Brentford legend Chris Kamara has discussed his place in club history as the first Black man to play for the Bees in the Football League. 

Kamara, who was inducted into the Brentford Hall of Fame in 2024, spoke about his experience of racism as a player in a recent session facilitated by Show Racism the Red Card. 

During his four years with the Bees (1981 - 1985), Kamara made 190 appearances for the club, scoring 32 goals, and won Supporters’ Player of the Year in the 1983/84 season.  

When the midfielder made his debut against Burnley, unbeknownst to him, he became Brentford's first Black player in the Football League, and later in his career, the club’s first Black captain. 

“Incredibly, the Brentford crowd accepted me straight away,” Kamara said.

“There were no murmurings, there was nothing about, ‘Oh, he's our first Black player, where will it stop,’ and all this type of stuff. No, not at all. They accepted me from the beginning.” 

He joked that after he made his debut playing with Stan Bowles, he scored in his second home game at Griffin Park: “That may have helped! But the crowd was fantastic to me.” 

Kamara’s exploits in red and white are well remembered by fans, and it was his formidable midfield relationship with Bowles and Terry Hurlock that made the Bees so exciting to watch. 

His inclusion in the team left a legacy that he is proud of to this day. In an interview with the club in 2023, Kamara said on being Brentford’s first Black player: “I'll forever have that accolade and I’m dead proud of it.” 

It was also an inspiration to young Black footballers aspiring to follow in his footsteps. Club ambassador Marcus Gayle also joined the session and said that he used to watch Kamara play at Griffin Park. 

Kamara responded: “He [Marcus Gayle] told me that I was an inspiration to him as the first Black player to put on the Brentford shirt. I didn’t play on that, it wasn’t my style back then. My style and thought process was the play, that ‘I’m no different than anybody else’.” 

Looking back now, Kamara appreciates what it meant for him, Marcus and Brentford. “What a lift it was. It’s lovely for someone to tell you that, to speak about you as a trailblazer. It’s great, I’m so pleased.” 

“I didn’t want to be different or separate” 

Kamara was also the first Black man to play for Swindon Town in 1977 and commented on the first time he saw his name in the local paper. 

“I picked up the local paper, the Swindon Advertiser, to see what the reaction was about me signing, and there it is, ‘Our first Black player to play for the club, Chris Kamara.’

"Even then, it didn't really sink in. I was just thinking, ‘I'm another footballer.’ And that was my attitude from being young. 

“I didn't want to be different or separate. I was a footballer, the same as anybody else, and that was my motivation.” 

In the session, Kamara was asked how important it is for former players to lead work in anti-racism education campaigns in football and share their experiences with the next generation. 

“When I talk to youngsters these days, they can't believe what it was like going to away grounds as a Black player.

"You know, we talk about social media now, having a go at Black players, but back when I started playing, people said the N-word to your face or said, ‘Get out of our country, you shouldn't be here.’ I was born in Middlesbrough, and I'd tell them that. 

“In the 90s, it starts to get better, it really does. And now, as a player, I don't think there are many players, certainly not in the Premier League, who have a problem at club football these days, in terms of thinking they're going to get racially abused.” 

His message to young people now is simple – that we’re all the same. “I would say to any youngsters now, most of the people you're growing up with, there'll be somebody of colour in there. They're no different to you. They're the same as you," he said.

“They breathe the same air as you do. They wash in the morning and wash at night exactly the same as you do. They put on clothes but they have one slight difference, the colour of their skin. That doesn't make them different at all. In their heads, they're the same as you.” 

Chris Kamara, Brentford Hall of Famer 

Kamara was inducted into the Brentford Hall of Fame in the class of 2024, the same night as his former midfield partner Terry Hurlock. 

Speaking about his induction, Kamara said it was “absolutely fantastic” to be recognised by the club. 

“You never start playing football and think of individual awards; you think of the team. If the team does well, you do well.

"Since my retirement, not just from playing, but from TV as well, the accolades have been coming in and I’m so happy to be in the Brentford Hall of Fame.

“If anybody ever researches Brentford Football Club and looks at the players in the Hall of Fame, I'm in there. Not just as the first Black player, but as the first Black captain, too.

"I was so proud to wear the armband as well and to walk out first at Griffin Park or whatever football ground we went to.”