BARRINGTON ‘ZULU’ PATTERSON (‘ONE-EYED BAZ’) is not a man to mess with. When not training in martial arts or proving himself as a cage fighter, he cuts a powerful figure in Coventry’s clubland where he runs its toughest doors. Blinded in one eye by a childhood incident, Baz grew up in the tough backstreets of Handsworth, Birmingham. In Barrington’s turbulent teenage years he adopted a criminal lifestyle. These were the tense early 1980s, when friction between police forces and ethnic communities in the inner cities often exploded. So it was in Birmingham, where the decision of Baz Patterson and other members of the black community to make a stand resulted in the Handsworth riots.
A child of his time, he also became a leading figure in Birmingham City FC’s Zulu Warriors. His love of a pound note led to him ambushing and robbing rival supporters – before he became a club doorman and began to be paid legitimately for his physical fearsomeness. For all his ferocious reputation, BARRINGTON reveals a character of great warmth and loyalty, a charismatic figure strong enough to turn his back on street violence and embrace the combat sport of cage fighting ...
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