Brendon Batson proud to see Bukayo Saka star for England in wake of abuse

Arsenal’s first black player Brendon Batson has hailed the mental resilience of Gunners and England star Bukayo Saka.

Saka has been a key performer in England’s run to the final of Euro 2024, scoring the equaliser in the quarter-final against Switzerland to force extra-time and converting a penalty to help his team win a shoot-out.

Three years ago Saka received horrendous racist abuse on social media after he was one of three black players who missed penalties in England’s Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy, but he continued to play brilliantly for club and country in the seasons which followed.

Batson, who on Thursday night received a Football Black List award at an event held at the home of another of his former clubs, West Brom, has been impressed both by Saka’s fortitude and how everyone rallied around him.

“I’ve got the greatest admiration for Saka because he’s shown a lot of mental resilience, but also I think people around him have been very supportive – not just Arsenal supporters and Arsenal Football Club, but across the country,” Batson, who made his first-team debut for the Gunners in 1972, told the PA news agency.

“The thing is, there is much more good in this world than bad, and I think football kind of reflects that, because you get extremes. He’s come through it fantastically well and I couldn’t be more proud of all those lads.

“There is a lot of pride, particularly from the diverse community, to see somebody who’s had to go through a lot of abuse come through it almost immediately after by playing so well for his club and carrying on playing well for England.”

Batson, who worked as an adviser to the Football Association on equality and football development as well as serving as deputy chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association for 18 years, appeared sceptical about the part England’s diverse squad could play in altering attitudes on race.

“I’m a bit a bit long in the tooth now and I’ve seen everything in my years involved in the game, both as a player and administrator. I know that people are fickle,” he said.

“We go back to that fantastic French team that won the World Cup (in 1998), people like Zidane – I think (Karim) Benzema said something like, ‘When they’re winning they’re French, when they lose, they’re Arabs’.

“Things can change very, very quickly. There are people almost waiting for England to fail. Irrespective, that team want to be accepted as a team.

“I long for the day when we don’t have to refer to black players – they’re just players.

“And that team is made up of different individuals with different strengths and in the semi-final, apart from one moment of brilliance (from Ollie Watkins), they’re a real team – that is their biggest strength I think, and that will stand them in good stead come Sunday.”

Batson’s award was part of a wider Football Black List community event at The Hawthorns.

The Football Black List is an initiative founded by journalists Rodney Hinds and Leon Mann in 2008, which aims to highlight and amplify black excellence in the national sport.

Mann said: “It feels like the perfect time to celebrate the black contribution to football in England given the wonderful diversity of the national team heading to the final.”