Brendon Batson

Brendon Batson

Personal information
Full name	Brendon Martin Batson
Date of birth	(1953-02-06) 6 February 1953
Place of birth	St. George's, Grenada
Position(s)	Right back
Youth career
	Arsenal
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1971–74	Arsenal	10	(0)
1974–78	Cambridge United	163	(6)
1978–82	West Bromwich Albion	172	(1)
International career
	England B	3	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Brendon Martin Batson, OBE (born 6 February 1953) is an English former association footballer.

Biography

Born in St. George's, Grenada, Batson moved with his family to England when he was nine. Until then he had never even seen a game of football and a teacher at this school, on watching his early efforts and reflecting on his birthplace opined, "Well, perhaps cricket is your game." However, he was signed as a schoolboy by Arsenal, and was the first black player to play for the Gunners' first team. In all, he made 10 appearances for Arsenal before moving to Cambridge United in 1974. He spent four years at Cambridge, captaining the side to the Fourth Division Championship under manager Ron Atkinson in 1976-77. When Atkinson moved to West Bromwich Albion in 1978, he attracted Batson to follow him and to team up with fellow black players Cyrille Regis and Laurie Cunningham. Although not by any means the first black footballers to play professionally in England, the Three Degrees (a reference to The Three Degrees contemporary vocal trio of the same name) were an integral part of their acceptance in the English leagues.

A cultured defender, Batson's career was cut short by a serious playing injury in 1982, following which he developed into an able and active administrator at the Professional Footballers' Association. He was capped three times for the England B team.

He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2000 and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours, both for services to football.

Bibliography

• Bowler, D., & J. Bains (2000), Samba in the Smethwick End: Regis, Cunningham, Batson and the Football Revolution, ISBN 1-84018-188-5
• Paul Rees,(2014) "The Three Degrees The Men Who Changed British Football Forever" ISBN 978-1-4721-1926-1