude all Water Sports in this file. Unlike in Britain, there are no leisure centers, only the organizations shown below.

Bermuda Sports Organizations

Bermuda Amateur Softball Association. P O Box HM 1528, Hamilton HM FX

Bermuda Amateur Swimming Association. Suite 1407, 48 Par la Ville Road, Hamilton HM 11.

Bermuda Badminton Association. P O Box DV 730, Devonshire DV BX. 

Bermuda Ball Hockey Association (BBHA). 

Bermuda Basketball Association. P O Box HM 2346, Hamilton HM JX.

Bermuda Bodybuilding Federation. P O Box HM 2131, Hamilton HM JX. 

Bermuda Amateur Boxing Association. P.O. Box HM 1611, Hamilton HM BX.

Bermuda Bicycle Association. P O Box DV 192, Devonshire DV BX.

Bermuda Bobsled, Skeleton and Luge Association. Turtle Cove, 33 Church Bay, Southampton SN 01.

Bermuda Bowling Club. Warwick Lanes, P. O. Box WK 128, Warwick WK BX, Bermuda, at telephone (441) 236-5290.

Bermuda Bowling Federation. P O Box HM 2626, Hamilton HM KX.

Bermuda Cricket Board, 48 Cedar Avenue, Hamilton HM 11, phone 292- 8958, fax 292-8959, or P. O. Box HM 992, Hamilton HM DX.

Bermuda End-to-End Charitable Trust.

Bermuda Equestrian Federation. P O Box DV 583, Devonshire DV BX. 

Bermuda Football Association. P O Box HM 745, Hamilton HM CX. Phone 295-2199 or by airmail at Cedarpark, 48 Cedar Avenue, Hamilton HM 11, or P. O. Box HM 745, Hamilton HM CX, Bermuda. Fax (441) 295-0773. Voicemail (441) 291-0690. Bermuda Registered Charity 331.

Bermuda Gymnastics Association. P O Box FL 293, Flatts FL BX. 

Bermuda Hockey Federation. P O Box HM 2885, Hamilton HM LX. For Field Hockey, not ice hockey.

Bermuda Karate Institute. 

Bermuda Karting Club. Call 234-2473 or 235-0803 or 236-8788 or fax 236-0505.

Bermuda Lacrosse Association.

Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association. 2 Marsh Folly Road, Pembroke HM 13. P O Box HM 341, Hamilton HM BX. 

Bermuda Netball Association. P O Box HM 1416, Hamilton HM FX.

Bermuda Olympic Association, Suite 405, International Centre, 26 Bermudiana Road, Hamilton HM 11. Registered Charity 047. 

Bermuda Paralympic Association. Jeni Southern, Secretary, phone 238-1741 or Ann Lindroth 535 2832. 

Bermuda Roller Hockey League (BRHL).  Phone 236-9710 or fax 232-0699. 

Bermuda Rowing Association. Suite 532, 12 Church Street, Hamilton HM 12.

Bermuda Rugby Football Union. P O Box HM 1909, Hamilton HM HX. 

Bermuda Sailing Association. P O Box HM 1418, Hamilton HM FX. 

Bermuda Squash Racquets Association. P O Box HM 176, Hamilton HM AX. Phone 292-6881, fax 295-8718, has own Bermuda Squash Racquets Club at 11 Middle Road,  Devonshire DV 06, just east of the Montessori Academy. It is open to the public from 10 am to 10 pm on weekdays and 10 am to 4 pm on weekends, but open 24 hours a day 7 days a week to members. It welcomes new members and charges an annual fee, plus an initiation fee. It has coaches, at additional cost and a Junior Program. Registered charity 549. 

Bermuda Table Tennis Association. P O Box HM 1636, Hamilton HM GX.

Bermuda Tae Kwon Do Association. P O Box HM 2467, Hamilton HM JX. 

Bermuda Target Shooting Association. P O Box HM 584, Hamilton HM CX. 

Bermuda Track & Field Association. P O Box HM 2156, Hamilton HM JX. 

Bermuda Triathlon Association. Suite 547, 48 Par La Ville Road, Hamilton HM 11.

Bermuda Volleyball Association. Suite 885, 48 Par La Ville Road, Hamilton HM 11.

Bermuda Winter Ski Association. 101 Front Street, Hamilton HM 12.

Bermuda Youth Sports Program (BYSP). 

Commercial Bowling League. 

Gaelic Football League, planned since October 2006, began in June 2007.

Mid Atlantic Athletic Club, P. O. Box HM 1745, Hamilton HM GX. Founded 1977.

Moresby Squash Club, Dockyard. Call 234-5794. Newcomers are welcome, from beginner to expert. It too welcomes new members and charges an annual fee, plus an initiation fee.

Queen's Club.

St. David's Cricket Club.

St. George's Cricket Club. 

Somerset Cricket Club. 

Warwick Workmen's Club.

Links to the websites of the organizations concerned and their email addresses, will be shown gladly once they reciprocate the link.

Sports centres and facilities

These include

• BAA Field.
• Bernard Park.
• Bermuda National Stadium.
• Bermuda Squash Racquets Club.
• Government Tennis Stadium.
• Kindley Community Playing Field & Tennis Courts.
• Lord's Oval, St. David's.
• National Equestrian Centre.
• National Stadium.
• Old Colony Club.
• PHC Stadium.
• Seabreeze Oval, Bailey's Bay.
• St. George's Cricket Club.
• St. George's Dinghy Club.
• St. John's Road Playing Field.
• Spicelands Riding Center.
• Southside Family Bowl.
• Warwick Lanes. 20 lanes.
• Windreach Recreational Village and Riding for the Disabled.

Archery

There is a Bermuda Archery group. It represented Bermuda at the 2003 Island Games in Guernsey.

Athletics

Bermuda enters the CAC, Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA Games) - although 900+ miles north of the Caribbean, it has always sent a strong contingent and won medals. It hosted them in 2004. It also enters the Island Games, Olympic Games and other athletic events. Bermuda has its own Olympic Games entrants. W. F. Chummy Hayward was a superb organizer and an inspiration to generations of Bermuda's athletes.

Badminton

Ball hockey

The game is similar to ice hockey in play and rules but on a hard surface instead of ice and with a hockey ball instead of a puck. The teams are mostly Canadians. In 2005 they won the Caribbean Championships for two years in a row, against Barbados, Turks and Caicos and Grand Cayman. They were 9th in the last Worlds in 2003.

Baseball

Once, baseball was a game played locally only by members of the US Armed Forces stationed in Bermuda and their children. Bermudians and other residents are heavily into the game. Currently, there are 35 teams and more than 600 players. Officials credit the popularity now of baseball in Bermuda to the fact that American television is predominant in Bermuda, American sports have a wider global appeal, and also minor league baseball is family oriented, easy to learn and easy to play. 

Basketball

Visiting teams are always welcome. There are several venues for games. 

Bermuda End-to-End

Since 1989, an annual walking race from one end of Bermuda to the other, the island's largest charity event.  It raises more than $250,000 each year for various local charities. More than 2,000 individual participants walk, cycle or otherwise enroll in the 24.1 miles from St. George's to Dockyard and raise money for various charities. 

Bermuda Marathon Weekend

January every year

For a local and international sporting spectacular organized by the Bermuda Track and Field Association, above.  

Events include:

• Bermuda International Marathon, Men & Women.
• Bermuda International Half Marathon, Men & Women.
• Bermuda International 10K, Men & Women.
• 10K Charity Walk.
• KPMG Bermuda International Invitational Mile. There are several races, subdivided into under 12, female; under 18, male; under 18, female; adult female and adult male. There are numerous contenders from overseas. Full race results and details of the winners are posted in The Royal Gazette daily newspaper on the days after each event.
• New additional running event – Bermuda Triangle Challenge – run 3 events in 3 days.

Billiards

There are several clubs.

Bowling

Bermuda has many 10-pin bowling enthusiasts and several bowling leagues and lanes. Some of Bermuda's bowling enthusiasts participate in international events. Two won the Silver Medals in Commonwealth Games. 

Boxing

•  In Women's Boxing, Bermuda's Teresa Perozzi is the North American Boxing Council welterweight world champion. 
• In men's boxing, Troy Darrell was once the former #3 middleweight in the world. Clarence Hill was once an Olympic bronze medallist. There are several gyms.  Events competed for include the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and Pan American Games.

CARIFTA Games

Bermuda will be hosting these, in 2012.

Commonwealth Games

Every four years. Bermuda won a Gold Medal in one year. 

The 2014 Games will be held in Glasgow, Scotland.

For the 2010 Games, held in India, competitors were Kiera Aitken, Roy-Allan Burch, Tyrone Smith, Nick Thomson, Tre Houston, Gavin Manders, David Thomas, Tara Lambert, Jacklyn Lambert, Nick Kyme, Ross Roberts, Sinclair Raynor, Carl Reid and Nelson Simons.

Those who qualified for the 2006 Games include the following Bermudians:

Athletics: Latroya Darrell (high jump); Ashley Couper (1500m), Arantxa King (long jump), Zindzi Swan (high jump).
Cycling: Geri Mewett (male road race), Julia Hawley (female road race), Lynn Patchett (female road race), Tyler Butterfield (male road race).
Gymnastics: Kalena Astwood, Caitlin Mello, Kaisey Griffith, Casey Lopes, Hannah King.
Squash: Nick Kyme, James Stout.
Swimming: Keira Aitken, 50m backstroke, 100m backstroke, Michael O'Connor, 50m fly, Ronald Cowen, 200m fly, 50m fly, Graham Smith, 200m individual medley.
Target Shooting: Nelson Simons, Walter Trott, Sinclair Raynor, Ross Roberts.
Triathlon: Evan Naude, Jieme Brown.

Cricket

A British game that originated in England centuries ago, not unique to Bermuda. It originated as a sport of the British Royal Family, possibly with King Edward II in the year 1300. By 1550, the business of the Dukes of Penhurst included making cricket balls. The earliest surviving bat and ball date back to 1729, with the word cricket appearing in an Italian-English dictionary in 1595. Nowadays, the game is popular throughout the British Commonwealth of Nations. Perplexing to American visitors - 85% of all tourists to Bermuda -  who are used to a baseball or football game lasting no more than 3 hours. Most do not see why a match played for the whole of one day or two days or three days or five days (as is the case in Test matches) can result in a tame draw.

Cricket teams in either the regular or Commercial League include Centurions; Cleveland County; Devonshire Recreation Club; Devonshire Stars; Flatt's Victoria; Forties; Jamaican Association; Leg Trappers; North Village; PHC; Police Recreation Club; St. David's; St. George's Cricket Club; Somerset Bridge; Somerset Cricket Club; Warwick Workman's; Watford; West Indian Association;  Willow Cuts; and Young Men's Social Club. 

Its local season is from late April to late September. This sport was first brought to Bermuda in the 1840s by British Army soldiers stationed here. Long before cricket became the hugely popular sport it is today, a match played between the fleet team of the then- resident Royal Navy base and the British Army garrison regimental team was a major event in the social calendar of the Town of St. George. Black persons at the local dockyard, who had been taught the game, included it as part of their picnic activity. The Bermuda Cricket Club was founded in St. George's in 1845 and played its first game against the garrison.

1872. August 8.  Bermudians first celebrated their emancipation from slavery in a new way - by making a point of including the British game of cricket in their celebrations. The unique match was to commemorate the annual August "Emancipation" Carnival-like celebrations after Britain enacted in Bermuda and the rest of the-then British Empire its formal, official and final Abolition of Slavery Act on August 1, 1834. Was this inclusion of British cricket into their celebrations a belated acknowledgement to Britain which had ended slavery after the strenuous efforts of the British politician William Wilberforce had finally been successful after many years of trying? Or was it simply because Bermudians wanted to make cricket as much of a Bermudian sport as a British one? We may never know for sure. What is known is that this cricket match was the very first of its kind in Bermuda between a cricket "eleven" (the number of men in a cricket team) representing Alexandrina Lodge No. 1026 of Hamilton and a similar "eleven" from the Victoria and Albert Lodge No. 1027 of Somerset. It may also have been the first time in the cricketing world that non-white teams are recorded as having competed in what was, until then, a mostly-white if not wholly white British sport. If so, Bermuda is certainly due some long-belated cricketing and socio-economic credit. Both Masonic Lodges there and then had played a leading role in getting former slaves recognized as real men despite their darker complexions and in getting them jobs, self-worth and respect for them as individual contributors to the human race in their own distinctive ways, not as people to be looked down on racially. All black members of both teams were Masons, members of the Grand United Order of Oddfellows. The event took place at the Naval Cricket Ground in Somerset and was won by 43 runs by the Somerset side. Both sides played in fraternal friendly sporting rivalry, not in the win-at-any-cost way many cricket matches overseas are played today.

Local legend has it that when the local working class began en masse to take a day off to attend the game, Government declared the first day of the two-day cup match an official holiday. After the second day, Somers Day, was also designated as such,  the second day became an additional public holiday.

But among the cricket-loving nations and territories of the world, only in Bermuda does the whole of Bermuda grind to a complete halt for two days every summer to turn its attention to a cricket game. The festive game began officially in July 1902 between the Somerset Cricket Club in the west end and the St. George's Cricket Club in the east end. Venues of the game change yearly between both clubs. The popularity of the annual game was such that it caused continued absences from employment. As a direct result, the 2-day public holiday was first introduced in 1947 and has been in effect ever since. Since 1999, a celebration of emancipation is now part of the ritual of the first day of Cup Match, formally renamed Emancipation Day. For the 100th anniversary of Cup Match in August 2002, the local jewelry firm of Walker Christopher made cricket bat pendants or pins in 18 carat gold with sapphire and ruby gem stones. St. George's has a light sapphire and dark sapphire and Somerset has a ruby and dark sapphire. About 7, 000 attend the game on each day, broadcast by radio. Despite being referred to in history as the Father of Bermuda, Admiral Sir George Somers is nowadays almost completely ignored  on the second of the 2-day public holiday period, known in his honor as Somers Day.

Whichever team hosts the annual game accepts tenders for the gambling game of Crown and Anchor, one of the many "concessionary" events. It is also an occasion for off-beat mid-summer peculiarities that include awarding a winning batsman with tax-free cash; the wearing of outlandish fashions, much socializing, bands and musical groups participating, and  a carnival atmosphere complete with calypso, reggae, soca, rap and other music.

The official Bermuda team competes in the ICC Trophy against teams from Canada, Holland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates. Bermuda also competes in the World Cricket League. In April 2011 Bermuda were relegated to Division Three of the World Cricket League after losing to UAE in Dubai. Relegation means a loss of ICC High Performance status for Bermuda, and some $350,000-$400,000 worth of funding that goes with it. The result also puts the future of head coach David Moore, and Bermuda Cricket Board chief executive Neil Speight in some doubt, especially with the significant reduction in the sport's grant from the Bermuda Government.

Cricket is a major local sport for local youth. 

The Bermuda Cricket Annual is the complete local guide. In Sandys, the Western Counties Cricket Association is at telephone (441) 236-9000 ext. 4314. All its cricket games are at the spacious White Hill Field. 

There are four streets in Bermuda named in honor of cricket. One is Fielders Lane, in Smith's Parish. It is halfway up Flatt's Hill on the left, veering south from Middle Road. The track takes its name from the nearby playing field of Flatts Victoria Cricket Club. The other three are Bat 'n' Ball Lane, Cricket Lane, and Grandstand Lane, all in Sandys Parish. They diverge from Scott's Hill Road, near the Somerset Cricket Club.

Alma (Champ) Hunt (above) was the outstanding Bermuda cricketer of the 20th century and such a capable cricket administrator that he led Bermuda's triumphs in the ICC tournament he helped found in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was Champ Hunt who drove the idea home at the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) to have smaller countries such as Bermuda compete against each other for the right to qualify for the World Cup. He, plus Nigel (Chopper) Hazel, made the long journey across the Atlantic to Scotland north of the English border to contribute their talents to the game there. 

Later Cup Match legend Clarence (Tuppence) Parfitt followed in their footsteps. In 1977 he became the professional at the Arbroath Cricket Club in Arbroath, Scotland. In 1984 Parfitt returned for a period of five years. Again both his playing and coaching abilities brought success to the Club as they were able to bring the younger players through into the senior teams as they won the Scottish First division championship in four of the five years, being runners-up in 1987, and also winning the Three Counties Cup in 1985 and 1986 while the second eleven also won the Two Counties Cup in 1986. On 17^th April, 87 the cricket club celebrated the 100^th anniversary of the opening of its Lochside playing ground with Parfitt amongst the honored guests. By then Arbroath United, the club moved up to the Scottish Counties League (SCL) in 1989, playing under the name of Arbroath County. Parfitt moved to Stenhousemuir in the East league of the SCL but returned in 1992 and also played in 1993 as an amateur to provide experience to the young senior side. 

Other Bermuda cricket legends are Cal (Bunny) Symonds, Dennis Wainwright, Colin Blades, Albert Steede and brothers Sheridan and Lee Raynor and Dwayne Leverock. Sheridan Raynor was the first Bermudian batsman to score a century on the international stage

Cycling

Bicycles first arrived in the l9th century. Despite humid weather and steep hills, this is a popular sport. Bring your own or rent one locally, one of the best ways to explore the Bermuda Railway Trail. In competitive cycling, there are numerous local adherents and races. Visitors are always welcome. Several Bermudians are in demand overseas as professionals. One local cyclist, Kris Hedges, cycled for Bermuda at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Darts

There are several clubs.

Field Hockey

Often referred to, wrongly, in the USA as a "ladies game." This is the third most popular seasonal sport in Bermuda, with a Field Hockey Carnival and a number of teams playing each other competitively in two leagues. Once - but no longer - there was a Bermuda Men's National Team. In the Men's League, they include BCS Panthers, Chameleons, Police Polecats, Rebels, Upstarts and Wasps. In the Women's League, they include Bluebirds, Canaries, Cardinals, Orioles, Ravens, Swallows and Swifts. They also compete in the Central American & Caribbean Games. There is a governing Field Hockey is played at three schools. 

Football (American)

Bermudian linebacker for the New York Giants for their successful 2011 Super Bowl final was Antonio Pierce. He is the first Bermudian to play in the prestigious event and the second Bermudian behind Ralph (Rocky) Thompson to wear a Giants uniform.

Gaelic football

A game best described as a cross between soccer and rugby. It was introduced by Irish expatriates resident in Bermuda. The balls, slightly smaller and heavier than a footballs, have been imported from Ireland. Posts are H-shaped but with a soccer goal at the bottom defended by a goalkeeper. Smash the round ball past him and you get three points, punt it over the bar like a rugby conversion and you will get one point. The ball can be kicked around or thrown but not carried like rugby, unless the player drops the ball and kicks it back to himself on the run, a technique known as soloing. A runner can also bounce it.  

Golf

Gymnastics

Horseback riding

A popular Bermuda leisure sport. There are over 900 horses in Bermuda.  Visitors and locals of all levels of experience can ride horses from stables along bridle and other paths. On a horse, avoid the constantly busy, noisy and made dangerous to visitors by constant speeders on main North Shore Road and Middle Road and South Road nearby. See Transportation for Visitors. Horse back riding on certain beaches is seasonal, in winter months only - not in the summer when the great  majority of visitors come. Other places beyond the beaches have horse back riding all year. It's a leisurely way to enjoy Bermuda. For the curious, there are no race horse meetings in Bermuda but there is a well attended amateur harness racing track. A prominent Bermudian rider is M. J Tumbridge, who won Bermuda's first-ever gold medal at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada in 1999. 

Harness racing

There is no longer any horse racing in Bermuda of the type common in other countries. In the 19th century and until the mid 20th century, this was another popular sport and entertainment pursued eagerly by the British military, members of which had a near monopoly on the island's fastest riding horses. The St. George's Stakes were held on January 28, 1846 and featured 10 horses and riders racing in sprints and hurdles. There was a ball after the races. Racing was mostly at the Shelly Bay Race Track, now no longer in use. The only racing today is harness racing, by locals only, but visitors are welcome to watch, at the National Equestrian Center on Vesey Street in Devonshire Parish.

International Show Jumping

Local events are held regularly in Bermuda. And at international level, young local jumpers compete in the Children's International Show Jumping Competition at the National Equestrian Centre on Vesey Street.

Island Games

Bermuda will be the host in 2013. Most of the track and field and swimming events will take place at Bermuda's purpose-built National Sports Centre, photographed below, which by then will also include a 50 metre pool completed by the fall of 2012. 

The International Island Games Association (IGA) is the event's organizing body and comprises of 25 member countries. The 25 member islands of the IGA include: Aland, Alderney, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, Froya, Gibraltar, Gotland, Greenland, Guernsey, Hitra, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Jersey, Minorca (first appearance in 2007), Orkney, Prince Edward Island, Rhodes, Saaremaa, Sark, Shetland, St. Helena, Western Isles, and Ynys Mon (in English, Anglesey) in Wales. The Bermuda Island Games Association (BIGA)  was founded in 2001. The NatWest Island Games provide an opportunity for athletes from island communities with a population of less than 125,000 to compete at international level. They are now an established biennial international multi-sport event. 

• Having been born on that Member Island. (A competitor may be considered to have been born on a Member Island if the mother was normally resident on that island immediately prior to the birth and returned to the island soon after).

• Having been resident on that Member Island for the period of twelve consecutive months prior to the date of the Opening Ceremony of the Games in which it is intended to participate.

• Around 77 percent of Bermuda's 2007 squad are Bermudian. 

2011 Island Games Results

See http://www.natwestiowresults2011.com/ . From 2011 Island Games site Isle of Wight, England.

Also see

http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20110702/SPORT/707029964/-1/sport 

2009 Island Games results

The 2009 Island Games were in Aland – an autonomous, Swedish region within Finland that comprises more than 6,500 islands, of which 65 are inhabited and has a population of approximately 27,000 people.

2009 competitors from Bermuda: http://www.alandresults2009.com/competitor.aspx?Type=COMP&Name=&IslandID=3&SportID=0 

Bermuda's contingent numbered 100. 

2007 Island Games

Held in Rhodes, Greece. Bermuda sent  250 athletes. The event, from June 30, had over 5,000 athletes from 25 Islands taking part.

  Athletes competing in archery, athletics, basketball, cycling, football, golf, sailing, swimming, tennis, triathlon and volleyball represented Bermuda in 2007, as follows:

Karate

Karting

For young racers of miniature cars. 

Lacrosse

Marathon

The Bermuda Marathon Derby, run on May 24 annually, rain or shine, is a classic. The two organizers are Berwyn Cann, a former sprinter and athletics coach, and Richard Tucker. There are many local marathon and half marathon races. Also, many Bermudians and residents habitually enter marathon races in other parts of the world, such as the Boston Marathon.

National Sports Centre and National Stadium

Frog Lane, Devonshire Parish. The Bermuda Government funded entity for track and field and many prominent sports. See photos, plans, work done to-date and more under National Sports Centre at http://www.bermuda-online.org/seedevon.htm 

Netball

An American game very popular in Bermuda. Winter, Summer and Junior Leagues. All games are played at in Bernard Park, in Pembroke Parish, near the City of Hamilton.

Olympics and Winter Olympics

Bermuda always sends a delegation, including to the 2012 Olympics in London, the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the 2008 Olympics at Beijing. 

Bermuda in 2010 Winter Olympics, Vancouver

Pan American Games

Next is 2015 games in Toronto, Canada. Last held in Guadalajara, Mexico in 2011 and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2007. A multi-sport event between competitors from all nations in the Americas, held every four years in the year before the summer Olympic Games. 

Paralympic Games

Next are in London, 2012, following the Olympic Games. Bermuda participates in these, with a limited number of participants in pre-selected sports drawn from Bermuda's physically and/or learning impaired community. 

Roller Hockey 

Rugby

This British game popular in Bermuda was originally played by members of British Army regiments present until the mid 1950's, and then spread to the civilian sector. There are two types of Rugby - league rugby - for professional players, with this type of rugby originally from the Midlands and north of England - and rugby union for the amateur teams. Only rugby union is played in Bermuda. 

Unlike in American football, rugby teams don't wear helmets or padding Teams include Mariners, the always-exceptional Bermuda Police Rugby Football Club, Renegades and Teachers. From October to April is the season. 

International rugby began in Bermuda 1973 as The Easter Classic and continued as such until 1989, mostly as an Irish Select versus a Bermuda Select on St. Patrick's Day every year. Its finale was always on Easter Sunday at the former National Sports Club in Bermuda, which became such a popular event until Easter began to have a much more crowded overseas sports calendar. Famous rugby players induced to come included Gareth Edwards, Fergus Slattery, Tom Kieran, Rob Andrew and Clive Woodward. In 1989, to keep the friendships developed in Easter Classic Days, it was decided to begin the annual Bermuda-based World Rugby Classic.  The annual Classic is held every November when teams from Argentina, Bermuda, Canada, France, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, United Kingdom and USA compete.

Soccer

Football in the UK.

The senior men national coach has a UEFA B License or USSF B License or equivalent. There is a National Football coach.

Soccer - for both men and women - was invented in Scotland at least as far back as 1540. The women's version was recorded in Scotland in an all-woman league in 1795 but was not played in England until about 1820. The sport was introduced to Bermuda by the British Army in Victorian times and was originally played locally purely between competing British Regiments and the local facilities - now also gone - of the Riyal Navy. It spread outward and is now a Bermuda national sport. 

Bermuda made the third biggest leap of any country in FIFA’s/Coca-Cola World Rankings in October 2006. Following a successful Digicel Cup first round qualifying campaign in the US Virgin Islands in September, the Island’s national soccer team climbed 41 places from 163rd into a two-way tie for 122nd with Surinam.

Bermudian Clyde Best once played as a striker for the Somerset Trojans, the English team of West Ham United in London, Ajax and Feyenoord Dutch team. He was Bermuda's technical director of soccer until December 1999. Randy Horton, now the Hon. Randy Horton, JP, MP, Minister without Portfolio, played for the New York Cosmos in the USA Indoor Soccer League. David Bascome plays professionally as a mid-fielder for a USA team. Shaun Goater played professionally as a striker for the English Premier League team of Manchester City (It was in the First Division until April 2002) until he officially left the club in June 2003. He returned to Bermuda to lead and coach the Shaun Goater Grassroots Soccer Festival in June 2003. In mid-2003, he joined Reading in the English First Division and in mid 2005 signed for Southend United. He played his last game for them in May 2006, on retirement from UK football. Kyle Lightbourne used to play professionally for Stoke City, then for English Third Division Macclesfield Town until April 2003. Bascome and Goater operate the Bascome/Goater Pro Soccer Clinic at various times when they are in Bermuda. At college level, John Barry Nusum dominated US soccer and now plays professionally in the USA and Ranieka Bean was one of the top five players in women's soccer at Howard University.

Other noted players of the past include Ewing Tucker; 'Scratchie' Lawrence; Raymond Russell; Glen Gilbert; Quinton (Bully) Williams; Bert Bascome; Earl (Townsey) Russell; 'King' Trott; John Beavers Burrows; and Leon Wainwright.

Since April 20, 2007 there has been a Bermuda Hogges professional football outfit, playing in Bermuda and the USA. Stephen Astwood and Damon Ming were confirmed as the Hogges’ two franchise players, while former English pros and team co-owners Shaun Goater and Kyle Lightbourne were was also included among a squad of 22 players. The non-playing co-owner is Paul Scope. The full squad is as follows: Timmy Figureido, Jason Williams, Darius Cox, Robert Wilson, Jelani Scott, Dennis Zuill, Jared Peniston, Damon Ming, Omar Shakir, Stephen Astwood, Shaki Crockwell, Lashun Dill, Ralph Bean Jr, Devaughn DeGraff, Raymond Beach, Kwame Steede (captain), Michael Parsons, Domico Coddington, Shaun Goater, Kyle Lightbourne, Seion Darrell, Clevon Hill. The team is in the USA's United Soccer League (USL) Division Two.

Shell Youth Soccer League

The three divisions are Under 11; Under 13; Under 18. All are active.

Soccer referees

Snooker

There is an active league, with Old Colony Club, St. George's Dinghy Club, Spanish Point Boat Club, Queen's Club, Warwick Workmen's Club and Watford Sports Club among the participants.

Softball

A popular game, like baseball but with underarm pitching. Divisions include Central, East, North and South and West. There are about 38 teams in total.

Squash

The British game, more correctly called squash rackets. Similar to US racquetball  - played in Bermuda but on squash, not racquetball - on courts - and played with a different-size ball. Bermuda, with year round squash fanatics, hosts some international events. The Bermuda Open has attracted some of the best-known names in squash and international tournaments are now held periodically in Bermuda, including the Endurance World Open squash tournament held at the Fairmont Southampton Hotel in 2007. Former squash world champion James Stout, the New York Racquet and Tennis Club professional, is a Bermuda resident. Some leading private sector employers also have squash courts, for their employees only; for use only before or after working hours or during lunch hours, and by appointment in advance.

Swimming

Bermuda is well-represented. There are no professional swimming teams. All amateur swimming events. Swimming pool at Canal Road, Pembroke and a White's Island Aquatic Program.

Table tennis

An established sport locally.

Tennis

A racket (racquet in USA) sport. Tennis was a pastime of British Admirals and Governors, their wives and their guests long before it became much more popular. The island's earliest private tennis courts were at Admiralty House, Spanish Point, home and command center of the resident Royal Navy Admiral, and Government House, residence of Bermuda's Governors. Unlike cricket and soccer, tennis was not introduced to Bermuda as a popular sport via the British military apparatus. It was the pastime of its colonial administration. Thus was tennis was exported from Britain via Bermuda to the USA. A Bermudian merchant who visited England in 1871 indirectly pioneered tennis as a popular local sport. Thomas Middleton was impressed by what he saw in England of the game of lawn tennis as a development of a much older game. He acquired in England a set of the equipment with every intention of having his wife play it, to keep her amused and physically active. Then he changed his mind and donated the equipment to his friend, Sir Brownlow Gray. He built Bermuda's first home based private tennis court in the grounds of his manor home in Paget Parish, Claremont, overlooking Hamilton Harbor. His daughter Mary was once Bermuda's first female tennis champion and made it popular locally. However, it was Mary Outerbridge who liked the sport so much in Bermuda that she took her equipment to the USA and managed to persuade the Staten Island Cricket Club to build a court on its grounds.

From there, tennis spread throughout the USA, eventually as a national sport. Davis Cup tennis was established beyond Bermuda for nearly a century before there was any Davis Cup Competition in Bermuda. Top local players battle with the Caribbean or Central America. Tennis is year round on more than 100 public and private courts, some for nights. International invitational tennis events are often in Bermuda.

Australian Pat Rafter, a former champion, has a home in Bermuda.

W. E. R Joell Tennis Stadium

The only public facility. Cedar Avenue and Marsh Folly Road, Pembroke Parish. Phone 292-0105. Government-owned and known as the Government Tennis Stadium until July 2003. Then it was renamed for the late Bermudian who pioneered the integration of blacks on this tennis stadium's courts. His daughters, Eileen Simmons, Rosemary Cann and Joyce Hayden were present at the ceremony conducted by then-Premier Jennifer Smith. In 1953, his tennis lessons attracted many children and produced two champions, Shirley Davis and Arnold Todd. In 1957, when the Social Welfare Board turned down his request for funds to pay for overseas coaches to come to Bermuda to teach tennis, Mr. Joell organized the Bermuda Tennis Development Fund. As a result, several overseas coaches came and Mr. Joell opened up his own home on Brunswick Street in the City of Hamilton to accommodate them. He was an Associate Member of The Professional Lawn Tennis Association of the USA and the Field Secretary of the American Tennis Association. He helped organize several local clubs including the Castle Harbour Hotel Tennis Club, King Edward VII Memorial Hospital Club, Unity Tennis Club and Salvation Army Tennis Club.  He accompanied Bermudian teenagers to the USA to compete in tennis tournaments at Central State College. In 1973, he received the Queen's Certificate and Badge of Honour for his valued services to tennis in Bermuda.

Anyone can play here by appointment and for a fee. (Visitors will find tennis courts at many places to stay). There is a pro. Lessons are $30-$50. There are 3 clay and 5 plexi cushion courts. Tennis attire is mandatory.

Triathlon

This sport has many participants locally. There is a major triathlon every year, one of the most important sports events. There are also others. 

Track and Field

Bermuda has hundreds of runners who take to the roads in the early morning or by day, evening and night. There are competitive invitational events held throughout the year, beginning in January, involving runners from Bermuda and around the world. Numerous road races include the Evian 10 Mile every March. There are numerous track and field events.

Volleyball

Bermuda is well-represented by separate teams of men and women.

Water Sports