Some tourists come to Bermuda for the beach, the scenery or the weather, but William Stevens of Forest Gate, East London had another reason to visit the Island — to meet one of his West Ham United heroes, Clyde Best.

Stevens and his wife Pauline arrived in Bermuda on the cruise ship Celebrity Summit on Tuesday night and yesterday had lunch with Best at Bone Fish Bar and Grill in Dockyard when he presented the Bermudian football legend with a commemorative shirt from West Ham’s final match at the Boleyn Ground before their switch to the 60,000 Olympic Stadium.

“Every fan was given a commemorative shirt and I wanted to present Clyde with one,” said Stevens, who has been going to West Ham games since 1971 when Best was making a name for himself as one of the first black players to play in England.

Stevens first approached The Royal Gazette a few weeks ago, asking for help in arranging a meeting with Best during his visit to the island.

“The club invited every player that had played at the ground to the last match,” Stevens wrote. “I don’t know if Clyde was there, but if he wasn’t, the club gave every fan a commemorative T-shirt of the night and I would like to present one of these to Clyde if possible.”

In true Bermudian hospitality, Best then took the Stevens on a drive after lunch, stopping at Somerset Cricket Club to show them the ground where he played his early football.

The couple only got a brief look at the street named after Best — Clyde Best Lane — when on the tour bus the day before, but this time they had time to have pictures taken with Best next to the street sign.

“The island was always a place I wanted to visit because of Clyde,” Stevens said.

Stevens has been a season-ticket holder at West Ham since 1980 and was there for the final home game of season against Manchester United which signalled the end of an era.

“My biggest memory of Clyde was when he played in goal against Leeds United in a 1-1 draw in the early 1970s,” Stevens said. “He let in the goal, by the way!”

Those were the days when only one substitute was allowed on the bench and Best remembers being asked to go in goal after the goalkeeper got injured.

“There have been a lot of memories, I remember the defeats as much as the wins,” said Stevens, who saw every home game as the club enjoyed a successful final season at Upton Park.

“There have been a lot of memories there. The football’s been good this season. It’s been a great year, even the games we lost we still played good football.”

Although it has been 40 years since he left West Ham, Best has maintained strong ties with the club and returns often to watch matches. He plans to watch them play at the Olympic Stadium early next season.

“It’s just something about the place [Upton Park],” Best said. “I didn’t want to play for anybody else [in England], that’s why I left England when I left West Ham,” said Best, who shared with the Stevens some happy times at the club, playing with the likes of Bobby Moore, Martin Peters, Billy Bonds, Trevor Brooking and Harry Redknapp.

Talk also centred around the present team and the exciting group of youngsters there, including Djair Parfitt-Williams, and Nathan Trott, two Bermudians making their mark at the club.

“What I really liked about the place was the people, and I tell people here one thing about the East End of London, if you’ve got a friend you’ve got a friend for life,” Best said.

These days Best enjoys showing Bermudian hospitality when people visit from England and look him up.

“It’s nice to get people coming over from England,” he said. “Before last season started I met 30 guys here from England, all West Ham fans.”

And his contribution to Somerset has not been forgotten either, with a man walking up to him in the restaurant and whispering, “Somerset still need you”. Best appreciated the compliment and just smiled.