Former England player John Fashanu has admitted that he paid his late brother Justin of £75,000, not to reveal he (Justin) was gay until his death in 1998.
Justin Fashanu, who played for Norwich and Nottingham forest in the 1980-ies, came out as gay before he killed himself in may 1998 at the age of 37 years.
As the 20th anniversary of the death Fashanu, John admitted that he acted as a “monster” of his older brother and now wants the football Association to do more to support gay players, and to address racial and homophobic insults.
“It was a lack of education,” the former Wimbledon striker and Aston Villa has told Good morning Britain ITV show on Wednesday.
“I make it very clear, I was a monster with Justin then. I paid him £75,000 is not to say that he was gay.
“I looked at the situation around us, and my mother had cancer, and he dies, and the rest of the family couldn’t understand the situation.
England Under-21 level, Justin Fashanu was the first black footballer to command a £1 million transfer fee when he moved from Norwich in the woods in 1981.
But his career never hit the heights after that, he publicly came out as gay in 1990 and he played for nearly 20 clubs before retiring from football in 1997.
At the end of Justin Fashanu
Currently, there are no openly gay footballers in the Premier League.
But John Fashanu says he knows a few “famous players” who are gay, and he needs an alpha to do more to support the players came.
“We have a number of famous footballers who are gay and they don’t feel comfortable,” said Fashanu, who became a television star, appearing in shows like ‘Gladiator’ and ‘I’m a celebrity … get me out of here’ after his football career.
Said Fashanu racial and homophobic abuse still exists in English football, as he did in the Premier League in London three weeks ago.
“I calmly smiled at him and tried to do a bit of a laugh and a joke, but when we say racism and homophobia moved? Well, Yes, it is. He moved back, where we’re going. We need more support from England, because it is lack of education.
“The FA needs to create an environment where gay players prefer to go out and say ‘I’m gay’.
PA and digital recording
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
