UPLIFTING HISTORY OF THE BLACK FOOTBALLERS WHO HAVE PLAYED FOR THE FAMOUS EAST LONDON CLUB

When the first ever Black Hammer John Charles took to the field at Upton Park in the early years of Britain’s swinging 60s, it marked both an ending and a proud beginning. Groundbreaker Charles smashed the notion of a ‘one colour club’ at the time-honoured Boleyn Ground.

One decade later, West Ham achieved another notable milestone: On 1 April 1973 at Upton Park, for the first time three black players together ran out to represent the cockney Hammers: Nigerian Ade Coker, Bermudan Clyde Best and the East Londoner Clive Charles.

Brian Belton is a lifelong West Ham supporter, born and raised a five-minute walk from the terraces of Upton Park. He wrote a PhD on Gypsy Ethnicity and is now an academic. Of the more than a dozen books he has written, most relate to the chronicles of West Ham United, making him the most prolific historian of the club, an authority second to none.

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