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Cyrille Regis: A true role model

West Bromwich Albion's Cyrille Regis (l) shoots past Chelsea defender Graham Wilkins (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)
Roar Guru
19th January, 2018
12

I was saddened to hear of the recent passing of former England and West Bromwich Albion footballer Cyrille Regis. He died suddenly of a heart attack, aged just 59.

Regis was a powerfully built centre-forward who played in a tough era for black athletes, regularly putting up with racist abuse from the stands.

He was more than just an average footballer; at one time he was described as being the best centre-forward in England. He was capped five times and represented his country in ‘B’ internationals and at the under-21 level.

Until now I had not known much about his personal life. I wasn’t aware that he was born in French Guiana. In fact, I needed a map to find where it was. It is a very small country at the northern tip of South America.

He moved to England with his family in 1963 when he was a just a small boy. The family struggled to make ends meet and Regis played football in boots too small because the family could not afford to keep buying new pairs for their growing son.

Regis joined a non-league club in 1975 before signing with West Bromwich Albion in 1977.

He was strong in the air and had a lethal right foot. All up he scored 81 goals in 241 league appearances for West Brom before transferring to Coventry City, where he scored 47 goals in 238 league games. His stint at Coventry also included an FA Cup winners medal in 1987 in a remarkable 3-2 win over Tottenham.

Cyrille Regis shoots for goal

(Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)

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When Regis played for West Brom there were very few black professional footballers in England. By 1979 three of those were playing for West Brom: Regis, Laurie Cunningham and Brendan Batson.

During this period Regis and his teammates – dubbed the ‘Three Degrees’ by manager Ron Atkinson – were on the receiving end of racist abuse from the terraces.

Regis said that the abuse made him tougher and that, “nothing hurt the racist cowards in the crowd more than seeing black guys like me scoring goals against their team”.

One of the goals he scored in a first division match against Norwich City in 1981-82 was regarded as the goal of the season.

On his international debut for England Regis received a bullet in the mail. He kept it as a reminder of the struggles he had to go through.

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On a personal note, I grew up watching English football in the 1970s on television and followed it in Shoot magazine. In those days Liverpool dominated the league, but there was a variety of teams, such as Manchester City, Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and even Queens Park Rangers, that challenged them.

West Bromwich Albion was one of those teams that gave the league a shake, finishing third in the 1978-79 season. I well remember watching Regis play. He was a well-built, good-looking lad, and I remember the cat-calling and booing he and other black players used to receive. I can certainly remember him scoring some cracking goals.

All the tributes I have read about Cyrille Regis in the past few days reveal a much loved and well-respected man.

Allan Shearer tweeted, “What a man. What a centre-forward! One of my earliest football memories was walking into WBA for a trial as a 13-year-old kid, seeing Cyrille Regis and being in awe of him. RIP big man”.

Andy Cole tweeted, “Devastated this morning my hero my pioneer the man behind the reason I wanted to play football has passed away my heart goes out to all his family RIP Cyrille Regis”.

Vale, Cyrille Regis, 1958–2018.

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