Laurie Cunningham to be profiled for TV show
West Brom hero Laurie Cunningham will be profiled in a TV documentary to be screened next week.
The ex-Baggies winger, who died at the age of 33, is the subject of First Among Equals, a one-off programme to be shown on ITV at 10.35pm next Wednesday.
The hour-long documentary will examine the significance of Cunningham's career at The Hawthorns and following his high-profile move to Real Madrid.
The London-born wideman was the first black player to represent England at any level when he played for the under-21 side.
The programme includes interviews with his team-mates at Leyton Orient, where he started his career, Albion and Real Madrid.
Contributors include Hawthorns legend Cyrille Regis, Spain manager Vicente Del Bosque and ex-Albion and Villa boss and Express & Star columnist Ron Atkinson.
Members of his family and high-profile black players including Paul Ince, John Barnes, Les Ferdinand, Ian Wright and Mark Bright will also feature.
Regis said: "It's a real milestone in history – a black guy playing for England. Looking back on it, it was enormous. He was a flamboyant footballer, great on the pitch.
"He helped break down barriers, he helped inspire a lot of black players to play football and made a lot of black people proud that there's a black player playing for England."
Cunningham joined the Baggies from Orient in 1977 and was part of the trio of black players known as the 'Three Degrees' along with Regis and Brendon Batson.
He later played for Real and a host of clubs in England and abroad. He died in a car crash in Madrid in 1989.
