[DevilDave]

There was an excellent radio programme about West Bromwich Albion's 'Three Degrees' broadcast on Radio 4 Monday morning.

It's a telling portrait of the racism black footballers Brendon Batson, Laurie Cunnigham and Cyrille Regis had to face, and the impacts their presence had on football and society. It features interviews with the two surviving members of the 'Three Degrees' and others connected to the club at the time, such as then-Albion manager Ron Atkinson.

I got up at 3 a.m. California time yesterday to hear it! But I wouldn't have woken that early if I had known the BBC would make it available online on the Radio 4 Web site.

Here's the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/. Scroll down the list of 'latest programmes' to "Three Degrees West.' It will only be up for a few days, I think.

The material covered is nothing new to most Albion fans... even I was familiar with the material, having read Dave Bowler's excellent book 'Samba in the Smethwick End.' But it's still good to hear about what happened straight from the mouths of Batson, Big Ron, John Wile and others.