Jim Read - Justin Fashanu: The Biography

Rating: 5/5

Review:
An excellent, insightful biography

Football biographies are not something I normally read because so many of them are dreadful, but this is an excellent, readable and in places genuinely gripping book. It is a very well written and thoroughly researched biography of a highly complex sportsman and also paints a vivid and subtle picture of his influence on the history of race relations and of attitudes to gays and lesbians in Britain.

Fashanu's story is itself a fascinating one as a black player at a time when there were very few of them in Britain and crude racism was often unchallenged, and then as the only openly gay footballer anywhere in the world. Jim Read writes very intelligently and refuses to resort to assumption or stereotype in assessing the prejudices faced by Fashanu. He writes, for example, of the culture of banter in sport and of the difference between "...teasing intended to include and taunting intended to exclude." Insights like this give the book balance and a remarkable depth of understanding both of Fashanu himself and of other players, managers and fans. Read does not spare bigoted fans or people like Brian Clough whose homophobic bullying did Fashanu so much damage, but also reports times like when Fashanu played for Airdrie whose fans - a notoriously tough bunch - affectionately chanted "He's black, he's gay, he plays for Air-da-ray, Fashanu, Fashanu," and includes an eloquent photograph of his Airdrie team-mates embracing him after scoring. It is a real achievement to paint a complex picture so clearly.

Fashanu himself was equally complex. Evidence from a lot of people who knew him shows that he could be charming, generous of spirit and kind, but could also be a manipulative, grasping, cruel, self-serving liar. (A one point Read allows himself the wry comment, "When it comes to Justin Fashanu and The Sun it is difficult to figure out the truth.") These aspects are very well portrayed, as is the inner conflict Fashanu felt between his sexuality and his Christian faith, and the tragic story of the weeks leading up to his suicide held me absolutely gripped.

This is in a different league (sorry) to the average sporting biography and sheds genuine and sometimes moving light not only on the story of a unique sportsman but on attitudes in society. There is none of the wading through the endless inconsequential accounts of matches found in a lot of these books. Instead I found myself reading passages like this when Fashanu, playing for Torquay United against West Bromwich was subjected to virulent homophobic chanting by the opposition fans. He scored right in front of them which silenced them completely. Read writes, "...a more profound story was emerging from the action. Fashanu crashed the ball into the net and, in that one moment, the Torquay fans felt a little less bashful about their gay player, the West Bromwich fans a little less scornful. A stereotype was subverted. A brave man was pushing back prejudice." I found that genuinely moving, and the book is full of such insights.

I recommend this very warmly - and not just to those interested in football. This is a story of universal interest and importance, done full justice in a very fine biography.