It was a privilege and a pleasure to meet not one, but two Bermudian legends when we visited the island last year. Calvin Symonds, now ninety-three, was the first Black player to represent Rochdale and is celebrated as such in our book. Clyde Best was not the first Black player at West Ham but he is such a legend that it would have been wrong not to talk about him in the book – so we did!
Both men are revered on Bermuda (Calvin for his cricketing exploits in particular). Clyde is obviously known to us as a footballer but, when we chatted to them we were surprised to hear about Clyde’s cricketing exploits on the island too.
Clyde’s legendary status is honoured in a recently unveiled mural – we are only sorry we didn’t get an invitation to the unveiling!