Cool icon who fought hatred
CYRILLE REGIS coped with the bananas and the racist chants – it was the bullet through the post that sent a chill down his spine.
It’s hard to imagine just how far English football has come since those dark ages. But make no mistake – much of that progress is down to one of football’s original ‘ Three Degrees’.
The world of football united to pay tribute to Regis yesterday after the shock news of his death from heart failure at just 59.
Little wonder, because the powerhouse former West Brom, Coventry and Aston Villa striker was a pioneer whose contribution to the game will live on forever.
It was the late Seventies when Regis exploded on the scene with Brendon Batson and close pal Laurie Cunningham. The trio’s appearance in the same Baggies side was a national talking point.
The Three Degrees, named after the chart- topping female group, made sweet music as they helped sweep West Brom to third in the league and into the quarter- fi nals of the UEFA Cup in 1978- 79.
At that time, there was only one other black player in the First Division – Viv Anderson at Nottingham Forest.
Regis was cool with his swashbuckling style, a footballing John Shaft who gave young black footballers a hero to pin their dreams on.
He even appeared on the front cover of the music paper NME.
Former Manchester United and England forward Andrew Cole tweeted yesterday: “Devastated – my hero, my pioneer, the man behind the reason I wanted to play football has passed away. ”
Regis, who won fi ve England caps, recalled that news of his fi rst call- up in 1982 was not met with wholesale approval.
“In your head it made you angry – I mean calling you n**** r, throwing bananas,” he remembered. “The worst for me was getting my fi rst England cap and receiving a bullet through the post saying, ‘ If you put your foot on our Wembley turf, you’ll get one of these for your knees’.” He used his anger as fuel on the pitch. Built like a tank, when Regis burst through the middle, defenders seemed to bounce off him.
“Your armoury is your talent ,” he once said. “The more you shout at me, the more I get angrier, the better I play. Come give it to me.”
Broadcaster and West Brom fan Adrian Chiles praised the way Regis dealt with racism.
“Ian Wright, from a later generation of black players, said, ‘ We were like Malcolm X... but Cyrille was like Martin Luther King’. Cyrille was always turning the other cheek.
West Brom signed Regis from non- League Hayes for £ 5,000 in May 1977 and the gamble was rewarded with 112 goals in 297 appearances. Club chairman John Williams said: “Everyone will have their precious memories of him as a family man, as a crusader against bigotry and as a man who threw considerable energy into a series of worthy causes.
“But for me, I will never forget Cyrille the footballer – a wonderful, wonderful player who had everything, and who defenders of the time would have hated facing.”
Regis moved to Coventry for £ 250,000 in 1984 and lifted the FA Cup with them in 1987.
John Sillett, Coventry manager at the time, said: “He was a majestic player , he had great vision, good touch and strength, unbelievable pace off the mark. He was so proud when England picked him.”