Justinus Soni "Justin" Fashanu, (19 February 1961 – 2 May 1998) was an English footballer, who played for a variety of clubs between 1978 and 1997. He was the first professional footballer to come out as gay, and was the first black player to command a £1m transfer fee.
Sexual Orientation:
The tabloid interest in Fashanu gathered pace when—in a characteristically unusual twist — he started dating former Coronation Street actress Julie Goodyear, who had also recently sold stories to the press about her bisexuality; the relationship was short-lived
Career:
Norwich City,, Southampton , Notts County, Brighton & Hove Albion, Manchester City, West Ham United, Leyton Orient , Southall (player-coach), Toronto Blizzard, (Canada), Torquay United (England), Airdrieonians(Scotland), He then moved to Ellicott City, Maryland to coach the Maryland Mania, a new professional team in the second division USL A-League, following his officially announced retirement from the professional game.
ALLEGATION AND SUICIDE:
In March 1998, a seventeen-year-old claimed to police that he had been sexually assaulted by Fashanu after a night of drinking. The assault was alleged to have taken place in Fashanu's apartment in Ellicott, Maryland, United States. 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 second-degree sexual assault, first-degree assault, and second-degree assault. However, Fashanu had already returned to England.
On the morning of 3 May 1998, he was found hanged in a deserted lock-up garage he had broken into, in Shoreditch, London, after visiting Chariots Roman Spa, a local gay sauna. 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."An inquest in London, held on 9 September 1998, heard that there was in fact no warrant out for Fashanu's arrest and that the American police had already dropped the investigation due to a lack of evidence. The inquest recorded a verdict of suicide.
LEGACY:
Fashanu was listed at number 99 in the Top 500 Lesbian and Gay Heroes in The Pink Paper.
Two decades after his coming out, Fashanu was still the only professional footballer in the world to disclose that he was gay, according to the BBC.
In March 2009 a football team, The Justin Fashanu All-stars, was christened at a special event in Brighton, supported by the FA.
The team, named in his honour, was created by the Justin Campaign, which is a campaign against homophobia in football and promotes the inclusion of openly gay players in football.
Full Story:wikipedia
Sexual Orientation:
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 gays 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.
Fashanu agreed to an exclusive with The Sun tabloid to come out as gay. he said. A week later, his brother John Fashanu agreed to an exclusive with The Voice under the headline "John Fashanu: My Gay Brother is an outcast.
The tabloid interest in Fashanu gathered pace when—in a characteristically unusual twist — he started dating former Coronation Street actress Julie Goodyear, who had also recently sold stories to the press about her bisexuality; the relationship was short-lived
Career:
Norwich City,, Southampton , Notts County, Brighton & Hove Albion, Manchester City, West Ham United, Leyton Orient , Southall (player-coach), Toronto Blizzard, (Canada), Torquay United (England), Airdrieonians(Scotland), He then moved to Ellicott City, Maryland to coach the Maryland Mania, a new professional team in the second division USL A-League, following his officially announced retirement from the professional game.
ALLEGATION AND SUICIDE:
In March 1998, a seventeen-year-old claimed to police that he had been sexually assaulted by Fashanu after a night of drinking. The assault was alleged to have taken place in Fashanu's apartment in Ellicott, Maryland, United States. 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 second-degree sexual assault, first-degree assault, and second-degree assault. However, Fashanu had already returned to England.
On the morning of 3 May 1998, he was found hanged in a deserted lock-up garage he had broken into, in Shoreditch, London, after visiting Chariots Roman Spa, a local gay sauna. 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."An inquest in London, held on 9 September 1998, heard that there was in fact no warrant out for Fashanu's arrest and that the American police had already dropped the investigation due to a lack of evidence. The inquest recorded a verdict of suicide.
LEGACY:
Fashanu was listed at number 99 in the Top 500 Lesbian and Gay Heroes in The Pink Paper.
Two decades after his coming out, Fashanu was still the only professional footballer in the world to disclose that he was gay, according to the BBC.
In March 2009 a football team, The Justin Fashanu All-stars, was christened at a special event in Brighton, supported by the FA.
The team, named in his honour, was created by the Justin Campaign, which is a campaign against homophobia in football and promotes the inclusion of openly gay players in football.
Full Story:wikipedia
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