Review: The Clyde Best Documentary
[Written by Dale Butler]
Arnold Woolard [1930-2023] was the first Bermuda professional footballer selected at the age of 18 by Phillip Hutton to play for third division Northampton Town, nicknamed the “Cobblers”. Later on, Woolard signed with Peterborough United then Newcastle United. I never met him, but did discover his name during my research for the book Bermuda Football Teams: 2005. Volume 1.
That book project opened a great deal about Bermuda players, coaches and clubs, which I had heard as a child sitting in Scratiche’s Barbershop. Today, that venue is one of the few remaining football barbershops, with a host of photographs and newspaper clippings around its walls.
The second Bermuda professional football star was Roderick Calvin Hilgrove Symonds – better known as “Bummy” – born in 1932. He was a master of football and cricket. Next came Eversley “Bo” Lewis at Aberdeen [1961] followed by Clyde Best M.B.E. [1st Division player at West Ham -1968 -1976]. Oral stories in the barbershop were revealed with such details as though they had just happened and were not 20 or 30-years-old. It was in this environment that my interest in sports grew and resulted in research on football, cricket, boxing, and the May 24th marathon.
I was very happy when a Sports Hall of Fame was created and my spell as a Minister of Sports provided me with an opportunity to ensure candidates were considered for induction. While many liked the idea, few attended the venue after the ceremonies. The same thing happened when Mr. Wendell “Shine” Hayward and I opened the Bermuda Music Hall of Fame.
Be that as it may, the stories continued on Talk Radio as callers recalled teams and names. The fact that Clyde “Bunny” Best is still with us often excites the debate, and eventually a call from various Ministers to make him a “Sir.” To date, that knighthood has not come, but he has continued to give to the community that started to awaken the community:
- The Clyde Best Centre of Excellence [2013]
- The Clyde Best Lane [2014]
- The Clyde Best definitive biography – The Acid Test [2016].
- The Clyde Best murals [2022 & 2025] highlighting his trailblazing career with West Ham [1968-1976] and the North American soccer league [1976-1982].
The skills that Clyde took to the UK were highlighted in the documentary by coach Edward “Icewater” Smith. Clyde grew up in Bermuda in an era when children practiced their skills in their back yards. In his case, we even had a young actor re-enacting him kicking a tin to school and hiding it till the end of the day for additional practice. That was the Bermuda he grew up in, where daily games in his neighbourhood allowed him to practice and make the school and Somerset teams.
His fortitude, shown as early as 17 when he arrived in England, came from his parents and his innate confidence that in-spite-of, he would not flinch or give in to racial taunts or bananas thrown on the pitch. Monkey chants did not need narration – the footage was the story. Contrast the ugliness in the stands with his silence, his focus, then the ball hitting the net. Silence – explosion. The truth is heavier than fiction and the filmmakers had the archival film to prove it with actual matches and comments from former colleagues and friends.
In spite of it all – letters saying “go home,” the rain and mud – it did not paint a glamorous environment to speak of. It was cold, wet, and brutal. He predated British players like Barnes, Cunningham and Regis. He took the first bullets scoring against Man United in his debut. Every goal he scored was a middle finger he couldn’t be sent off for. Here he was smiling, scoring, and refusing to break.
Both Black and White colleagues acknowledged his resilience in the film because Clyde used his skills to respond on the pitch to the point that all over Bermuda, today, people are asking if you have seen the movie because its message of endurance was exemplary. Clyde heard truth under pressure and saw grace under pressure. As he said, “I wasn’t there to be a pioneer. I was there to play football. They made me a pioneer.”
Clyde demonstrated his worth by scoring goals, which was a powerful message of defiance. Gradually, other clubs started to hire Black players who used him as an example, but it would be a while before the rhetoric of Enoch Power, “Rivers of Blood,” would subside. This wasn’t “will we win the league?” It was “will a 17-year-old kid be allowed to exist.” Every goal was a referendum on British identity in that era. For him, walking off meant they won. Staying meant revolution.
I was in university in England, 1972-1976, with Kevin Bean, and Clyde had played football with him at Somerset. He sent us tickets for four years. We saw a lot of games and endured verbal abuse and were chased by “Bovver Boys” – skinheads known for aggressive hooligan behaviour. If Clyde had walked off and quit, they would have won. His staying attitude inspired us to also stay the course.
Today we can salute Clyde Best and, while many wonder why he has not been knighted by the UK, we cannot ignore his outstanding contributions. Our role is to spread the news about this inspirational story. The current Bermuda chant is about potholes when it should really be about the past and current Bermudians, in numerous areas from academics, sport and dance, etc, who did well in spite of. We should have a national effort to:
- improve school scores
- improve youth employment
- recognize the numerous stories which have already been captured about our seniors by the Department of Culture, Joy Wilson Tucker and the Black Museum, Meredith Ebbin – Bermuda Biographies, Dr. Radell Tankard – Cup Match Stars, and others.
Thank you Dan Egan – Director, Tyree Fubler Young, who played the young Clyde Best; Narrator Tony D. Head; the numerous U.K. players who knew him and a host of local personalities from Sir John W. Swan, Dr. Dana Selassie,Kristin White and Rick Richardson to Gary Darrell. Thank you, The Hon. Dennis Lister J.P., M.P., Speaker of the House of Assembly for being a producer and working with former Minister Ernest Peets and others to make this movie happen.
Thank you, director/researchers for also highlighting Jack Leslie, who was the first Black professional in Britain in 1925 which will lead you to also discover others like Arthur Wharton and even a Black female Emma Clarke, to name but a few. In other words, the door is open now that we have been inspired by Clyde.
We need to celebrate Clyde and so many others who gave great service as groundsmen, referees, umpires, trainers, coaches, and sponsors, etc. The message is clear: real issues or potholes? Clyde challenged real issues with his performance; surely that is a lesson that we must learn if Bermuda is to make meaningful progress like his example demonstrated.
The Clyde Best documentary is excellent and long overdue. The film’s gut punch isn’t racism, it’s Clyde’s stillness. You watch a young man calculate, in real time, that flipping out means they win. Clyde doesn’t end with victory. It ends with a debt – one British football is still paying.
Long live Sir Clyde Best.
- Dale Butler is the Professor of Bermuda music who has also published: The History of the May 24th Marathon Derby; The Ed Sherlock Story; Bermuda Football Teams-2005 and published a series of videos featuring football historians and or players:Lou Wainwright, Ralph Gardiner, Edward Oliver, Leroy Kenneth Burns. Earlston “Scratchie” Lawrence, William “Bumbles” Richardson,Leslie “Teller” Virgil, Raymond “Jackie” Durham, Austin “Sukey” Wade, Alphaeus “Artie” Black, Luther Wilkin and Leroy Dowling [1997]. He also pays a great deal of respect to King Trott, who had the vision to take music and football photos that we marvel at today.
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