An award-winning movie about Bermudian icon Clyde Best and his battle against racism in English football is to be shown in schools.

The picture depicts Mr Best’s life on the island then his move to West Ham United at the tender age of 17 before exploding onto the professional football scene and tackling bigots on the terraces.

Entitled Transforming the Beautiful Game: The Clyde Best Story, the screenings have already played to sell out cinemas and picked up two awards for Best International Film at BronzeLens Film Festival plus the Audience Favourite Award at Roxbury International Film Festival.

The picture has also toured at film festivals across the US where Mr Best played latterly in his glittering career.

Dan Egan, the director and producer, said it was probably the best movie he has made, adding: “We have honoured a man who long deserved to be honoured.

“Our goal between now and February is to go into all the schools [in Bermuda] so stay tuned because that’s coming your way.

“It has already been shown at CedarBridge Academy.”

Natalie Thomas, acting principle at CedarBridge Academy, told how the screening was such a hit with her students that they were still talking about it the next day.

She said: “It was absolutely fantastic and the children really engaged with it. They were able to see familiar faces and places, and a story to relate to.

“Mr Best was here for the showing of the film and the students were extremely impressed.

“We have a lot of budding football artists [at this school] and the students even talked about being film makers.

“It showed it was possible to pursue a career in football after seeing Mr Best’s story. It also showed that maybe they could connect with film production and film making. They were saying, ‘maybe I could produce something and be a part of it’.”

“It showed there was an opportunity and there are possibilities. It also gave them a great sense of pride in Bermuda.”

Ms Thomas said: “Our students watching the film were aged between 14 and 18 and there were also members of staff watching it too. They absolutely loved it.

“There were some who went to the same school with him and others who stayed in the same neighbourhood, plus friends who were in different spaces socially but some who grew up and were hanging out in the same area.

“It gave them a great sense of pride. A lot of conversations were being generated afterwards.

“We really enjoyed it and conversations were still happening the next day.

“It certainly generated a lot of interest and things to reflect on.”

Ms Thomas told how a former pupil is hitting the headlines in the UK with a professional club.

She said: “One of our former students is Nahki Wells who plays as a forward with Luton Town.

“I was probably at the school with him as we are a similar age.

“He has been back to the school several times to speak to our students.”

Another school taking part in the screening of Mr Best’s documentary was Warwick Academy.

Principal Dave Horan said the idea came from Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda who contacted schools inviting them to take part in screenings.

Mr Horan said: “We showed it to pupils, parents and staff, and we had about 250 people there for the evening. It was a fantastic turn out and it was free, although we had to pay for the licence to show it. The Parent Teacher Association raised cash with the sale of tea, crisps and drinks to offset that.

“We invited students from both our primary and secondary schools so the age range was from seven and eight-year-olds right up to 18.

“The film definitely resonates with them and I had lots of commentary afterwards from staff and parents for the next few days.

“Mr Best was there and we did a question-and-answer session following the film. He answered very well and told how he just kept going with one foot in front of the next to deal with it [racism], how he confronted it and did his very best.

“The distractions and the stuff going on was obviously shocking and at the same time he just kept going. It was a powerful message.

“It was CURB who reached out to us and sent invitations out to schools as they recognised it was a shared opportunity … so I got a hold of Dan, the director, and we set it up from there.”