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Brendon Batson Biography
Brendon is one of British football’s first high-profile black footballers and has been an ardent supporter of the SRtRC campaign for many years.
He was born in Grenada and moved to Britain with his family at the age of nine years old. Brendon signed for Arsenal as a schoolboy and became the first black player to play for the Arsenal first team, making 10 appearances for them.
Later he joined Cambridge United FC in 1974 and spent four years there, captaining the side to the Division 4 title in the 1976-77 season.
When Brendon’s manager at Cambridge, Ron Atkinson, was offered the Manager’s job at West Bromwich Albion, Brendon was also persuaded to join and linked up with two other black players, Cyrille Regis and Laurie Cunningham. No professional football team in England had ever fielded three black players before and Brendon became a key figure at WBA during the four years he spent there.
Brendon was awarded an MBE for services to football in 2000. Brendon was one of SRtRC’s original Honorary Patrons, sending a letter of support to the campaign in 1997. To date Brendon has attended over 18 SRtRC events and was inducted into our Hall of Fame in 2004.
