Reply With Quote... whilst he was a useful player and not an exceptional talent, I wonder what the qualifications are to achieve 'Hall of Fame' status. Looks like a very 'PC' move to me ...
Hall Of Fame
"Football’s first openly gay player Justin Fashanu is to be inducted into Britain’s National Football Museum’s Hall of Fame, years after taking his own life. Justin Fashanu came out as gay in October 1990 and committed suicide eight years later.....
Fashanu is expected to be inducted on Wednesday – that would have been Fashanu’s 59th birthday- at a ceremony where his niece, Amal (John Fashanu’s daughter) is expected to receive the award on his behalf."
https://guardian.ng/life/first-openl...-hall-of-fame/
Hall Of Fame
... whilst he was a useful player and not an exceptional talent, I wonder what the qualifications are to achieve 'Hall of Fame' status. Looks like a very 'PC' move to me ...
Hall Of Fame
He was a good chap always had time to talk to fans, nothing was to much trouble for him, pity he got so badly treated by them over the river and by his Brother John who disowned him for being gay. At least he felt at home with us.
Hall Of Fame
His very promising career most probably stalled because of football's attitude to his ***uality. He'd scored the goal of the season, was playing for England at U21 level and had joined one of the most successful clubs of the period (as one of the most expensive players at the time IIRC). Then it all went suddenly pear shaped for him and I think it would be fair to say that was largely due to the homophobic views of the manager, which - to be fair to Brian Clough - wouldn't have been anything out of the ordinary at the time, his own brother disowned him initially.Originally Posted by TheBlackHorse
The award will be a recognition of what might have been under more tolerant circumstances as well as for his bravery in coming out and the tragic circumstances of his death. It's a terribly sad story and one that should not be forgotten, this award will place him back in the spotlight and introduce him to a new generation.
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Nicely put. I was thinking the same thing myself
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Is Ricky Green being inducted at the same time!
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I agree that political correctness can go too far but when you think of Fashanu (disowned by his brother and ending up killing himself) then Charlie Palmer (talking about as a youngster getting chased by people who wanted to beat him up for being black) you realise just how far we have come in a relatively short space of time. We're talking about the 1970s and 1980s here, in most of our lifetimes and certainly not prehistoric times.
I think there's a prevailing view on here that political correctness is not necessary as we are all basically pretty decent to each other and in the 70s we just liked to engage in a bit of Carry On style banter which was well received by everybody, but if you just think about it for a second it wasn't like that at all.
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I'd love to go back in time and watch Notts play Doncaster in the 1950s just to see what sort of reaction Charlie Williams got. Maybe somebody here can remember, I suspect there wasn't anything aggressive, no monkey chants, probably the obvious race related jokes but nothing genuinely nasty and mean spirited.
I believe it's a very unfortunate coincidence that black players were being introduced to the game in notable numbers (more than just the odd one in each league, but one or two per club) at the exact moment in time when football crowds had turned ugly, the most violent decade or so since the very earliest days of the game, possibly ever.
It wasn't just black people who were being abused in football in the 1970s, everybody was fair game, you could be beaten up just for wearing colours, people were stabbed and even killed, players (white players) were having bricks and lumps of coal thrown at them. You didn't have to be black to fear for your safety or dignity in or around a football ground in the 1970s. It was a complete free for all and we're in danger of forgetting to place the origins of football racism in that context.
If black players coming into the game had been delayed by a couple of decades or even a few decades earlier I really don't think it would have been anything like as bad for the trailblazers.
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I remember the 70's and 80's, goes without saying that racism and homophobia were rife. I remember a friend of mine who worked in a clothes shop ( Limeys or summat like that on Long Row ) telling me Fashuna was gay and indeed, had a crush on him. He was straight btw. I loved Fash as a player for Notts , but what I loved more how clearly Brian Clough hated him. I remember thinking how brave when he came out but in the end, it killed him.
ps. Times have changed for the better but saying black coffee instead without milk is racist, nor is saying I don't agree with same *** marriage, homophobic.
Last edited by navypie; 18-02-2020 at 08:41 PM.
Hall Of Fame
I remember Clough being interviewed live on Central News by Keith Daniel after he'd retired, around the time F-word were having issues with one of their players (Collymore I think), Clough then began to compare him with a player he'd had problems with and added, in an alarmingly disparaging tone, "same colour 'n all", presumably referring to Fash. Given how many black players Clough put out over the years I was quite shocked by his attitude, but as with Atkinson, being a product of a different era, you're not going to be on the correct side of the line at all times. It would have been a big deal if he'd said that today however.
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