Brendon Batson receives OBE in Queen's New Year's honours

Wednesday 31 Dec 2014
Anti-discrimination campaigner Brendon Batson
Brendon Batson, the former West Brom defender who was one of the pioneers for black footballers in the 1970s has been awarded an OBE for services to football. 

Batson, previously an MBE, worked for the Professional Footballers' Association and more recently has been an adviser to The Football Association on equality and football development. 

Batson said: "When we look at the way things have evolved over the years as a whole I am very pleased with the development of black players but there is still a long way to go to address the lack of representation in coaching, management and governance." 

There is an MBE for Crewe's long-serving chairman John Bowler, who took over in 1987 and helped make the club into a fertile developing ground for young talent, while Linvoy Primus, the former Portsmouth defender, receives an MBE for services to football and charity.

Hillsborough campaigners Margaret Aspinall and Trevor Hicks have been awarded CBEs for their campaigning on behalf of the 96 fans who died in the disaster 25 years ago.

Britain's FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce, from Northern Ireland, receives an OBE for services to football. Boyce, a former Irish Football Association president and current head of FIFA's referees' committee, steps down from the vice-presidency in May.

Boyce, who was severely injured in a Belfast car bomb in 1972, said: "I would like to dedicate this honour to the people who kept football in Northern Ireland going through the many, many difficult years."

By FA Staff