Everyone associated with West Ham United has been deeply saddened by the death of popular long-serving Club photographer Steve Bacon.
Born in east London in 1952, the son of a Billingsgate Market fish porter, Bacon grew up a boyhood West Ham fan and dreamt of becoming a full-time professional sports photographer.
He began by taking photos at West Ham Speedway in Custom House as a teenager and, after a period working for the General Post Office, got his first posting as a junior photographer for a company called Fuller & Watts.
He then returned to speedway, working as a mechanic, while also taking photographs for magazines and local newspapers, namely the East London Advertiser, the Stratford Express and Recorder titles. It was while working at West Ham Speedway that he got his big break, meeting photographer Arthur Edwards, who ran Tower Hamlets Studios and ultimately asked the young Bacon to take on local agency work for him.
In 1976, Bacon was offered the job covering West Ham United home and away for the Recorder. He initially turned it down, before changing his mind. It was a decision that changed his life.
He would visit Chadwell Heath every Friday with Recorder sports editor Trevor Smith, having lunch with manager John Lyall alongside other journalists.
In 1980, Bacon was invited into the Club’s inner sanctum by Lyall, travelling with the squad and becoming close with the legendary players of multiple eras in West Ham history. During his long and illustrious career, as a trusted member of the backroom team, he would spend over 30 years as the Club’s official photographer, capturing all of the historic and iconic moments which the Hammers enjoyed from the 1970s to 2000s.
The instantly recognisable Bacon travelled over land and sea with the Irons, snapping the Boys of ’86, the ups and downs of the 1990s and 2000s under a sucession of managers, behind the scenes moments at Chadwell Heath, the Boleyn Ground and on pitches and in dressing rooms all over the country and beyond.
Perhaps the most famous of the thousands of photographs captured by Bacon was that of a bloodied Billy Bonds, smiling and with bandages covering his forehead and left eye.
A cult hero, Bacon had his own terrace chant sung by the Claret and Blue Army, appeared on Sky Sports’ Soccer AM and even had a double burger and bacon burger named after him at the West Ham Forever Burger Bar in Priory Road, next to the Boleyn Ground.
As the title and cover of his 2012 autobiography explained: “He has never scored a goal, lifted a trophy, worn the captain’s armband or even played for the Club but the man is considered a genuine Hammers legend. Indeed, as the fans have repeatedly chanted for the last three decades, ‘There’s Only One Stevie Bacon’.”
Everyone at West Ham United would like to pass on our sincere condolences to Steve’s family and friends at this sad time.
