John Fashanu

Infobox Football biography
playername = John Fashanu


fullname = John Fashanu
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1962|9|18|df=y
cityofbirth = Kensington, London
countryofbirth = England
dateofdeath =
cityofdeath =
countryofdeath =
height =
nickname = Fash, Fash the Bash
currentclub =
position = Striker (retired)
youthyears =
youthclubs = Cambridge United
years = 1979–1983
1982
1983
1983–1984
1984–1986
1986–1994
1994
clubs = Norwich City
→ Miramar Rangers (loan)
→ Crystal Palace (loan)
Lincoln City
Millwall
Wimbledon
Aston Villa Total
caps(goals) = 007 00(1)
00? 00(?)
001 00(0)
036 0(11)
050 0(12)
276 (107)
013 00(3) 383 (134)
nationalyears = 1989
nationalteam = England
nationalcaps(goals) = 002 00(0)
manageryears =
managerclubs =

John "Fash" Fashanu (born 18 September 1962 in Kensington, London) is a British television presenter and ex-footballer of Nigerian (paternal) & Guyanese (maternal) descent. In his former career, he was a centre-forward.

=Early Life=Fashanu is the son of a Nigerian barrister living in England. When his parents split up he was sent, together with his older brother Justin to a Barnardos home. When he was five, he and his brother were fostered by Alf and Betty Jackson and were brought up in Shropham near Attleborough, Norfolk.

Football career

Fashanu's footballing career began at Norwich City in 1979. He had brief loan spell with Crystal Palace and also played in the English off-season in New Zealand with Miramar Rangers [ [http://www.miramarfc.org.nz/club.html Miramar Rangers website] , before joining Lincoln City and later Millwall. He made his Millwall debut on 15 December 1984. Fashanu played 65 overall games for The Lions, scoring 19 goals. His fame grew considerably from 1986 when he joined Wimbledon, at that time the self-proclaimed "Crazy Gang" which had gained several promotions in rapid succession. In 1988, Fashanu helped Wimbledon win the FA Cup, beating Liverpool in a final that was billed as a "rags versus riches" affair, although the two clubs were separated by just six places in the First Division. Fashanu claimed two England caps - against Chile and Scotland in a friendly tournament in May 1989. During his time at Wimbledon, Fashanu scored 126 goals, but he still lags behind Alan Cork, the club's leading goalscorer.

In the summer of 1994 Fashanu moved to Aston Villa. In 1995 he hit the front pages as well as the back when "The Sun" published allegations of match-fixing against Fashanu, fellow Wimbledon player Hans Segers and Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar. Although all three players were eventually cleared of the allegations, they were ordered to pay their own legal costs.

Post-football Career

Following retirement from the game through injury, Fashanu became a television presenter. He presented the UK edition of "Gladiators" alongside Ulrika Jonsson in the mid-1990s. In 2003 he came second in the second series of "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!". Later that year he presented "Fash's Football Challenge", a reality television show that followed Fashanu managing an amateur football team. Also in 2003, he fronted a six-part series for ITV1 based on the American format "Man vs. Beast", however following protests from animal rights groups, the series was never broadcast. He is now host of the Nigerian version of the popular game show format "Deal or No Deal" that airs on M-Net Africa.

Since retirement Fashanu has also maintained his sporting connections, becoming involved with the Nigerian Football Association, and as chairman of Welsh football team Barry Town for a year, vacating this post in 2003.

He also compiled a detailed report on corruption in Nigeria in the 1980s and 1990s that came to be known in the financial and media community as the Fashanu Report.

John is involved in the Wimbledon Old Players' Association, an organisation set up by the Wimbledon Independent Supporters Association. On its launch in September 2005 Fashanu said "I am proud to join up with the Wimbledon Old Players’ Association.

"It’s going to be great to be back as part of the Wimbledon family. As an ex-Wimbledon player, I know all about the heroics of the likes of Roy Law and Dickie Guy in the old days, as well as what the new boys have been doing at AFC Wimbledon".

In 1991 John was "sought after" by the Italian comic Teo Teocoli, that idolized him for comical relief.

He can currently be seen on BBC 2 at 8:30 PM.

John is the younger brother of Justin Fashanu, the first openly homosexual professional English footballer. John famously disowned his brother, telling The Voice newspaper: "My gay brother is an outcast". [cite paper
author =The Voice (newspaper)
title =John Fashanu: My Gay Brother is an outcast
version =
publisher =GV Media Group
date =30 October 1990
url =
format =
accessdate = ] Justin Fashanu committed suicide in 1998.

In 2007 The Timesonline voted him 22nd out of the 50 worst footballers. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article2025420.ece]

Controversy

John was widely criticized for his use of the catchphrase 'AWOOGA' during his time on Gladiators. The phrase originated as a running joke on sci-fi series Red Dwarf in reference to the ship's emergency siren. It was, for some time popularized by fans of Red Dwarf and was later used by Red Dwarf star Craig Charles on his 1993 game show Cyberzone. Craig used the phrase in much the same context as on Red Dwarf (when the game show sirens were sounded) and it became a 'catch phrase' of sorts for Craig on the game show, but was also a reference to the Red Dwarf joke.

John picked up the catch phrase after appearing on Craig's show 'Cyberzone' as a guest, and subsequently copied it for himself on Gladiators. This caused much upset amongst fans of both Red Dwarf and Craig Charles, not only because he had copied the phrase, but used it incorrectly as a personal 'catch phrase' of his own.

Honours

Wimbledon
* F.A. Cup winner - 1988

Footnotes

ee also

*Justin Fashanu

External links

* [http://www.johnfashanu.com] John Fash Personal Website
* [http://www.ex-canaries.co.uk/players/fashanu-john.htm Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk]