TONY POWELL looked to be living his best life as a professional footballer in the 1970s.
After coming through the youth ranks at Bournemouth, he made more than 200 league appearances for the Cherries before joining Norwich in 1974.
By the end of the decade, he was named player of the year at Carrow Road.
Away from the pitch, he was married with two young daughters.
Inside, though, Powell was in turmoil as he wrestled with his sexuality as a gay professional footballer.
Powell, now 78, told The Guardian: “I hated it, I just wanted to be who I am, but at that time it was not a good idea to come out.
“At times, yes [it was lonely]. It felt like there was no one you could talk to. It was difficult.”
The Bristol-born defender shared a dressing room with Justin Fashanu in East Anglia.
Fashanu became the first male professional footballer to play in England to come out as a gay in 1990 – before being labelled an “outcast” by his brother John and tragically took his own life in 1998 aged 37.
Powell thought Fashanu was gay but added: “Justin didn’t want to talk about it. He thought if he came out as gay his career would be over. So he was scared
“I spoke with him a few times. He was a super guy, really friendly and good to be around. It was so sad he ended up like he did.”
In the summer of 1981, Fashanu left Norwich for Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest while Powell moved to California to play for the San Jose Earthquakes.
Two years later, he joined the Seattle Sounders but finished playing football in 1983 and settled long-term in West Hollywood.
Powell came out in the USA after retiring but had already cut ties with his family over fears of their reaction, abandoning them for 35 years and giving them no knowledge of his whereabouts.
He added: “It’s just not accepted. You can’t be a professional soccer player and be gay. It’s sad that someone can’t be themselves.
“I would love to have been the first person to really come out as gay, and kept playing, but I don’t know what acceptance I’d have received from the league and my team-mates.
“When I came to the US it was like setting myself free in lots of ways.
“[I moved to Hollywood] because it was gay. People go to West Hollywood because they feel safe.
“They move from places where they’re getting harassed to somewhere they can live freely.”
Powell ended up settling at the Holloway Motel, eventually staying for 25 years, becoming the manager and was its final occupant before being closed down and made available as housing to the homeless last September.
There, he supported his assistant, a trans woman called Erica, on her own journey.
Powell was described as “hard as nails” on the pitch but “gentle” off it.
He showed his caring side by looking after David Castro – “a very special guy” – during his illness with HIV and then Aids, allowing the love of his life to be at home up until his death rather than die in a hospice.
Little did Powell know that within walking distance of the dilapidated motel was another gay ex-footballer, former Leeds man and USA international Robbie Rogers.
One thing led to another and a feature-length documentary was released last year on Powell entitled The Last Guest at the Holloway Motel, which Rogers helped produce.
Co-director Ramiel Petros said: “I used to go walking when I first moved here and whenever I passed the motel I’d see this stranger on a balcony of what seemed an abandoned building.
“He would sit there, 12 hours a day, glass of wine in hand, laptop in front of him.
“He always looked serious and grumpy and I’d think, ‘Maybe he’s writing a novel or fighting the city to save this beautiful gothic motel.’
“But he was just watching Arsenal or looking for the Norwich score.”
When they got talking, Powell revealed he was a former pro footballer and opened up on his story.
What was going to be a short film about a motel manager being evicted from the abandoned building ended up being a biopic on Powell.
The film even shows the emotional moment Powell reunited with his two sisters and brother in England after more than three decades – although his daughters chose not to be on camera, understandably after their trauma of their dad’s disappearance.
Powell says he is “absolutely” proud of the programme – and is delighted with the impact it has made in reconnecting with his family.
They stay in touch across the Atlantic and his daughters have visited him in San Diego.
Powell – who still doubts there will be an openly-gay footballer in the “homophobic” Premier League any time soon – said on that long-overdue meet-up: “It was good.
“My daughters were accepting and our love for one another was there even after all they’d gone through.
“I was quite surprised how quickly my sisters and I connected and it was special to see them because when you’re apart for that long you don’t even know if they are still alive.”
