We started work on Football’s Black Pioneers in the autumn of 2016 and each May we mourned the loss of two teams from our contents’ list and started work on two new chapters. Sometimes work we had done that we feared was wasted effort turned out not to have been wasted after all – Leyton Orient were in, then they were out, then they were back in again. We kept our fingers crossed for Notts County in the 2020 play offs as we had already written about their first black player, Pedro Richards. Sadly it was not to be and so we set to work writing about Barrow and Harrogate Town instead. But, ‘patience is a virtue’ as my mother used to say and on 13th May 2023, after several near misses, Notts County secured their return ticket to the Football League by beating Chesterfield in the play-off final after extra time and penalties. So now, finally, we can welcome Notts County, founder members of the Football League in 1888, to the programme pages of this site.
Pedro Richards was their first black player.
Pedro was born in the North Middlesex Hospital, Edmonton, London on 11th November 1956. His birth certificate shows his name as Peter Richards but, probably thanks to his Spanish mother, he is forever remembered as Pedro.
He spent his childhood up to the age of 11 in Spain and when he came to Nottingham as a young boy he could hardly speak English. Indeed in his book Diary of a Football Nobody, his team mate David McVay irreverently refers to “Pedro, whose grasp of the written English is on a par with his attempts at the spoken word…”
Early press reports about young Pedro almost invariably described him, incorrectly, as West Indian born.
As a young professional Pedro impressed greatly and in 1974 spent two days training at Lilleshall as one of the 50 top under-18 year old footballers in England.
He had played for Nottingham Boys along with St Kitts-born Tristan Benjamin who also joined Notts County. It was always going to be a close run race to see who would be the first to reach the first team. Pedro won that honour when he made his debut on 23rd November 1974 at left back in a 3-0 defeat at Sunderland who were flying high in the old Second Division at the time. Pedro had celebrated his 18th birthday just five days earlier. Tristan followed him into the first team on 5nd April 1975 and went on to make 369 appearances for County.
Pedro isn’t named in the programme for his debut game but whoever bought the programme helpfully noted down the team changes that introduced Pedro to League football at No.3.
Despite the occasional transfer request, Pedro was a one-club man and over 12 seasons played almost 500 games for Notts County, scoring six goals. Pedro and Tristan both served the club well.
Tragically Pedro died, aged only 45, on 23rd December 2001.
Pedro is still fondly remembered by many County fans and it is our pleasure to honour him here.