The story of Justin Fashanu is a tragic one. As his rise was meteoric, his fall was astounding. From being professional football’s first £1 million black player to being driven to commit suicide. How did it all come to that?
Justinus Soni Fashanu was born on 19th February, 1968 to immigrant parents in London. Abandoned by his father and mother, he and his brother John, who would later play a major part in his adult life, were sent to Barnardo’s, a charity for the care and protection of vulnerable children and youngsters. Later he was taken into forster care. Young Justin Fashanu excelled at boxing.
Fashanu started his professional career in 1978 with Norwich City. He came to prominence during the 1979/80 season when he scored a wonder goal against Liverpool, which won him the 1980 BBC Goal of the Season award. He went on to score 40 goals in 103 appearances for The Canaries. Six months later, he was signed by the legendary Brian Clough for Nottingham Forest to replace the outgoing Trevor Francis, thus making him the first black £1 million professional football player.
While at Nottingham Forest, Fashanu became attracted to two things generally not associated with young footballers. First was religion. He became a born again Christian after a conversation with Terry Carpenter, manager of a garage where Fashanu had left his car. Second was the gay scene of Nottingham. These two life changing incidents led to many heartbreaking conflicts in his life. Christianity viewed homosexuality as a sin, which led to Fashanu becoming confused with his own sexuality. Caught between religion and homosexuality, he suffered emotionally and psychologically. Being a non-drinker and a devoted Christian also set him apart from other footballers of that era.
When the news of his young player’s extra-curricular activities reached his manager’s ears, the already strained relation reached its nadir. Fashanu did not live up to his potential, and Clough took a personal dislike of his lifestyle. Clough once wrote in his weekly newspaper column, “I whacked more than a few of my players. I hit them – and I don’t mean verbally or financially. Justin Fashanu got it from me more than once – just for who and what he was.” In his second autobiography Clough expressed some remorse for the way he treated Fashanu.
In December, 1982 Fashanu was transferred to local rivals Notts County for a fee of £150,000. His new manager Howard Wilkinson managed to bring the best out of him for a brief period. Unfortunately Wilkinson left the position, and Fashanu suffered a serious knee injury. He left for United States for operations, but he was never the same player again.
Fashanu began playing in America, first for Los Angeles Heat and then in Canada with Edmonton Brickmen and Hamilton Steelers. He returned to the UK to resurrect his faltering career and had brief spells with Manchester City, West Ham United and Newcastle United, amongst others. When spells with bigger teams did not work out, he moved to non-league and semi-professional teams.
By 1990, Fashanu was desperately short of fame and money, which he was used to, and he agreed to do an interview after his agent Eric Hall brokered a deal with The Sun to come out as the first professional gay football player. To sell the story even more, Fashanu made up stories about having had affairs with married Tory MPs. Investigation proved these claims to be false, and his already tarnished image of being a gay footballer was ruined further.
Initially his brother John stuck by him, but as time went on and the stories became sordid, he distanced himself from Justin. When the press tried to contact him for comments, John said, “One thing I don’t want is newspaper boards all over the place with headlines saying ‘Fashanu is gay’ because people might think it was me.”
His brother publicly disowned Justin and believed that he got what he deserved. Later his brother also claimed that Justin’s coming out was a scam, and that Justin had lied to get media attention. Internal religious conflict, his family abandoning him and the knee injury pushed this once promising player further down the abyss. Later in his life, Fashanu claimed he did not anticipate such backlash and that the tabloids dragged his story out of proportion.
Later in his career, Fashanu would play in Sweden and then in Scotland where his contract was terminated due to unprofessional behavior. He then played in New Zealand, before joining newly-formed American A-League club Maryland Mania as a coach following his retirement from the professional game. It was here that his life took a turn for the worst. In March 1998, a 17-year old accused Fashanu of sexually assaulting him after a night of drinking. Fashanu was questioned but not held in custody. Fearing he might not get a fair trial due to his sexuality and the nature of the crime, he fled to England.
On May 3, 1998 Justin Fashanu was found hanged in a locked up garage with a suicide note protesting his innocence and claiming he did not want to cause further embarrassment to his family. Later it was found that the investigation had been dropped due to lack of evidence and there was no warrant against him.
In the aftermath, The Justin Campaign was started in order to create awareness about LGBT people and to increase their participation in football at the grassroots level.
Justin Fashanu had his share of failings, which were a result of a lifetime of rejection” first by his parents, then by his manager after a big career move, then by the church for his sexuality and finally by his own brother. He was a brave man who came out while living in an era less tolerant towards homosexuals. Football failed him in not accepting him or others like him. When he should be treated as an icon, he is treated as a cautionary tale causing many sportspersons to either end their careers prematurely or remain closeted until the end of their careers. Social progress happens through acceptance of the reality rather than vilifying and condemning those who are brave enough to come out and face a prejudiced and unforgiving world. One wonders how Justin Fashanu’s life would have turned out had that goal against Liverpool not gone in.