Clyde Best talks about racism in football
The CNN special report on racism in football “World Sport Presents: It’s Not Black & White” featuring Bermuda football legend Clyde Best aired yesterday, and is due to show on CNN again today [Feb.25].
Mr Best has also written a column — “Beautiful Game’ can transcend society’s ills” –that appears on CNN, with the byline describing him as “one of the first black players to establish himself in England, and is featured in a photo gallery titled “Clyde Best: Football Pioneer”.
In the report Mr Best said, “They started what we call the ‘monkey chant’…you knew that was directed at you, because I am the only black fellow on the field.”
“One of the instances that will always stick in my mind,” said Mr Best. “I got a letter in the mail one day, and we were playing at home, I can’t remember the particular team, but the letter stated that I when I came through the tunnel they were going to throw acid in my face.”
“It was hard, it was tough. And I found most times the best way to silence most of the people was to put the ball in the back of the net,” said Mr Best.
One of the first black players of the modern era to establish himself in England’s top division, Mr. Best arrived in the UK from Bermuda to play for London club West Ham United in 1968. He played 218 games and registered 58 goals for West Ham over seven seasons between August 1969 and January 1976.
Mr. Best’s persistence in coping with the hate mail and the fan abuse — some of it from his own club’s supporters — helped paved the way for many of the black players of the following generation.
He was inducted into the Bermuda National Sports Hall of Fame in 2004, and decorated with the MBE in the Queen’s 2006 New Year’s Honours list for services to football and the community in Bermuda.
