Benjamin Odeje: The first footballer of African Heritage to play for an England team

The hostile economies of African countries, the limited opportunities, contrary and daunting situations were spurs to dreams of better lives.

These aspirations borne out of sheer determination and doggedness pre-colonial era led to the first waves of African migrants to Europe.

For Benjamin Odeje, the lives of his parents represented the typical spirit of resilience in the first generation African migrants that early, they didn’t take the easy way out but pushed past the limiting barriers to make it to Europe, His mother worked as a nurse.

Benjamin Odeje was born in 1955 in the old Mid-Western Nigeria (later known as Bendel) as a child he moved to England with his parents. The family lived in South-East London where he attended Lucas Vale primary school where his talent was discovered so early in the 60s.

Hear his childhood friend Roy;

“I first played football against you for Tidemill primary school, when you yourself played for Lucas Vale primary school. If I remember rightly, the game was on the red gra at Brookmill Park and we lost 6-0 and you scored a hat-trick, we later became teammates for Blackheath schools, Kent schools, and Charlton Athletic FC”…..

That was the story of the football prodigy, Benjamin Odeje that early In primary school as narrated by his childhood friend Roy Hobson.

Roy continued;

“In the 1960s/70’s Benjamin Odeje went to Lucas Vale Primary School, and SELS, and I went to Tidemill Primary School, and Addey and Stanhope Grammar School. We are both now 65 years of age (that was 2021)”.

He had acquired the nickname “Pelé” by scoring nearly 400 goals in three seasons in schools’ football.

In the 1970/71 football season Deptford schoolboy Benjamin Odeje became the 1st black footballer to represent England at any level, and if you read the local press article closely that year (1971 March), you’ll see that he was described as ‘coloured’, but it seemed that the FA wasn’t aware of it or forgot about him.

Odeje has to wait for over half a century in 2022 for the FA to finally acknowledge his position as the first-ever black footballer of African heritage to feature in an international fixture for England at any level.

However, a BBC investigation in 2013 identified him as the first black Three Lions player when he was selected for England schoolboys, as a 15-year-old, versus Northern Ireland in front of 70,000 people at Wembley in March 1971.

At the time Laurie Cunningham was recognised as the first black player to represent England at any level, when he featured for England Under-21s in 1977.

Odeje went on to make four further appearances for England schoolboys, scoring once – in a 5-1 win over Holland.

Indeed, in 2020, an article carried in the newspaper entitled ‘England’s first black international and his 42-year wait for recognition’ stated that an ‘appropriate gesture to recognise his [Odeje’s] accomplishment is long overdue.’

The move to finally endorse Odeje’s standing was first mooted by Paul Elliott, chair of the FA’s inclusion advisory board, earlier in 2022.

Benjamin Odeje played for his local professional club, Charlton Athletic. He played in France with Charlton’s youth team in the summer of 1971, and set up the goal that earned them a place in the quarter-finals of the 1972–73 FA Youth Cup. He never played for Charlton’s first team (though not because of commensurate talent) but went on to appear in non-League football in the London area for clubs including Hendon, Clapton and Dulwich Hamlet.

He later coached at Queens Park Rangers, worked as a teacher of physical education, and ran children’s soccer schools in north London, Atlantic Sports development FC.

My personal interaction and relationships with Ben Odeje revealed a man of gentle mien and so unassuming, we attended the same Church together for 5 years. I was with him the day his honour was officially confirmed by the English FA, I was expecting a huge excitement from him because of the decades-long delay but so typical of him, he appeared so unperturbed.

Ben is a role model on and off the pitch as a trainer.

Odeje’s talent and courage paved the way for black players of today at every level.