Justin Fashanu
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Justinus Soni Fashanu | ||
| Date of birth | 19 February 1961 | ||
| Place of birth | Hackney, London, England | ||
| Date of death | 2 May 1998 (aged 37) | ||
| Place of death | Shoreditch, London, England | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Norwich City | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1978–1981 | Norwich City | 90 | (35) |
| 1980 | → Adelaide City (loan) | 5 | (3) |
| 1981 | → Adelaide City (loan) | 6 | (2) |
| 1981–1982 | Nottingham Forest | 32 | (3) |
| 1982 | → Southampton (loan) | 9 | (3) |
| 1982–1985 | Notts County | 64 | (20) |
| 1985–1987 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 16 | (2) |
| 1988 | Los Angeles Heat | 12 | (5) |
| 1989 | Edmonton Brickmen | 26 | (17) |
| 1989 | Manchester City | 2 | (0) |
| 1989–1990 | West Ham United | 2 | (0) |
| 1990 | Leyton Orient | 5 | (0) |
| 1990 | Hamilton Steelers | ||
| 1991 | Southall | 6 | (1) |
| 1991 | Toronto Blizzard | ? | (7) |
| 1991 | Leatherhead | ||
| 1991 | Newcastle United | 0 | (0) |
| 1991–1993 | Torquay United | 41 | (15) |
| 1993 | Airdrieonians | 16 | (5) |
| 1993 | Trelleborg | 1 | (0) |
| 1993–1994 | Heart of Midlothian | 11 | (1) |
| 1995–1997 | Atlanta Ruckus | 3? | (2?) |
| 1997 | Miramar Rangers | 18 | (12) |
| Total | 365 | (133) | |
| National team | |||
| 1980–1982 | England U21 | 11 | (5) |
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* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
Justinus Soni "Justin" Fashanu (/ˈfæʃənuː/; 19 February 1961 – 2 May 1998) was an English footballer who played for a variety of clubs between 1978 and 1997. He was known by his early clubs to be gay, and came out to the press later in his career, becoming the first professional footballer to be openly gay. He was also the first black footballer to command a £1million transfer fee, with his transfer from Norwich City to Nottingham Forest in 1981, but had little success as a player afterwards, although he continued to play at senior level until 1994.
After moving to the United States, in 1998 he was questioned by police when a seventeen-year-old boy accused him of sexual assault. He was charged, and an arrest warrant for him was issued in Howard County, Maryland on 3 April 1998, but he had already left his flat. According to his suicide note, fearing he would not get a fair trial because of his homosexuality, he fled to England where he killed himself in London in May 1998. His suicide note stated that the sex was consensual.
Fashanu was the son of a Nigerian barrister living in the UK and a Guyanese nurse called Pearl. When his parents split up, he and his brother, John, were sent to a Barnardo's home. When he was six, he and his brother were fostered by Alf and Betty Jackson and were brought up in Shropham near Attleborough, Norfolk. Justin Fashanu excelled at boxing as a youth, and was rumoured at one time to be pursuing a professional boxing career instead of his footballing career.
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