An annual Cup Match-themed tea party for seniors will advocate for a barrier-breaking footballer to be granted knighthood by the end of the year.

Tee’l Pre Cup Match and Emancipation Day Tea for Seniors this year will spotlight several trailblazers.

Terry Lee Smith, who has been organising the event for eight years, said that he wanted to use the event to promote Clyde Best for the honours he believed he deserved.

Mr Smith said: “It’s been proposed through many governments.

“They’ve all said that he’s well deserving and that he should have had it, so we have to make this happen.”

Mr Smith added: “This is going to be the kick-off for that and we’re inviting people to come on board, contribute and help us to make this happen within this year.”

Mr Best was one of the first Black players to play in the English first division.

He was a striker for West Ham United between 1968 and 1976 and scored 47 goals.

During this time, Mr Best helped to breach the colour barrier and became a fan favourite in spite of many racist verbal attacks on the pitch.

He was eventually appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in the 2006 New Year Honours.

Mr Smith said that Mr Best’s contributions to the Commonwealth were worthy of knighthood.

He explained that Flora Duffy, another Bermudian Olympian, became knighted “instantaneously” when she won Bermuda’s first gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

He added that he was aware of “a lot of protocols” that complicated the nomination.

Alongside Mr Best, notable honourees will include Molly Burgess, Sharon Bartram and the women’s softball team Big Blue Machine.

Ms Burgess is a long-serving Bermuda Industrial Union representative who retired in 2022, while the Big Blue Machine were the first to be placed in Bermuda’s Sports Hall of Fame.

Ms Bartram took over the clothing store 27th Century Boutique from her father, Kirk, and helped to ring in the store’s 50th anniversary this year.

Mr Smith said it was a “major milestone for any business”, and especially important for a Black-run business that contended against legacy stores such as Trimingham’s and AS Coopers.

Mr Smith, who started the tea party in 2017, said the occasion had grown by “leaps and bounds” over the years.

He explained that the tea party used to host about 70 people at the Clyde Best Room at Somerset Cricket Club.

Now, he added, he and other organisers have to cut reservations off at 300 people.

“The year before last, we had a reserve listing of more than 50 people that we couldn’t take whom we promised we’d carry over to the following year,” Mr Smith said.

He added: “It’s a very enjoyable moment. It’s like the high fashion of senior ladies for Cup Match.

“They come dressed in their reds and blues or dark blues and light blues, from their heads to their bags to their shoes.”

The Seniors Tea will take place on July 28 at the main field of Somerset Cricket Club between noon and 3pm.

• To make a reservation, call Rose Hart on 234-0430 or Cynthia Swan on 234-0278. For anyone wishing to contribute or looking for information, Terry Lee Smith can be reached on 777-1057