An interesting reference has been brought to my attention in Karren Brady’s most recent weekly column in The Sun. In it, she refers to the Dani Alves banana throwing incident and states that veteran Hammers fans have told her that former striker, Clyde Best (1969-75), was a victim of similiar behaviour at Upton Park. Now, I remember that period well, including the whole of Best’s career at the club. But for the life of me, I do not recall bananas being thrown at him and certainly not at Upton Park.
Thinking back, it just does not strike me as the type of behaviour that football crowds of that era would engage in. My recollection is that Clyde Best was viewed with affection at Upton Park and, generally, had a positive relationship with the crowd. I also remember other black Hammers such as John Charles, Clive Charles and Ade Coker all making first team appearances in that period. In fact, it was Canning Town born and bred, John Charles (Clive’s elder brother), who was the trailblazer for black football talent at West Ham in the contemporary era. He made his first team debut in May 1963 Vs Blackburn Rovers and was a regular up until 1971. In managerial terms, it was Ron Greenwood who was a major pioneer in introducing black talent in this country. In fact, in April 1972, Greenwood was the first manager to select three black players for a league match. Clive Charles, Ade Coker and Clyde Best all appeared in a 2-0 victory over Spurs. And of course, it should be added that, Ron Greenwood later followed that up, as the national Manager, by selecting Viv Anderson as the first black player ever to appear for England. For all of the recognition of Greenwood as a great coach and innovative thinker on the game, he never seems to get the credit that he deserves in that one respect.
I do, however, remember disgraceful banana throwing scenes in a match at Upton Park in the early 1980s, which was aimed at black players in the opposing WBA team (i.e. Regis, Moses, Cunningham). While George Parris, in a piece in yesterday’s Independent, reminds us that in the 1980s he was also subjected to banana throwing and other abuse, by opposition fans. In fact, there was an particular incident at Upton Park when George responded in exactly the same way as Alves (only 30 years earlier) to opposition fans throwing bananas at him and, by doing so, showed both disdain for racism and rallied the Hammers crowd in support of him. Unfortunately, in a far less ‘connected’ decade, George’s inspired response did not go global, but it did (in a local way) help shape positive attitudes at Upton Park, isolate the racists and encourage young players, like Matthew Rush, who were there to witness it.
So, am I right in thinking that Ms Brady’s informants are mistaken when they told her that Clyde Best was on the end of such treatment? If they are, then it would be nice if that mistake could be acknowledged. In doing so, there are undoubtedly other incidents/episodes in the past that we do need to confront (i.e. the aforementioned treatment of the WBA players); as well as recognising the positive contributions that West Ham Utd have made to promoting racial equality in the English game. Like, for instance, the fact that the first ever black player to appear for the club was Fred Corbett in 1899-1902! Plus the pioneering innovation of Ron Greenwood in introducing black football talent in the 1960s & 1970s and other subsequent positive progress made by the club.
Naturally, in turn, if my recollection is wrong on Clyde Best, I will freely acknowledge that fact here!
SJ. Chandos.