Black History Month: How a single photo changed hockey star Darcy Bourne's life

Hockey 01 Oct 23

A chance photo altered the course of Great Britain hockey star Darcy Bourne’s life forever.

Before she made her senior international debut, the then-teenager was thrust into prominence outside the realm of hockey after a picture of her at a Black Lives Matter protest in London went viral in June 2020.

Bourne’s freshly painted sign caught the eye of Nigerian photographer Misan Harriman, who asked her to pose for a photo which changed both of their lives after it rapidly spread online.

“It's kind of crazy thinking back in hindsight, because that one photo literally changed my life,” explained Bourne, who celebrated her 21st birthday during 2022 Black History Month. 

“When I saw the video of the death of George Floyd, I remember just being filled with every emotion.

“I thought it was an old video because I didn't believe that sort of stuff still happened. But it very much does, obviously, and I just knew I wanted to get involved.

“I wanted to go to the protests but I wasn’t expecting to have any sort of impact, I just wanted to be part of it.

“I remember the night before I was scrolling through Instagram, and I saw something that made me think, why is ending racism a debate? Like why is this controversial? So, I wrote that on my sign.

“I saw Misan right at the beginning of the day and he took a photo of it and I didn't think anything of it, because everyone was taking photos of everyone but a few days later I checked my phone and it had just blown up.”

Several celebrities and athletes, including Lewis Hamilton and Dina Asher-Smith, re-posted the image before poignantly Martin Luther King III, son of the prominent American civil rights activist, shared the photo. 

“I was excited, overwhelmed and literally couldn’t get off my phone for the first two days and when I saw Martin Luther King III shared it, I burst into tears,” she recalled.

“It was 2am in the morning but there’s no-one in the world that it would have meant more if they’d shared it.

“I think that was the moment I realised that this photo has given me the opportunity to do something really special.

“A lot of what I do today is because of that photo.”

Bourne took up a hockey scholarship at Duke University in the US later in 2020 where she used her voice to co-found Beyond Our Game, a diversity recruiting platform dedicated to providing student-athletes of colour with competitive employment opportunities.

The project bridged hockey rivalries as Bourne’s co-founder, Courtnie Williamson, was an opposing player at nearby University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Bourne explained: “She was the first black captain of their hockey team and she reached out to me after a game and was like, ‘hey, I've seen the photo, seen what you do, I would love to get in contact and let's just put ideas together.’

“We have some relationships with companies in America that connect student athletes, to their companies who are trying to diversify their workforce.

“And we're in the process now of trying to expand the community side in the UK, which is really exciting and something that's growing every day.”

Bourne returned to the UK to pursue her hockey career and progressed into the British squad for the Paris 2024 cycle at the beginning of 2022.

An England debut against Argentina followed in February before Bourne’s big break came at the Women’s World Cup when injury to Flora Peel elevated her from travelling reserve to fully-fledged squad member.

That tournament finished in a disappointing quarter-final defeat to Argentina and Bourne’s senior international career has been far from plain sailing.

As a reserve for the Commonwealth Games, she watched on from home as her England teammates made history by claiming that elusive gold medal after 24 years of trying but with Paris looming on the horizon, she is not lacking in motivation.

“I remember I watched the Olympics when I was six years old and turned around to my parents and said, ‘I'm going to the Olympics one day,” said Bourne.

“That's still my dream and I'm one step closer to achieving that. The Commonwealth Games was quite a difficult experience, but something that I hope I can learn from.

“It kind of hurts when you're that close but I think I can't be anything but proud of the team and for the sport in general.

“It was almost like the kick in the teeth that I think I needed to get really hungry again. Not that I wasn't but to go that extra mile with Paris around the corner.”

Bourne is no stranger to being the only black player on the hockey field and is one of a handful of black women have represented Britain in the sport.

Having turned out for local side Surbiton Hockey Club and boarded at Wellington College, she acknowledges her path to the top of the game is no different to her peers.

However, Bourne is doing her bit to diversify the sport by supporting the Spencer Lynx academy which provides hockey coaching for inner city kids in London who otherwise wouldn’t receive it.

“I think the opportunity to show them a new sport that they didn't think was made for them is really powerful and really inspiring,” said Bourne.

“I would love hockey to be more diverse. Being the only person of colour on my team didn't put me off, but it does for a lot of people and it'd be great to see the face of the sport changing but obviously it takes time.”

Inspired by her foray into activism, Bourne enrolled virtually at the University of Nottingham to study sociology and relishes the chance to discuss both “black pain and black brilliance” during Black History Month.

However, she hopes one day there will no longer be a need for October to be set aside to propel the issue to the forefront of people’s minds.

“You'd like to see a situation where it's naturally talked about, but I don't think we're at that point yet, so having a month that can remind people who aren't necessarily always talking about it is great,” she said.

“But that shouldn't confine it to only being spoken about in October."

Sportsbeat 2022

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