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50 free Brentford trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 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 50 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 rowers voted to play association football rather than rugby on the town's new recreation ground.
Q 02Brentford's nickname 'The Bees' came about in 1894-95 when the media misheard which chant?
'Buck up Bs!'
Students from Borough Road College were cheering their friend Joseph Gettins with the college chant.
Q 03Brentford won a place in the Southern League's top flight in July 1901 after which club dropped out?
Gravesend United
The club had turned professional in 1899-1900 after rising through the London League.
Q 04Griffin Park, Brentford's home from 1904 to 2020, was built on what?
An orchard owned by Fuller's brewery
Local volunteers cut the trees down and were allowed to keep the wood; the name came from the griffin in the brewery's logo.
Q 05Griffin Park was famous as the only English league ground to have what?
A pub on each corner
The ground was named after The Griffin, one of those pubs, owned by the Griffin Brewery.
Q 06Which rival club chairman and estate agent helped negotiate Brentford's 1903 Griffin Park lease?
Henry Norris
Norris was an estate agent who later became notorious as Arsenal's chairman.
Q 07Brentford's first ever Football League match, in August 1920, was a 3-0 defeat at which club?
Exeter City
They finished 21st in the new Third Division and were re-elected without a poll despite Harry King's 18 goals.
Q 08In 1929-30 Brentford set a still-standing English record by winning how many of their 21 home league games?
21
Remarkably they still finished only second to Plymouth and missed promotion.
Q 09Which manager, appointed in 1926, took Brentford from the Third Division South to fifth in the First Division?
Harry Curtis
He stayed nearly 23 years and kept his promotion squad intact for the 1935-36 top-flight debut.
Q 10Jack Holliday set Brentford's single-season club record in the 1932-33 Third Division South title season with how many goals?
39
Two years later the club went up to the First Division for the first time and also won the London Challenge Cup.
Q 11Brentford's highest ever league finish, fifth in the First Division in 1935-36, followed what?
Looking certain of relegation 15 matches in
They lost just two of the last 23 games; sixth-place finishes followed in 1937 and 1938.
Q 12Brentford held top spot in the First Division for how many consecutive matches in 1937–38?
17
The club's peak faded quickly, and they were relegated in the first post-war season.
Q 13Brentford's 1942 London War Cup final win at Wembley, 2-0, was against which club?
Portsmouth
Wartime honours count separately, but it remains the club's only Wembley cup final win.
Q 21When the chairman-manager quit in 2002 he handed control of Brentford to which supporters' trust?
Bees United
The trust still keeps a place on the board after selling to Matthew Benham in 2012.
Q 22In 2006 an anonymous benefactor donated £500,000 to Brentford and became known by what name?
The Mysterious Investor
It was Matthew Benham, who went on to take over the club's debts in 2007.
Q 23The 2009 deal that put Matthew Benham on course to own Brentford by 2014 went by which codename?
Gecko
He pledged £1 million a year for five years in return for a 35% stake and an option to buy.
Q 14Griffin Park's record crowd of 38,678 watched a 1949 FA Cup tie against which club?
Leicester City
Curtis announced his retirement that season; a defeat to the same club relegated Brentford in 1954.
Q 15A January 1967 deal would have seen Brentford cease to exist and its ground become home to which rivals?
QPR
Fan protests and a takeover by Ron Blindell's syndicate saved the club; a later plan would have moved it to Hillingdon as 'Brentford Borough'.
Q 16Which former director saved Brentford at the eleventh hour in 1967 with a £69,000 interest-free loan?
Walter Wheatley
QPR's Jim Gregory had offered £250,000 for the ground if Brentford moved to Hillingdon.
Q 17Which Brentford player and his wife rescued the groundsman during the 1983 Braemar Road Stand fire at Griffin Park?
Stan Bowles
The blaze caused about £150,000 of damage and the players' tunnel was moved to a corner after rebuilding.
Q 18Brentford lost their first major final, the 1985 Football League Trophy final, 3-1 to which club?
Wigan Athletic
They also lost the 2001 and 2011 finals, to Port Vale and Carlisle.
Q 19The two-tier Brook Road Stand at Griffin Park, built in the mid-1980s, was affectionately known as what?
The Wendy House
It replaced the Royal Oak Stand, the ground's old 'kop'; the 1920s Braemar Road stand had been the 'cow shed'.
Q 20Which former Crystal Palace chairman bought Brentford in 1998 and made himself chairman-manager?
Ron Noades
The title was clinched with a winner-takes-all 1-0 win at Cambridge United on the final day.
Q 24Matthew Benham graduated from Oxford in which subject before making his fortune in betting?
Physics
His company Smartodds sells statistical research to professional gamblers; he also owns the Matchbook exchange.
Q 25Which future Brighton owner hired Benham into the gambling industry in 2001, before the pair fell out?
Tony Bloom
Benham founded Smartodds in 2004 using a scoring model developed at Lancaster University.
Q 26Which club, needing only a draw, beat Brentford 1-0 on the final day of 2012-13 to deny them automatic promotion?
Doncaster Rovers
A late penalty was missed; the Bees then lost the play-off final to Yeovil.
Q 27Which manager, a former City trader like Benham, took Brentford up to the Championship in 2014?
Mark Warburton
Promotion was clinched at home to Preston on 18 April 2014; the club then finished fifth in the Championship.
Q 28Benham bought a majority stake in which Danish club in 2014, a Brentford sister club until 2023?
FC Midtjylland
In 2025 the club's holding company bought Spanish side Mérida AD outright.
Q 29Before succeeding in 2021, how many play-off campaigns had Brentford lost, then a national record?
Nine
The tally included four lost finals: 1997, 2002, 2013 and 2020.
Q 30Brentford lost the 2020 Championship play-off final 2-1 to which west London rivals?
Fulham
A year later Thomas Frank's side beat Swansea 2-0 to reach the top flight for the first time since 1947.