John Fashanu: ‘Mine is a classic poverty-to-stardom story’

Weekend Magazine: You’re known for football. Do you have a life outside football?John Fashanu: Yes, I do. I think it is very important to establish a life outside football. Football is very important and some even believe that it is more important than life and death. But the truth is a lot of footballers like […]

Weekend Magazine: You’re known for football. Do you have a life outside football?
John Fashanu: Yes, I do. I think it is very important to establish a life outside football. Football is very important and some even believe that it is more important than life and death. But the truth is a lot of footballers like to sometimes close the doors of that world and stay with their families and have some privacy. This is why I always say to journalists that my private life is private and I think everyone must establish that.
WM: Before you realized your passion for football, what did you plan to be in life?
Fashanu: Right from a young age, I loved the game of football and dreamt of becoming a player. But before I decided to be a footballer, I remember I wanted to be a lawyer but that would have been impossible because growing up in Royal England, my late brother Justin and I, we were the only black children in our environment. People would gaze and point and a lot of white children would run up to us and want to touch our hair and skin.
WM: After a long career in football, what’s your final prognosis for the choice you made?
Fashanu: What I always tell people is that there is really no point regretting the past. If we have made mistakes and those mistakes have led to what we are today, we build on those mistakes. We might not make the same decisions again, but make better decisions. That is what gives us that wonderful thing called wisdom. I’ve regretted being a footballer. As a fact, I’m glad I took it up professionally.
WM: What’s your experience with, inevitably, racism?
Fashanu: Oh my goodness, racism was a daily obstacle. Every day I was called ‘nigger’, a black this or that. Racism was part of a black man’s life back then. Anybody that was successful and they tell you they do not know racism, I would tell you right now that they are liars. Racism was part of our lives, men or women. When the chips are down, and even when the going is good, the white man will bring up racism.
WM: How did you handle it?
Fashanu: I had two decisions, I could either handle it or crumble, simple. If you are a progressive person, you could decide to have thick skin. So many times, myself and a player who used to play for Liverpool were called racist names, but we were stars, we were big names so of course we were targets of haters. So we tried and became number one in whatever we were doing, we joked and laughed about it and got on with what we were doing to be able to overcome it.
I never ever allowed it to bring me down. Many times I played against Everton, Newcastle and they would be throwing bananas or an apple in my face or into the pitch to indicate that I was a monkey or an animal. I looked it at it as part of the job I had signed and put myself into. There is always the good, the bad and the ugly with football. Luckily, there was more good.
WM: Do you have any regrets that you did not play for Nigeria when you had your chance to?
Fashanu: Like I told you earlier, regrets are for losers. But let me explain, when I was asked to play for Nigeria I did exactly that, I came in 1981 and I had my opportunity and different chances but the coach Ochai Glorian, a Brazilian coach, turned me down thrice. The coach told me that I might be good in England, but in this country I did not fit in with the other players.
But you know what? The Brazilian coach was right. English football and Nigerian football were completely different. English football is a game of football with aggression, speed and the ball constantly in the air but Nigerian football is very cultured, technical, skillful, overlapping and very similar to Brazilian football. England invented the game of football, we give them credit for that but the country that made football what it is today is Brazil and Nigeria takes a cue from that.
I remember many players in the Nigerian team but sadly I could not do the things they did with football. My game was suited for English football. I played for the biggest country in the world football-wise, which was England. And that to me was a massive honor.
WM: There is this notion people have that at a particular time in a player’s life they feel untouchable. Is this true and why?
Fashanu: It is very true. I will use myself as an example. For twenty years I played professional football, I played in thousands of matches in all the leagues and scored five hundred goals. That is a lot of games and goals and so of course as a young man, fit, healthy, good-looking with the body of a model, a millionaire, there was the belief that no one could touch us. I would tell you that I have only come out of that phase.
It is wonderful to have faith and belief but I always say to footballers not to allow that faith and belief turn to ignorance. I always advise them not to take themselves too seriously, as once they do that others will see them as fools.
WM: You have come a long way in life: What is that one thing with which you wish you had a second chance?
Fashanu: I have been very much blessed by God as many others have been, too. I can conveniently say I have been fortunate and lucky to travel around the world three times. In my life I have been able to meet with twenty eight different presidents including ours. Every day I just keep thanking God for what he has done for me. So to answer your question, I would tell you as I told God on Sunday: ‘God, thank you for making me John Fashanu and if you bring me back, please bring me back as John Fashanu to do exactly the same things that I have done.’ Despite the good, bad and ugly, I can manage those.
WM: What are your most cherished moments?
Fashanu: Winning the FA cup final 1988 was an incredible victory. Secondly, playing for England, getting to pull off my white shirt even knowing that racism was everywhere. Even knowing that the whites hated me, I still got selected to represent and play for them. Again the union of marriage is one of the most wonderful things in the world. Getting a woman one can marry is a wonderful blessing.
WM: Speaking of marriage, you had problems with your first, but found love a second time….
Fashanu: Point of correction, I did not have problems in my first marriage. I wanted to come back home to Nigeria because this is my home and this is where I should be, but my wife being from Ivory Coast, did not want to come with me, which I understood. We have to respect everyone’s wishes.
She saw Nigeria as a backward country and she’d heard many negative stories about Nigeria and Nigerians and she could not believe or understand why I wanted to return home. Her father was President and her whole family could not believe I wanted to bring their daughter to Nigeria. They were not happy about it.
WM: Why did you decide to come back to Nigeria, then?
Fashanu: I’d made a decision that I would always go back home. I love my country no matter what. Home is always home. Nearly sixteen years ago when Abacha was in office, I made one of my first big investment in the country and that was a duty-free shop at Murtala Mohammed Airport and till today it is still there. That was because I always believed in investing in my own country and that is why I have been able to be successful in Nigeria and I have done reasonably well.
When I was given the land everyone is talking about in Abuja, I think I worked for it. I have worked for my country and I have always been proud to be a Nigerian. I am very happy at my age to be so successful.
WM: How has the accusation of match-fixing affected you?
Fashanu: It did not really affect me, because accusations are something that exist for everybody. Recently, even, the Super Eagles have been accused of match-fixing. As someone who is progressing, you will always have a person who wants to pull you down, that is part of life. I never allow distractions change me.
WM: You took part in the Abacha ‘One Million Man March’. Do we see you going into politics soon?
Fashanu: No, I don’t see myself going into politics. I have always been very close friends with Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, so you wherever you him, you’d see me. That’s the explanation. But I’ve just realized that there are more politics in football than in politics itself.
WM: How did the nickname ‘Fash the Bash’ come about?
Fashanu: The name was given to me because of the style of football I played. I was always very committed. I used to defend myself against all the white boys who saw me as nothing. Then I became the highest-paid player, a millionaire at 23, so they then changed it to ‘Fash the Cash’.
WM: You have been back for some years now. Do you miss England?
Fashanu: I have been back since 2005 and I would say I cannot even remember what England is like. England was always my place while Nigeria has always been my home. Nigerians are all over the world including those who don’t speak any Nigerian language, which I am one. We are all Nigerians and are bound to come back home one day.
WM: What is your favorite Nigerian food?
Fashanu: Pounded yam and any soup. Remember I spent a lot of time in the North, Borno State to be precise, as well as Kano State. I was very close to the Abacha family who were a wonderful family. Most of my life was majorly in the North and partly in the East. So with all these people, pounded yam was dear to them, and it became my favorite.
WM: How do you relax?
Fashanu: Going back home to my beautiful apartment is how I relax. My house has twenty bedrooms, so it’s no longer a house but a palace. Over the years I think I have earned the right to all these. Relaxation is best done at home with family. If I had three or four-bedroom home, people will be disappointed.
WM: What price have you had to pay for being famous?
Fashanu: My privacy. And stories which don’t exist. One minute you are with your wife and the next they say you are separated. It’s crazy.
WM: What do you see as the future of Nigerian football?
Fashanu: It’s bright. Steven Keshi has been a breath of fresh air for Nigerian football. People will argue that we are still not getting it right when we go out of Africa to play. I would say the international playground is very different, it’s about superstars. We are not yet in that position where we have superstars. We do not have any players who are world class yet, but we are getting there with people like Mikel Obi and others.
WM: Are any of your children showing an interest in football?
Fashanu: My son, in London, is a footballer and he looks like he is going to be very good. Anything my children want to do, as long as it is legal and it’s not going to harm them, I will support them.
WM: What projects are you working on now?
Fashanu: We have a $50m project which is ongoing now. We’re about to launch Goodluck Fashanu International Sports Academy, which will be the first three-thousand capacity sports academy to be built in Abuja, to groom sports men and women. It is not for the elite. It is for the poor. The best sports men and women do not come from silver spoon homes. Good sports men come from poverty, they are the ones that have the desire to win. I did not come from a senator’s house, I came from poverty that’s why my story is a classic poverty-to-riches one. I was an orphan but I managed to hustle my way to super stardom. I give credit to MKO Abiola who put the first money in my hand, physically.