Brentford Trivia
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6correct to beat the crowd
48 free Brentford trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Brentford were voted into existence by a rowing club, named after a misheard college chant, and spent decades as English football's unluckiest play-off side before an Oxford physics graduate's data model took them to the Premier League. This quiz covers the whole story: the Oxford & Cambridge pub meeting of 1889, 'Buck up Bs', the Southern League years, Harry Curtis and the rise from third tier to fifth in the First Division, the London War Cup at Wembley, the pub on every corner of Griffin Park, the 21-out-of-21 home wins of 1929-30, the 1967 plot to hand the ground to QPR, Stan Bowles rescuing a groundsman from a fire, Ron Noades as chairman-manager, Bees United, the 'mysterious investor', Mark Warburton and Dean Smith, nine play-off failures, Thomas Frank, Ivan Toney's record 31, the Community Stadium and Sir Matthew Vaughn's investment. Early questions suit anyone who has heard 'Hey Jude' ring round the Gtech; later ones are for Bees who know their Braemar Road from their Brook Road: what the wavy line on the 1893 badge meant, which stand was nicknamed the Wendy House, and what date the 1973 badge got wrong. Good for a supporters' club night or a west London pub quiz. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the club, Griffin Park, the Community Stadium and key figures, and each question shows its source.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Brentford Football Club was formed in October 1889 by members of which existing sports club?
The town's rowers
The town's rowers. They wanted a sport for the winter months, and at a pub by Kew Bridge they voted eight to five for association football over rugby.
Q 02Whose 1890s chant of 'Buck up, Bs', misheard by reporters, gave Brentford the nickname the Bees?
Students cheering a college friend
Students cheering a college friend. They came from Borough Road College to support Joseph Gettins, and their college cry, meant for him and his fellow students, stuck to the whole club.
Q 03What pushed Brentford, then an amateur club, into turning professional in 1899?
It was caught paying its players
It was caught paying its players. Under-the-counter wages were common among London's leading amateur sides; the football authorities punished Brentford with a fine and a suspension, and the club went openly professional.
Q 04Griffin Park, Brentford's home from 1904 to 2020, was laid out on brewery land that had been what?
An orchard
An orchard. Volunteers felled the fruit trees and were allowed to keep the wood; the landlord was Fuller's Griffin Brewery, which is how the ground came by its name.
Q 05Griffin Park was famous as the only English league ground to have what?
A pub on each corner
A pub on each corner. The Griffin, the Princess Royal, the Royal Oak and the New Inn ringed the ground, and visiting supporters traditionally made for the New Inn.
Q 06Henry Norris, who helped negotiate Brentford's Griffin Park lease in 1903, later chaired which London club?
Arsenal
Arsenal. Norris, already chairman of a west London rival when he brokered the lease, went on to take over Woolwich Arsenal and move the club to Highbury in 1913.
Q 07Which rugby union club shared Brentford's new stadium from its opening in 2020?
London Irish
London Irish. The move brought the Exiles back to the capital after years in Reading, but it lasted three seasons: in 2023 the club was suspended from all competitions and filed for administration.
Q 08How did Brentford's 1929-30 season end after they won all 21 home league games, a record still unbeaten?
They missed promotion
They missed promotion. Only the champions went up from the Third Division South, and Plymouth Argyle finished above them: away from Griffin Park, Brentford won just seven times.
Q 09Which manager, appointed in 1926, took Brentford from the Third Division South to fifth in the First Division?
Harry Curtis
Harry Curtis. He came to management from refereeing Football League matches, and 'the Guv'nor' stayed in the job for more than 22 years.
Q 10Which Danish playmaker returned to football with Brentford in 2022, months after a cardiac arrest on the pitch at the Euros?
Christian Eriksen
Christian Eriksen. Italian rules barred him from playing with the heart device he had been fitted with, so Inter released him and Brentford offered a deal to the end of the season.
Q 11Brentford, top of the First Division early in 1938, were chasing what?
The Double
The Double. They had topped the table through the winter and reached the FA Cup's last eight for the first time; both chances went within weeks.
Q 12Brentford's 1942 London War Cup final win at Wembley, 2-0, was against which club?
Portsmouth
Portsmouth. Leslie Smith, a local boy and England winger, scored both goals in front of nearly 70,000 at Wembley.
Q 13Which club won an FA Cup quarter-final before 38,678 at Griffin Park in 1949 on its way to Wembley?
Leicester City
Leicester City. They won 2-0 and went on to their first Wembley final, where the Second Division strugglers lost 3-1 to Wolves.
Q 21Who succeeded Thomas Frank as Brentford's head coach in June 2025?
Keith Andrews
Keith Andrews. Brentford promoted their set-piece coach, a former Republic of Ireland midfielder who had never managed a senior team.
Q 22Which club did Brentford beat 2-0 at Wembley in May 2021 to win promotion to the Premier League?
Swansea City
Swansea City. Ivan Toney's early penalty and an Emiliano Marcondes finish won it, and head coach Thomas Frank said afterwards that he had tears in his eyes.
Q 23Matthew Benham graduated from Oxford in which subject before making his fortune in betting?
Physics
Physics. He then spent a dozen years in finance, rising to vice-president at Bank of America, before leaving in 2001 to work for a betting firm.
Q 14A January 1967 deal would have seen Brentford cease to exist and its ground become home to which rivals?
QPR
QPR. Brentford's chairman had agreed the deal in secret with his Rangers counterpart; a month of protests and donations later, a consortium backed by supporters bought him out.
Q 15Dean Smith left Brentford in October 2018 to take charge of which club?
Aston Villa
Aston Villa. He had supported Villa all his life and took John Terry as his assistant; Brentford filled the gap from within by promoting his number two, Thomas Frank.
Q 16Which Brentford player's household raised the alarm in the 1983 fire at Griffin Park, saving a club worker asleep beneath the seats?
Stan Bowles
Stan Bowles. The alarm came late at night; some sixty neighbours were evacuated, and the fire did about 150,000 pounds of damage to the main stand.
Q 17How did Brentford's Football League Trophy finals of 1985, 2001 and 2011 all end?
In defeat
In defeat. Wigan Athletic, Port Vale and Carlisle United took the trophy; against Port Vale in 2001 Brentford even scored first before going down 2-1.
Q 18The two-tier Brook Road Stand at Griffin Park, built in the mid-1980s, was affectionately known as what?
The Wendy House
The Wendy House. The little double-decker, seats above and terracing below, went up in 1986 where the Royal Oak terrace had stood, and it looked to fans like a child's playhouse.
Q 19Which former Crystal Palace chairman bought Brentford in 1998 and made himself chairman-manager?
Ron Noades
Ron Noades. He bought the club just after it had been relegated, picked the team himself and won the Third Division title at the first attempt.
Q 20Which supporters' trust ran Brentford from the early 2000s and bought control in 2006?
Bees United
Bees United. The trust raised loans and fans' donations to buy out the owner, then voted in 2012 to sell its controlling stake to Matthew Benham.
Q 24Which future Brighton owner hired Benham into the gambling industry in 2001, before the pair fell out?
Tony Bloom
Tony Bloom. Benham joined his firm Premier Bet, left two years later after the pair fell out, and within a year had set up a rival operation of his own, Smartodds.
Q 25Which club, needing only a draw, beat Brentford 1-0 on the final day of 2012-13 to deny them automatic promotion?
Doncaster Rovers
Doncaster Rovers. In the 94th minute Brentford won a penalty that would have sent them up; Marcello Trotta hit the bar, and Rovers broke away to score the goal that made them champions.
Q 26Which manager, a former City trader like Benham, took Brentford up to the Championship in 2014?
Mark Warburton
Mark Warburton. He had spent two decades as a currency dealer before turning to coaching; promotion was sealed against Preston by an Alan Judge penalty.
Q 27Benham bought a majority stake in which Danish club in 2014, a Brentford sister club until 2023?
FC Midtjylland
FC Midtjylland. He brought his data-led methods to the Jutland club, which had never won a trophy; in his first season there it won the Danish title.
Q 28What unwanted run did Brentford's 2021 play-off promotion end?
Nine failed campaigns
Nine failed campaigns. The run began with a semi-final exit in 1991 and took in four lost finals, the last of them less than a year before the breakthrough.
Q 29Brentford lost the 2020 Championship play-off final 2-1 after extra time to which club?
Fulham
Fulham. Joe Bryan caught goalkeeper David Raya expecting a cross and beat him with a free-kick from 40 yards, then scored again; Brentford's reply came too late.
Q 30Which body banned Ivan Toney for eight months in 2023 for breaking its betting rules?
The FA
The FA. Toney accepted 232 breaches, was fined 50,000 pounds and could not play until January 2024, an awkward episode for a club whose owner made his fortune as a gambler.