Who is Bruce Dyer?
Bruce Dyer is a former professional football player that had 469 league appearances with 119 goals for clubs including Crystal Palace, Barnsley and Watford. Ken Brooks, the Watford kit manager, recommended him, then he was invited to train and it went from there. He came through the youth system at Watford and made his debut when he was 17 years old.
The next season in March 1994, he became the first Black teenager in British football to transfer for over £1 million, going from Watford to Crystal Palace. With the Eagles, he scored 44 goals in 164 games across all competitions. When the Jamaican national side contacted him about playing for them he turned them down, as his heart was set on England. He went back to Watford in 2003 and spent two more seasons there.
How did football become part of his life?
His earliest footballing memory is playing football in East London at the grassroots level. He played for a team called Grasshoppers, and David Beckham played for their main rival team, Ridge Bay Rovers. He always remembers that rivalry, as both teams would say they had a really good team.
Growing up as a kid, he got a lot of joy and inspiration from watching and playing football. He believes football is a really good way of exercising and expressing yourself in a way that you feel safe, and does something to your emotions in a positive way.
He explains that “there’s a joy that comes from playing and scoring goals in St James’ Park in Walthamstow, East London, to scoring in a semi-final of a playoff. There’s just something that it does to the human emotions that I think is very unique and special. On a bigger scale, football’s a universal language. It’s a language that just knocks down all kinds of barriers, which I think’s a really powerful thing.”
Why did he choose this object to tell his story?
The shirt is from the few months in which his life changed radically. Earlier in the year he had his record breaking move to Crystal Palace, and actually got the England U21s call up when he was in Marbella celebrating the Eagles’ promotion to the Premier League.
The call up was to play in the Toulon tournament, which England won and Dyer finished top goal scorer. For him, that was “a real pinnacle moment, in terms of becoming a history maker. From being the kid that nobody knew to all of a sudden, my record transfer fee, representing my country at Under 21 level, and winning that competition was very special.”
Why is the Black in the Game project important to him and what does he think it can achieve?
It is special to him because it is helping people to understand the true history of some events in football that have been lost. He hopes that it can help many relive some of the stories through pictures and memorabilia from players who have made an impact in the world of football.
Keep an eye out for the Black in the Game exhibition, coming to our Score Gallery this October.