Justin Fashanu was a British Nigerian footballer, born in1961, in Hackney, East London. During his career, he played for various clubs in both the UK and North America, including Notts County, Brighton & Hove Albion, Manchester City, West Ham United, Newcastle United and Los Angeles Heat between 1978 and 1997.
Fashanu started his sporting career as a boxer, reaching two national finals in his teenage years. He also played as centre striker for Norwich City’s youth and reserve football teams. At the age of 17, he made his first-team club debut.
Fashanu transferred from Norwich City to Nottingham Forest in 1981 and became one of the first football players to claim a £1 million transfer fee.
As the first openly gay professional football player, Fashanu faced homophobic abuse on the pitch. Sadly, he died by suicide in 1998. In 2020, Fashanu was inducted into The National Football Museum Hall of Fame.
Refs: Justin Fashanu – Wikipedia
Flown From the Nest – Justin Fashanu R.I.P. (ex-canaries.co.uk)
Photo By http://www.7sur7.be/7s7/fr/1510/Football-Etranger/article/detail/757282/2009/03/10/Un-club-de-football-pour-gays-voit-le-jour-en-Angleterre.dhtml, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24030254
