Justin Fashanu born 19 February 1961 (d. 1998)Justinus Soni 'Justin' Fashanu was an English footballer.
Fashanu was the son of a Nigerian barrister living in England. When his parents split up he was sent, together with his younger brother John (who also became a professional footballer) to a Barnardo's home. When he was six, he and his brother were fostered by a family and brought up in Attleborough, Norfolk.
He began his career as an apprentice with Norwich City, turning professional towards the end of December 1978. He made his league debut in January 1979 and settled into the Norwich side scoring regularly and occasionally spectacularly. In 1980, he won the BBC Goal of the Season award, for a very spectacular goal against Liverpool. He subsequently became Britain's first £1m black footballer when he transferred to Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest in August 1981.
His career stalled as his professional relationship with Brian Clough deteriorated; Clough, it would appear, was disturbed by the rumours of Justin Fashanu's visits to gay nightclubs and bars. His goals and then confidence dried up as he failed to fit in with the playing and lifestyle demands of Clough, especially after Clough had discovered his homosexuality and barred him from even training with the side.
In August 1982 he was loaned to Southampton (scoring 3 goals in 9 appearances), and then in December that year was sold to local rivals Notts County for only £150,000. He scored 20 times in 64 games for the Magpies before moving to Brighton & Hove Albion in June 1985 for a fee of £115,000, where a knee injury looked to have finished his career. He went to the United States for surgery and began playing again, firstly with Los Angeles Heat and then with Edmonton Brickmen.
He returned to the UK and tried to resurrect his playing career, joining Manchester City in October 1989. He moved to West Ham United in November, before a trial with Ipswich Town. He joined Leyton Orient in March 1990 and subsequently joined Southall as player-coach before moving to Leatherhead.
In 1990, he publicly came out as gay in an interview with the tabloid press, becoming the only prominent player in English football so far to do so. Many former colleagues spoke out in anger against him, stating that homosexuals had no place in a team sport, and his brother John publicly disowned him. Although he claimed that he was generally well accepted by his fellow players, he freely admitted that they would often joke maliciously about his sexual orientation, and he also became the target of constant crowd abuse because of it.He began a trial with Newcastle United in October 1991. In November 1991 he left Leatherhead to join Torquay United, apparently one of the few league clubs willing to give him a real chance. He hogged the limelight while at Plainmoor, with his lifestyle, in particular his relationship with Coronation Street actress Julie Goodyear spread over the tabloids, but he still managed to impress on the pitch and was made player-coach.
In February 1993, with Torquay battling against a second successive relegation, Fashanu applied for the vacant post of manager, but was turned down. Fashanu left to play for Airdrieonians soon after.
He left Airdrie in 1993, playing in Sweden with Trelleborg, before returning to Scotland, joining Heart of Midlothian in July 1993, but was sacked in April 1994 for 'unprofessional conduct' (he had attempted to sell false stories regarding him and a number of cabinet ministers to the press) and returned to the United States to coach a boys team in Georgia. He later moved to Australia to play for Adelaide City and then to New Zealand to play for Miramar Rangers in 1997, before joining Atlanta Ruckus in the spring of the same year, but was suspended for the playoffs for failure to comply with the terms of his contract. He then moved to Ellicott City, Maryland to coach Maryland Mania Club, a new professional team, following his officially announced retirement from the professional game.
He admitted in an interview with Gay Times that he wasn't fully prepared for the backlash that followed his coming out and that his career in football suffered 'heavy damage'.
In 1998 in the United States a 17-year-old claimed to police that on 25 March he found himself in Justin Fashanu's bed, after a drinking bout, being sexually assaulted. Justin Fashanu was questioned about this by the police on 3 April, but he was not held in custody. It was widely reported in the press that the police later arrived at his flat with a warrant to arrest him on charges of sexual assault. However, Justin Fashanu had already returned to England.
In May 1998, he hanged himself in a deserted lock-up garage he had broken into, in Shoreditch, London, after visiting Chariots Roman Spa (a gay sauna in the area). In his suicide note, he stated: 'I realised that I had already been presumed guilty. I do not want to give any more embarrassment to my friends and family ... I hope the Jesus I love welcomes me, I will at last find peace.'An inquest in London held on 9 September, 1998, heard that there was in fact no warrant out for Justin Fashanu's arrest and that the American police had already dropped the investigation because of lack of evidence.
Justin Fashanu is still the only professional player in British football to have come out as gay.