Main content

Ekow Eshun on the first openly gay footballer, Justin Fashanu

Justin Fashanu was black and gay at a time - says Ekow Eshun - when these were the two cardinal sins of football.

In 1981 Brian Clough paid 拢1 million pounds to bring Justin Fashanu to Nottingham Forest. It was the climax of a meteoric career, but within months the goals had dried up, he'd been going to gay nightclubs, and Fashanu had also become become a born again Christian. Four decades later Justin Fashanu remains top flight English football's only openly gay player. From his beginnings in care with brother John as Barnardo's boys, via adoption, boxing, football and failed pop star, this is an extraordinary life, beautifully highlighted by his nominator, Ekow Eshun.

"He was a pioneer - he broke ground. He was a prominent black footballer at a time when to be black and a footballer was fraught territory, when players were barracked from the terraces for no other reason than the colour of their skin." Ekow Eshun

Also in studio is Richard Williams of the Guardian, who saw Fashanu play on the way and on the way down. Plus there is moving archive of Fashanu himself, and also from his niece, Amal Fashanu, talking at the time of the release of her documentary, Britain's Gay Footballers.

The producer for 大象传媒 Studios Audio is Miles Warde

Available now

28 minutes

Featured

  • .

Broadcasts

  • Mon 23 Sep 2024 15:00
  • Tue 24 Sep 2024 21:30

Featured in...

Great Rock and Roll Lives

Great Rock and Roll Lives

Stories of inspiration from great musicians from Bowie to Billie Holliday

Download this programme

Subscribe to this programme or download individual episodes.

Podcast