sport news Cyrille Regis' widow will travel to Machu Picchu to ensure his legacy lives on ... trends now
There has been an added poignancy in Midlands derbies involving West Brom since Cyrille Regis, a legend in the region, passed away unexpectedly in 2018 at the age of 59.
Wednesday night at The Hawthorns will be no different, particularly with Albion and Birmingham City in the bottom half of the Championship.
It’s a far cry from the glory days of the late 1970s and 80s when Regis was a fearless centre-forward and helped make West Brom the most exciting team in the country, before moving on to help Coventry City win the FA Cup in 1987.
Julia Regis will trek up Machu Picchu to raise money for her late husband's foundation
Off the field too, he was a hugely significant figure as one of the first black players who overcame widespread racial abuse to make their mark and win five caps for England.
Even after retirement, Regis continued to help others as mentor to a new generation of players including Gareth Bale.
Today, the name lives on through the Cyrille Regis Legacy Trust including the Strike a Change programme for teenagers who need additional support.
Next month, Cyrille's widow Julia, Chair of the charity, will go to Machu Picchu with Cyrille’s sister Denise and their friend Annette Taggart to raise funds by walking 26 miles up to an altitude of 4,500 metres.
It’s a fitting tribute for an electrician from London whose life changed forever when West Brom paid non-league Hayes £5,000 in 1977 and he became king of the Midlands for the rest of his career.
‘Cyrille kept his accent but considered the west Midlands his home,’ recollects Julia with a smile.
Julia was widowed in 2018 and hopes to keep Cyrille's legacy alive through her fundraising
‘He used a lot of rhyming slang and had his own sayings, “do you fancy some shampoo” for champagne, but in every other aspect he became completely assimilated.
‘His first landlady, Mrs Groce, was like a second Mum. We invited her as a surprise guest when Cyrille’s autobiography was launched in 2010. I remember him getting very emotional and there were a few tears.’
Regis became a national name after Albion thrashed Manchester United 5-3 at Old Trafford in 1978 when he and fellow black players Laurie Cunningham and Brendan Batson were collectively known as the Three Degrees.
Cyrille is photographed outside of Buckingham Palace alongside his sister Nilla (L) and wife Julia (R)
He spent seven years at Albion, regarded as one of the club’s greatest players, and then spent a further seven with Coventry where he was part of the only Sky Blues team in history to win a major trophy. He also represented Wolves and Aston Villa.
As a player, he was quick and powerful and possessed a fierce will-to-win. Off the pitch, he was the archetypal gentle giant, and converted to Christianity in 1989 following the death in a road accident of his good friend, Cunningham.
Julia, who married Cyrille in 2006, said he always stayed in love with playing sport. ‘After football, he got into golf, and would be very competitive. But when the game was done, he never carried any angst into the bar,’ she explains. ‘His football friends say it he was always like that - he was able to compartmentalise things.
‘We played a lot of golf, with each other and against each other. We’d have competitions on holiday, friends would text us “Who is winning?!”
‘He was very good
