John Fashanu started his football career at Norwich in 1979, before moving to Crystal Palace, Lincoln City and then Millwall, but it was when he joined Wimbledon in 1986 that he made a real impression on the game. He was famous for bashing the stuffing out of defenders, where fans assigned him the nickname ‘fash the bash’. In an interview, even Fashanu himself alluded to being more of a ‘British Bulldog’ than footballer, where he was in his element playing ‘kick and rush’ tactics.
Despite notching up 126 goals for the side, football fans will always remember his quite literally skull-crunching aerial challenge on Gary Mabbutt in the 1993/4 season. Perhaps this bruising tackle, combined with an injury- ridden spell at Aston Villa, was what merited his place as 22nd worst footballer ever in the Times Online Worst 50 list.
Although his football career had brought him infamy, his foray into mainstream media brought him to wider appreciation in the public eye. In the 1990’s, Fashanu presented the hit TV show Gladiators, where he used his trademark catchphrase ‘Awooga!’. He also made many other media ventures, once filming a fitness video for women doing exercises in their house called ‘Focus on Fitness with Fash’, which involved utilizing his physique that he claimed was ‘gifted by God’. In 2003, he cemented his celebrity status by coming runner up to Ulrika Jonsson on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!
In April 2011, Fashanu was the winner of Celebrity Total Wipeout, beating celeb rival Calum Best to claim £10,000 for charity. The Fash brought extraordinary balance, unrivalled agility, and nifty footwork to fruition to triumph on this big sporting stage. Such a performance ultimately atoned for his earlier footballing mishaps in the eyes of the public.
Sheer camera presence has now earned him what is perhaps the pinnacle of his career and his crowning achievement, hosting Deal or No Deal Nigeria. Thus his media savvy career moves lead one to believe that perhaps he did use his head after all; its safe to say however, that it certainly wasn’t on the pitch.
Catch Fash in action on the African Channel, Sky Channel 268.
