Trailblazers – Norwich City FC Academy

Norwich City FC Academy have been tackling the Trailblazers project online, using sessions with their Leadership Group (made up of players from each team) to research and celebrate Norwich’s Trailblazers.

The group decided to honour not one, but two members of the Norwich football family. Tony Collins, who was first black-heritage manager in the Football League after his career as a player, appeared 29 times for Norwich between 1953 and1955. Tony passed away in February 2020, at the age of 94.

The group have also chosen to celebrate Justin Fashanu, the first Black footballer to command a £1 million transfer fee and the first openly gay professional footballer. Justin started his youth career at Norwich and played professionally for the team from 1978 to 1981.

With lots of exciting and creative celebrations being planned, Big Ideas can’t wait to see how Norwich honours these two Trailblazers and their inspiring stories.