The Black Hammers by Brian Belton

Brian Belton's new book - The Black Hammers - focuses on the story of the "Ebony Heroes" of West Ham United, from the pioneer black players who turned out for the East London club in the 1960s, to sparkling Onyx stars of the contemporary epoch at Upton Park.

Through the voices of the first black professionals, and the stories of many of those that followed, The Black Hammers provides an overview of the experience of a group professional footballers playing for one club, West Ham over nearly half a century. The book is a record of the positive cultural interaction within an East End of London, essentially working class institution, which for the first half of its history was a wholly white enterprise. However, The Black Hammers is also a tale of the nature of identity within the sporting arena and how the community of football might subsume surface differences.

When John Charles, the first ‘Black Hammer’ took to the field at Upton Park in the early years of Britain’s ‘swinging’ era, it marked an ending and a beginning. John, the groundbreaker, finished any notion of a ‘one colour club’ at the Boleyn Ground. A decade later, West Ham had achieved another notable milestone.

On 1 April 1973 at Upton Park, for the first time, three black players ran out to represent the cockney Hammers; Nigerian Ade Coker, Bermudan Clyde Best and East Londoner Clive Charles. They were part of a side that beat Tottenham Hotspurs 2-0 that day. As their personal narratives testify, those three men remembered their time at the Boleyn Ground and the Hammers supporters with affection and warmth - they became role models for many aspiring black players.

It is hard for anyone today to understand the exciting spirit of those first ten years. But to really understand the feeling of those courageous days and how they burnt the road for the black players who followed, they have to be placed in the context of what happened next. After telling of the breakthroughs The Black Hammers provides this framework.

The progress that followed was personified in Clyde Best. The powerful centre forward, seemingly carved out of Jet, entered the first team at West Ham in 1969, a time of increasing television coverage of football. So his brave and bold striking style was relayed to an audience of black youngsters who had never really seen his like before; he was a beacon of hope and possibility. His, and the other voices that fill the pages of The Black Hammers, tell of the pride black men had of pulling on the claret and blue and wearing the Irons next to their hearts. In the words of John Charles:

"Only two colours mattered at West Ham and they weren’t black and white; they were claret and blue."

The Black Hammers by Brian Belton is published on 7th September 2006 by Pennant Books, and available in all good bookstores - priced £16.99. We'll have a full review for you here on KUMB soon.

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