The Len Cantello Testimonial Match, (West Bromwich Albion XI v Cyrille Regis & Laurie Cunningham XI), was a
testimonial
In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of a product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, whe ...
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
match that took place in May 1979 to celebrate West Bromwich Albion player
Len Cantello, who played for the club over 300 times between 1968 and 1979. The teams were selected based on the colour of the players' skin. The West Bromwich Albion XI was composed of
White British
White British is an ethnicity classification used for the White population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population was 49 ...
and
Irish players while the Cyrille Regis & Laurie Cunningham XI was composed of
Black British
Black British people or Black Britons"Black Briton, N." ''Oxford English Dictionary''. Oxford UP. December 2024. https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1136579918. are a multi-ethnic group of British people of List of ethnic groups of Africa, Sub-Saharan ...
players.
The West Brom XI team featured
Tony Godden,
Paddy Mulligan,
Derek Statham,
Tony Brown,
John Wile,
Bryan Robson
Bryan Robson (born 11 January 1957) is an English association football, football manager and former player. He began his career with West Bromwich Albion F.C., West Bromwich Albion in 1972, where he amassed over 200 appearances and was club ca ...
,
Johnny Giles
Michael John Giles (born 6 November 1940) is an Irish former association football player and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s. After retiring from management in 1985, Giles served as ...
,
John Trewick,
Alistair Brown,
Len Cantello,
David Mills,
David Stewart,
Martyn Bennett and
Kevin Summerfield.
The Cyrille Regis & Laurie Cunningham XI featured
Ian Benjamin (Sheffield United), Vernon Hodgson (West Bromwich Albion – a trialist),
Brendon Batson (West Bromwich Albion),
Derek Richardson (QPR),
Stewart Phillips (Hereford United),
George Berry (Wolverhampton Wanderers),
Bob Hazell (Wolverhampton Wanderers),
Garth Crooks (Stoke City),
Winston White (Hereford Utd),
Cyrille Regis
Cyrille Regis (9 February 1958 – 14 January 2018) was a professional footballer who played as a forward. His professional playing career spanned 19 years, where he made 614 league appearances and scored 158 league goals, most prolifically at ...
(West Bromwich Albion),
Laurie Cunningham (West Bromwich Albion),
Remi Moses (West Bromwich Albion),
Valmore Thomas (Hereford United). Benjamin, Phillips, Crooks and White would go on to sign for West Bromwich Albion later during their playing career.
Roger Palmer was expected to play but was not available.
Match details
Line up according to the match programme.
Documentary
The match was the basis of a BBC documentary entitled ''Whites Vs Blacks: How Football Changed A Nation.''
The documentary was aired on BBC Two on 27 November 2016.
References
{{West Bromwich Albion F.C. matches
1978–79 in English football
Black British history
West Bromwich Albion F.C. matches
May 1979 sports events in the United Kingdom