West Ham - Football's Black Pioneers

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.

Russ’s Rambles – Football’s Black Pioneers

You know how some people like to watch cricket on the TV with the sound turned down and listen to the radio commentary? If you watch this edition of Russ’s Rambles then I’d recommend turning the pictures down and listening to the sound – neither Bill or I would claim to be photogenic!

Our chat with Russ Budden did indeed ‘ramble’ but I hope you’ll agree we covered some interesting ground.

Brighton Rock – The podcast

Bill Hern certainly gets around, this week he was ‘in’ Brighton – not literally of course, Bill is a law abiding citizen! He spoke to Russell Guiver and David Townsend who run the Brighton Rock blog. Funnily enough Russell and David are Brighton fans. Brighton Rock has been described as “Probably the best podcast you will hear concerning Brighton fc. Very insightful, hosted by a presenter who is passionate about our club.”

It didn’t take long for the conversation to get round to a discussion of Brighton’s first black player and it soon became evident that Dave Busby (for it was he) had slipped under the radar of both Russell and David. This is precisely why we felt it was important to write ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ now before the contributions of players like Dave are completely lost to history.

You can listen to their wide-ranging discussion here:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/footballs-black-pioneers-with-guest-bill-hern/id1504890714?i=1000499448132

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/

Royal recognition for two pioneers!

Calvin Symonds (being tackled), Rochdale’s first black player, back home in Bermuda

Two of the pioneers who appear in ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ have featured in an article about the book in The Royal Gazette. The Gazette was founded in 1828 and is Bermuda’s only daily newspaper, the paper claims to reach 97 per cent of the adult population of the island.

Calvin Symonds, the first black player at Rochdale and Clyde Best, not the first black player at West Ham but an important pioneer nonetheless, both live on the island of Bermuda where they were born. You can read the article here: http://www.royalgazette.com/soccer/article/20200806/bermuda-pair-among-footballs-black-pioneers.

Meanwhile, another important pioneer, Lindy Delapehna, has featured in an article about the book in The Jamaica Gleaner: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/sports/20200806/english-footballers-jcan-heritage-chronicled-new-book. The Gleaner is a relative upstart as it was ‘only’ established in 1834!

‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ will be published on 31st August. There is still time (just) to become a subscriber (your name will appear in the book and you will receive a signed copy and a free gift), details here: https://www.conkereditions.co.uk/product/footballs-black-pioneers-subscriber-copies-for-pre-order/

Bermudan heroes

15th June 2020 was National Heroes Day in Bermuda. This may seem an odd thing for us to celebrate here but one of the players who will feature in ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ is Calvin Symonds who was born in Bermuda on 29^th March 1932.

In January 2020 the Bermudan Minister of Labour, Community Affairs and Sports, the Hon. Lovitta Foggo, honoured Bermudian sports legend Calvin Symonds by unveiling a plaque at the Northlands Primary School. In her speech the Minister said of Calvin ‘he is considered a cultural icon and a sports legend.’

I wonder how many Rochdale fans realise he was their first black player?!

Although he wasn’t actually a ‘first black player’ Clyde Best, another Bermuda born player, will also feature in our forthcoming book. Clyde had a long and successful career at West Ham, scoring a total of 58 goals in 221 appearances before leaving the club in 1976. Clyde was playing his football at a time when racism was at its worst, “in those days, as a black player, no matter where you went you would be in for a hard time. You just had to tough it out.” He was, in the words of another black player, on the receiving end of ‘the full banana treatment’ on many occasions.

Both Clyde and Calvin returned to live in Bermuda after their football careers ended and both can truly be regarded National Heroes. They are also, of course, in their different ways, two of English football’s black pioneers.