Review by Phil Turner, from Stand Up To Racism (and lifelong Baggies' fan}.
A WORKING class hero is something to be - and Albion great Cyrille Regis was something, something else.
Laurie Rampling's labour of love does justice to the legend, on and off the field, in lovely words and fabulous pictures. His bond with Regis, a close friend over many years, shines through.
Regis's untimely death in January 2018, aged just 59, just a month short of his 60th, shocked football and the world - a world he'd helped change in the fight against racism.
Regis shaped anti-racism in football and the country as one of the three black players in the West Bromwich Albion side - along with Laurie Cunningham and Brendon Batson - known as the Three Degrees after the all-female black singing group, who had a big hit with When Will I See You Again.
Rampling, retired police forensic photographer and official West Brom snapper for 50 years, has meticulously documented Regis's life story, every kick along the way, with lots of previously unpublished pictures. It's pure joy for football fans and anyone wanting to see the impact of sport in social culture.
Regis made his Albion debut in August 1977 - the same month as I was among thousands of anti-fascists who took to the streets to play a part in challenging the apparently unstoppable rise of the Nazi National Front (NF).
The two dates are connected by the fight against racism in football which Cyrille inspired in me - a lifelong Baggies' fan - and thousands of others.
Saturday 13 August 1977 became a turning point. The NF march through Lewisham in south London faced a counter demonstration by thousands of anti-fascists. In the same way that the Battle of Cable Street had done in 1936, the fascists’ march was stopped. It lit the spark that would soon lead to the founding of the Anti Nazi League. It would set back the fascists for a generation.
On August 31 Regis made a stunning debut for Albion in a cup game against Rotherham United.
As Rotherham local newspaper reporter Les Payne recalled:
"It was a League Cup tie, second round, and the Third Division (Lge One) Millers were pretty much on a loser against a fine Albion side with some great players - a side destined to finish sixth in the top flight that season.
"When the teams were announced all the top players were there... Wile, Robertson, Cantello, Cunningham, Robson, Willie Johnston, among them.
But it was the complete unknown amongst that bunch of stars who caught the eye on the team-sheet.
"The centre forward. Cyrille Regis. To my untutored Rotherham eye, who was he then? Never heard of him.
"No Google or Wikipedia back then to find out. The way you checked then was seeking out the reporter who covered the opposing team.
"I never forgot what the Albion man told me and, across the years, it’s why I always, but always, knew where the Albion signed Cyrille from. He’d come from non-league Hayes that Summer.
"He was 19 and this was his debut.
"Among the enjoyable parts of reporting on a club that figured mainly - but not always - in the lower divisions, is that you would sometimes see young opposition players, unknowns, right at the start of their careers who would eventually become top players elsewhere, even internationals.
"Some 90 minutes after first clapping eyes on this strapping young centre forward I’d never heard of, I had a feeling that I might have seen something special.
"Not just because he scored twice in a 4-0 win either. There was a bit more to him than that.
"It was a big jump from Hayes to one of the best sides in the country at that time. But it was never evident.
"At 2-0 up (goals from John Wile and Mick Martin), Albion were awarded a penalty on the hour. Any of the star names would have fancied it but this young starter was pushed forward. He stuck it away confidently - his first goal in those famous dark blue and white stripes."
In the late 70s the far right was deeply entrenched in our politics, our press, and our popular culture. Tory politician Enoch Powell had caused a wave of racist attacks with his “Rivers of Blood” speech in 1968. Working people felt let down by a Labour government that moved further to the right, and a climate of social and economic despair led to the rise of the NF.
Regis received a bullet through the post when he received his first England call-up. It was accompanied by a threat he would get one for real if he stepped onto the Wembley turf.
The main aim of the ANL was to stop the Nazis from marching on the streets of Britain. It involved a united front of socialists, trade unionists, Labour Party members - including former minister Peter Hain - and anyone against the nazis.
This struggle that is still ongoing today, against an enemy that has taken various forms, from the NF to the BNP to the EDL, to Tommy Robinson and the DFLA or Farage's racist Reform UK - each playing on people’s desperations to attack minorities and gain momentum for a Nazi or racist agenda. The Manvers' hotel racist riot in Rotherham in August 2024 exposed pogrom-style violence not seen in decades. But a week later many thousands turned out to push back the fascists and racists. Fear had changed sides. Now we have to continue taking on the racists in our Trumpian, hate-filled times.
Dave Harrison, Albion correspondent, whose reporting features in the book, recalled: "There were Nazi salutes, monkey chants, showers of spit, vile abuse and, on one notorious occasion, a bullet through the post.
"This was football in the UK in the 70s and 80s and, by and large, there was a silent acceptance and a reluctance to tackle the poison which had seeped into the game. The police and the ruling bodies seemed powerless to act. The media looked on silently.
"On the receiving end were a trio of West Bromwich Albion footballers – Cyrille Regis, Laurie Cunningham and Brendon Batson – or the Three Degrees, so called by their manager Ron Atkinson.
"I had the pleasure of covering Albion for the local Press in those days and even as a diehard Wolves fan I considered it a privilege to watch a team which brought an attractive and attacking philosophy into the game.
"On the flip side, I had to witness all that vitriol which came the way of Cyrille, Laurie and Brendon. When you are covering a football match and 20-30,000 fans are monkey-chanting what do you do? Sadly, we didn’t even report on it back then. Perhaps, because it had become so commonplace, we just ignored it."
But he added: "Cyrille dealt with it with typical and admirable restraint – just as he did when he was being taunted from the terraces. It made him more determined to show his skills as a footballer.
"It says much about the big man’s status, love and respect as a man and a footballer when he once came on as a substitute for Wolves against his beloved Albion. He received a standing ovation from both sets of rival fans."
Despite hostility from mainstream politicians and the press in the 1970s, the ANL combined physically confronting the Nazis wherever they raised their head, with powerful propaganda exposing the NF as the heirs of Adolf Hitler. It produced hundreds of thousands of badges and leaflets against the Nazis. A declaration against the NF was signed by hundreds of well known people - from musicians to MPs, trade union leaders to footballers.
The same young people targeted by the Nazis as potential supporters were drawn into a movement that fought the fascists. In schools, colleges and workplaces across Britain it became popular to wear anti-Nazi badges. The ANL, along with bands and musicians in Rock Against Racism, also organised three hugely successful carnivals with the top punk and new wave bands of the day.
Cyrille, Laurie and Brendon were the frontrunners in turning back the racists in football - and further afield. We have to continue that battle today. Thanks to them we can look back on one of our biggest victories.
The first carnival was in April 1978 of 80,000 people helped transform the atmosphere in the Nazis' stronghold area of east London and throughout the rest of Britain.
To paraphrase the Three Degrees' song, when will see the likes of Cyrille again? Buy this book - or borrow it from the library - and remember his legacy and how things changed.
* In February 2019 more than 100 people attended an event - with contributions from Brendon Batson and Cyrille's daughter Michelle - celebrating Cyrille's life at a "Only One Cyrille Regis" event, jointly organised by Stand Up To Racism and Sheffield-based Football Unites, Racism Divides.