Football player for West Ham and the English national side.
One of the gentlemen of football, Sir Trevor is also known for his various roles in the sport as a player, and manager of West Ham, player for England, as a television and radio pundit and now as an administrator in the Football Association.

Trevor Brooking was born in Barking in 1948, the son of a police officer, and has lived for almost all his life in Essex.  He passed his 11-plus exam and entered Ilford County High School.  Unlike many professional soccer players, Trevor placed great emphasis on his education; indeed, he might claim to be an early exponent of lifelong learning.  He took 11 O-levels and Economics and Accounts at A-level.  Even after signing as an apprentice with West Ham United Football Club in 1965, Trevor continued day classes in Business Studies

Trevor Brooking made his West Ham debut in a 3-3 draw at Burnley at the start of the 1967/68 season - the scorers in that game were Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, West Ham's legendary triumvirate from England's 1966 World Cup triumph.  Trevor retired 17 years later, having played 635 times for West Ham, his only club, and scoring 102 goals.

He was twice an FA Cup winner with West Ham, in 1975 and again in 1980, when the second division club famously beat the mighty Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley. Trevor scored the only goal with the third header of his career. Trevor's links with West Ham continue to this day and recently it was announced that he had joined the club's Board of Directors.

His international career is no less impressive. Trevor made his international debut against Portugal in 1974 and went on to play 47 times for England, scoring five goals.  One of the great disappointments of his career was not to play a major role in a World Cup.  In the 1982 tournament in Spain, the only World Cup finals for which England qualified during his international career, Brooking was injured and did not play until England's final second round group match against the hosts Spain.  Manager Ron Greenwood chose Brooking as a substitute and brought him on after 60 minutes.   Unfortunately, despite bringing a fine save from the Spanish goalkeeper, Trevor failed to break the deadlock and England went out of the World Cup, unbeaten and having conceded only one goal in the tournament.  Trevor Brooking then retired from international football.

Unlike many others in his profession, since the end of his playing days in 1984, Trevor Brooking has pursued not one but two successful careers, one in BBC television and radio and the other in sports administration.  He was chair of the Eastern Region Council for Sport and Recreation from 1987 until 1997 and it was in this role that he presented the prizes at our own 12 th Sports Awards Dinner in 1989.

He became a member and vice-chair of the then Great Britain Sports Council.  Subsequently, in 1999 he was appointed chair of Sport England, which is responsible for developing and maintaining the infrastructure of sport in England and has responsibility for distributing National Lottery funds.

Indeed, few of us will envy Trevor's high profile task of negotiating Sport England's way through the trials and tribulations of establishing a new national stadium at Wembley, but less well known is Trevor's extensive commitment to charity work.  He contributes to several charitable and voluntary organisations, particularly related to disabled people and youngsters.

With typical modesty, in his autobiography, he admits to a “fairly close association with a residential centre in Essex called New Mossford which caters for almost 70 handicapped children”.  This charity work has lead to a street being named after him in the Newham borough of London.