Brendon Batson: I’d like to think Powell would now say sorry
Baggies legend Brendon Batson has denounced the Rivers of Blood speech, saying: "I would like to think if Powell was here today he would stand up and apologise and say, 'I was wrong'."
In a powerful address at the Burlington Hotel – where Powell made his infamous speech in 1968 when it was the Midland Hotel – the former Albion defender reflected on his experiences of racism growing up in Britain as part of the Windrush generation.
He spoke of the racial abuse that he and his fellow 'Three Degrees greats Cyrille Regis and Laurie Cunningham suffered at football grounds in the 1970s and 1980s.
Batson was the guest of honour at an event organised by the TUC and Stand Up To Racism. It marked 50 years since Powell’s controversial speech, which warned of the dangers of mass immigration.
Dubbed 'From Rivers of Blood to Rivers of Love', the event called for a rejection of the former Wolverhampton South West MP's words and celebrated the contribution made by immigrant communities in Britain.
Batson was born in Grenada and came to England 1962. He told an audience in the same room as Powell made his speech that he was being called names from the age of nine, first growing up in Tilbury and then Wathamstow.
He was Ron Atkinson's first signing, joining Albion from Cambridge United in 1978.
He said that that football came as a 'godsend' but added that when he joined the club 'the volume [of racism] increased unbelievably'.
"I can recall being at West Brom, arriving at grounds and seeing the National Front out there waiting for us," he said.
"In those days we would get off the coach and walk in through the players entrance.
"We were spat at by the Union Jack 'bovver boys'. It was in the 70s when we had the explosion of black players. That seemed to incense the far right.
"They used football as a recruitment ground and they had the cloak of anonymity at the grounds.
"I can remember vividly being at West Ham running out for the warm up, and I stopped because all I could see was a load of stuff coming towards me and it was bananas.
"I picked one up and threw it to Cyrille and he started to peel it because we just didn't know what to do when you have a whole bank of people snarling at you, calling you names.
"It is a credit to all the black players of my era and those that followed, that we said 'we'll see you next week, we'll see you next year, we'll see you next month'."
Reflecting on Rivers of Blood, Batson, now 65, added: "I was 15 when that speech was made, and later on I gradually got to understand what it was all about.
"The thing with Powell's speech is that the general public rejected it.
"I would like to think if Powell was here today he would stand up and apologise to all and sundry ans say 'I was wrong'.
"I'm not sure he would do, because the more you hear that speech you can't understand what drove him to make that speech living in that area.
"He must have know the impact it was going to have, how divisive it was. How he made people of colour...who were almost terrorised by his words.
went on to reflect on the 1993 murder of Stephen Lawrence, which he called 'a turning point' in people's realisation of how ethnic minorities were being treated by the authorities.
"On a positive note, I think we are all a walking advert of what's good about our society and culture," he told the room.
"I've got two children and five grandchildren. My house in in Spain. My son lives in Slovenia, he's got twin girls. I think it is incumbent on us to go out there and show we've come a long way.
"We've had our struggles but we are here to tell our own individual stories. We have to give positive imagery and positive messages to our kids and our grandkids.
"My grandkids find it pretty hard to believe what I went through, what my sister went through, what my mother had to go through when she first came to England.
But within that narrative we talk about how we have progressed, how we have achieved."
He added: "We represent the majority of people out there who say: 'We are not going to stand for racism. We are going to stand up against it'."
Batson quit football aged 31 due to injury and went on to spend 18 years as the deputy chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association. He has an MBE and an OBE for his services to football.
The event was the second in successive days to mark Powell's speech. It featured speeches from MPs Eleanor Smith, Preet Gill and UNISON deputy general secretary Roger McKenzie.
TUC Midlands regional secretary Lee Barron, said: "Powell’s vision of ‘rivers of blood’ has clearly been rejected.
"Our communities are a vibrant, tolerant and open society that is welcoming to all people.”
