Ex-British Soccer Star Looks Homeward : Heat’s Justin Fashanu, Knee Healed, Longs for Big-Time Action

Once in a while, Justin Fashanu refers to his sport as football instead of soccer . It’s just another example that you can take the Englishman out of soccer for a while, but you can’t take the football--er, soccer --out of the Englishman.

In 1986, soccer was almost eliminated from Fashanu’s life. His brilliant nine-year career in the English First Division was suddenly snapped when a stray cleat nearly shattered his right knee.

Two-and-a-half years later, Fashanu is once again dazzling fans--those of the Torrance-based Los Angeles Heat--with his powerful play up front.

And as his Californian rehabilitation winds down, Fashanu, 27, is plotting a return to the English Football League, which is considered in most soccer circles as the toughest professional league in the world.

Before his injury, Fashanu was a controversial and colorful striker--one whose punishing play left fullbacks baffled and bruised, and one who was often bruised himself by his country’s tabloid press.

Today, Fashanu is a man at a crossroads. With his past well-chronicled and his knee well-healed, Fashanu could return to England--and a hefty salary and fans yearning for his homecoming. Or he could remain in exile, where his experience and know-how could help professional outdoor soccer tighten its grip in Southern California.

“I’m basically faced with two decisions,” Fashanu said. “The opportunities are vast in America for an individual who wants to work hard for an honest, professional program. On the other hand, a virtual fortune awaits me in England.”

Fashanu’s soccer history already reads like an English road map. He’s sported the scarfs of five football clubs--the yellow and green of Norwich, the red and white of Nottingham Forest and Southampton, the black and white of Notts County and the blue and white of Brighton.

“I still haven’t found my favorite color,” he quipped.

Fashanu turned pro at age 15, and he’s represented England in a host of international events. When he was traded from Norwich to Nottingham Forest in 1980, he was the youngest player in the league to be transferred for a million pounds sterling. The same year, Fashanu scored a goal against Liverpool, then Europe’s top team, that was voted one of the most stunning goals of all time by English soccer fans.

“Fashanu had a tremendous physical presence leading the forward line,” said Chris Cattlin, manager of the Brighton football club, where Fashanu finished his English soccer career. “His attitude was excellent, and he helped bring out the best in the other players around him--especially the other strikers.”

All that was threatened in February, 1986. Fashanu was playing for Notts County against Ipswich Town.

He was dueling one-on-one with Russell Osmond, an Ipswich defender, and played the ball off his right knee. The onrushing Osmond went after the ball at the same time, but his spikes drove into Fashanu’s knee and Notts County’s star striker was badly hobbled.

Fashanu recovered partially and appeared in a dozen games the next season for Brighton. But infection had set into the knee. Fashanu hung up his cleats.

“I had been told by doctors and surgeons in England that I’d never walk again properly--let alone play,” Fashanu said. “They were proposing an operation to remove the lining from the inside of my knee.”

After an “eternity” in rehabilitation clinics, Fashanu was invited to spend Christmas of 1986 in Upland with an American friend, Neil Slawson, and his family. After the warm Californian winter and surgery by Dr. Jim Tibone of Inglewood’s Kerlan-Jobe clinic, Fashanu steadied himself to play again.

The knee held up well when Fashanu tested it in 20 games with Autobahn, a semipro club in the San Fernando Valley’s Budweiser International League. Though disappointed when he felt that the tender knee kept him from doing the things on the soccer field he had done in the past, Fashanu was hooked again.

Fashanu’s involvement with the Heat came about almost by accident.

He went to the Heat’s practice grounds at West Torrance High School “for a bit of fun.” He ended up forging a partnership with Heat Coach John Britton and General Manager Michael Hogue. Fashanu accepted a post as assistant coach, and in April he assumed his position in the Heat’s front line.

Though he admits he still hasn’t gotten back to where he was before the injury, Fashanu is thrilling South Bay soccer fans with a taste of disciplined, European-style soccer. With three goals, Fashanu is the second-ranked scorer in the Western Soccer Alliance.

A brilliant goal three weeks ago in the Heat’s upset victory over unbeaten F. C. Seattle was a clue to Fashanu’s past glories--and possibly his future. Fashanu took a long pass from Steve Sharp at midfield, galloped past defender Jeff Stock one-on-one and volleyed a rocket into the Seattle net from 20 yards out. Fashanu’s strike gave the Heat its 2-0 winning margin.

And Fashanu’s tight-lipped leadership on the field is a main reason that the Heat (6-5) has become a contending force this season. The team, which still has an outside chance to make the playoffs, concludes its regular season Sunday at 2 p.m. at West Torrance High against the California Kickers.

Together with Britton, Fashanu has taken a core of gifted college and local players and has hewn them into a tight unit.

The union has been beneficial to both parties. The young players get a chance to absorb a host of practical knowledge from the man they call “Fash.” In return, the local players have rallied Fashanu’s love for soccer, and he’s learned a handful of Californian phrases in the process. Jammin’ is his favorite.

“Justin is very critical,” said Billy Thompson, 20, a midfielder who leads the Heat with four goals. “He’s European, and that’s the European way. It’s kind of tough for a lot of players because they’re not used to that. A lot of American players try to get away with doing what they think is right.

“Justin just won’t accept that. He’ll stop play and tell you. But as long as you realize he’s just trying to make you a better player and don’t take it personally, you’ll be all right.”

The Heat isn’t the only Californian team that could benefit from Fashanu’s guiding hand. Fashanu has the first-hand knowledge of what it takes to nurture an accomplished soccer organization, and he believes Southern California--especially Orange County--is ready for it.

The United States on July 4th was awarded the 1994 World Cup by world soccer’s governing body, the Federation Internationale de Football Assn. A proposed national professional outdoor league is tentatively scheduled to be set into place in the U.S. by 1990 after a merger of new clubs with the best teams from the Western Soccer Alliance and the American Soccer League.

Fashanu thinks the Heat, or some new Southern California club, could spearhead the new national league, and he’d like to be here when it does.

“It would be a league based upon the philosophy of providing Americans with accomplished American soccer players,” he said.

In the meantime, he’ll have to deal with the magnetic impulse to return to England. Fashanu’s younger brother, John, helped key Wimbledon’s 1-0 upset victory over Liverpool in this year’s Football Assn. Cup final--”It was like David defeating Goliath,” the elder Fashanu said. So the familial pull is strong.

When his commitment to the Heat is over, Fashanu will join a Swedish team, Holmundsun, for the fall. From there, he expects to return to England, from which several clubs have sent out feelers to test his progress. One of the clubs, Sheffield Wednesday, is skippered by Howard Wilkinson, who managed Fashanu when he was with Notts County.

“It’s up to Fashanu to get his sleeves rolled up and come back,” said Cattlin, the Brighton manager. “Since he’s been overseas, he’s become a bit of a forgotten man. But if he comes back, he’d be judged on merit.”

He would also be scrutinized closely by the English tabloid press, which, Fashanu claimed, was guilty of “character assassination” in the later stages of his career. Fashanu refused to grant interviews to the English scribes for two years prior to his injury.

“They fabricated scenarios and created a monster-like image of me,” Fashanu said. “But what goes round comes round. They left me for dead. If they build you up big enough, it’s only a matter of time before you fall.

“When you’re 20 years old and a highly paid athlete, your mistakes are aired in front of everyone. I probably grew up too quickly. But that’s par for the course.”

Another problem awaiting Fashanu on his return is the growing specter of soccer hooliganism. England recently withdrew its application for readmission to the European Football Union. England had been banned from the union after hooligans backing Liverpool skirmished with Italian supporters of Juventus at the 1985 European Cup in Brussels--and 39 spectators were killed.

Rioting erupted again in recent weeks during the European Football Championships in West Germany. Hordes of hooligans--”yobs” in English jargon--were arrested after waging battles with celebrating German fans and police. Railroad stations in Stuttgart and Dusseldorf were damaged and hundreds were injured. When the smoke cleared, English club teams were still banned from playing on the continent.

“The clubs are getting penalized because of the hooligans,” Fashanu said. “Unfortunately, there’s nothing the clubs can do to curb them.

“If you go to an Angel game, the Angels supporters are there in droves, plus a smattering of the other team’s supporters. Otherwise you’d have the same problem here on your doorstep. In England, the rivals are right there next to each other in force. And with the day-in, day-out miseries of unemployment, the team you believe in becomes suddenly something you want to fight and die over.”

Fashanu doesn’t condone the hooligans. But he does understand what it means to have to fight for respect. At age 14, Fashanu was England’s second-ranked junior heavyweight boxer--”at 10 or 11 stone,” he said--and he reached two national finals. But when he inked his first soccer contract with Norwich, his career in amateur boxing came to an end.

“I was no hero,” Fashanu said. “I’d hit you three times and get hit none. Being hit served no purpose whatsoever. You’ve got to be a blooming idiot to want to get hit. I’ve always been a fighter in my life. Never whine and groan--just get on with it.”

Fashanu learned another lesson at an early age, when he had to cope with being in a high profile and successful position--and black--in an often-resistant England.

“If you’re not one of the majority you’re bound to encounter opposition,” Fashanu said. “But if you’re up to it and you prove yourself, the opposition soon falls.”

Fashanu admitted that being a black athlete in the United States isn’t uncommon, but he joked that being a black athlete with an English accent is. “People look at me and they’ve already formed an opinion, that I’m a baseball or basketball player. Then they hear the accent. It just blows their whole assessment.

“Actually, about the only problem I’ve encountered over here is that people can’t understand what I’m saying.”