Conker Editions

Tag: Clyde Best

A treat for West Ham fans

The postman has been busy delivering interesting old programmes to the home of Football’s Black Pioneers. Over the course of the coming days we will be adding new articles featuring historic Arsenal and Crystal Palace pioneers but West Ham are first up.

We feature John Charles debut for West Ham here: https://footballs-black-pioneers.com/about/west-ham-united-1962-63/

A decade later West Ham made history by fielding three black players in the same team, you can read about it here: https://footballs-black-pioneers.com/about/west-ham-united-1971-72/

Do keep an eye out for further additions.

Clyde Best – Football Icon

So much material is aired during Black History Month that it is easy to miss good things, the short film about Clyde Best that we feature here had slipped through our net. This does rather beg the question why black history only gets talked about for one month of the year, for us, the black contribution to British society (not just football) is something we should celebrate all year round.

Clyde was not the first black player at West Ham but it would have been impossible to write ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ without discussing his experiences.

We are so grateful to JeanMaire Symonds, daughter of Rochdale’s first black player, Calvin Symonds, for sharing this film with us. Clyde and Calvin both still live in Bermuda where their sporting contributions are remembered with pride.

We are proud that our book has received many positive reviews, you can read some of the comments here: https://www.conkereditions.co.uk/must-read-reviews/