Tony Cascarino

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Tony Cascarino
Personal information
Full name	Anthony Guy Cascarino
Date of birth	1 September 1962 (1962-09-01) (age 46)
Place of birth	St Paul's Cray, Kent, England
Playing position	Striker (retired)
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1981–1987 1987–1990 1990–1991 1991–1992 1992–1994 1994–1997 1997–2000 2000	Gillingham Millwall Aston Villa Celtic Chelsea Olympique de Marseille AS Nancy Red Star 93 Career	219 0(78) 105 0(42) 046 0(11) 024 00(4) 040 00(8) 084 0(61) 109 0(44) 002 00(0) 629 (248)
National team
1985–1999	Republic of Ireland	088 0(19)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Anthony Guy ("Tony") Cascarino (born 1 September 1962 in St Paul's Cray, Orpington, Kent, England) is a former association football player. He made his name as a striker for various British and French football clubs and for the Republic of Ireland national football team.

Since retirement, he has presented on TalkSPORT radio and written for both The Times and Ireland's Hot Press magazine.

[edit] Career

Having originally planned to be a hair-dresser and a part time yoga instructor, Cascarino joined Gillingham F.C. in 1982 from Crockenhill FC, for a transfer fee of a set of tracksuit tops and some corrugated iron.^[1] He went on to play for Millwall the club he supported as a boy. Millwall had missed an opportunity to sign Cascarino as a youngster and subsequently paid The Gills £225,000 to secure his services. He went on to play for Aston Villa, Celtic and Chelsea. However, his most successful years were with Olympique de Marseille and Nancy in the French Ligue 2.

Cascarino was born in England but represented the Republic of Ireland, qualifying through his Irish grandfather. However, he later revealed that his mother told him in 1996 that she was adopted and therefore no blood relative to the grandfather. Cascarino said in his autobiography: "I didn't qualify for Ireland. I was a fraud. A fake Irishman". However, through the adoption his mother gained the right to Irish citizenship and therefore he was indeed eligible.

Cascarino scored nineteen goals in eighty-eight international appearances, making him for a time Ireland's record caps holder. His aerial prowess fitted well with the long ball style of the team. Cascarino was an integral part of the teams that took part in the European Championship in 1988 and World Cups in 1990 and 1994.

Since retiring from football, Cascarino has become a semi-professional poker player, having appeared in the television series Celebrity Poker Club and commentating on the PartyPoker Poker Den. He has become something of a cult figure and was referenced in the song "All Your Kayfabe Friends" by Welsh band Los Campesinos! where the singer tells that "You asked if I'd be anyone from history / Fact or fiction, dead or alive / I said I'd be Tony Cascarino, circa 1995."

In December 2008 Cascarino was wrongly arrested for assaulting his estranged wife, French-born Virginie. ^[2]

[edit] Autobiography

Cascarino produced an autobiography,^[3] which received great critical acclaim^[4].

The book detailed his love of gambling, particularly playing all forms of poker, and revealed that his career had been blighted by crippling self-doubt, which he summarised as the "little voice"^[3]. The book also candidly refers to his shame over his infidelities^[3] and of leaving his wife, Sarah and two sons, Michael and Teddy (who was named after Cascarino's former Millwall team-mate Teddy Sheringham) and muses: "...maybe, just maybe, I was so wrapped up in my newfound celebrity that I'd become immune to the suffering I was causing".

He also revealed that during his time at Marseille, he and many other of the club's players were injected by club president Bernard Tapie's personal physician with an unknown substance. The physiotherapist at the time insisted the substance was legal and would provide an "adrenaline boost". Cascarino claimed that most players accepted the injections^[3] and that "it definitely made a difference: I felt sharper, more energetic, hungrier for the ball".

[edit] References

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

• Tony Cascarino at the Internet Movie Database
• Tony Cascarino career stats at Soccerbase
• Hendon Mob poker tournament results
• Tony Cascarino French league stats at lfp.fr (French)
• talkSPORT interview

v • d • e Republic of Ireland squad – UEFA Euro 1988 1 Bonner • 2 Morris • 3 Hughton • 4 McCarthy • 5 Moran • 6 Whelan • 7 McGrath • 8 Houghton • 9 Aldridge • 10 Stapleton • 11 Galvin • 12 Cascarino • 13 O'Brien • 14 Kelly • 15 Sheedy • 16 Peyton • 17 Byrne • 18 Sheridan • 19 Anderson • 20 Quinn • Coach: Charlton

v • d • e Republic of Ireland squad – 1990 FIFA World Cup 1 Bonner • 2 Morris • 3 Staunton • 4 McCarthy • 5 Moran • 6 Whelan • 7 McGrath • 8 Houghton • 9 Aldridge • 10 Cascarino • 11 Sheedy • 12 O'Leary • 13 Townsend • 14 Hughton • 15 Slaven • 16 Sheridan • 17 Quinn • 18 Stapleton • 19 Kelly • 20 Byrne • 21 McLoughlin • 22 Peyton • Coach: Charlton

v • d • e Republic of Ireland squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup 1 Bonner • 2 Irwin • 3 Phelan • 4 Moran • 5 McGrath • 6 Keane • 7 Townsend • 8 Houghton • 9 Aldridge • 10 Sheridan • 11 Staunton • 12 G. Kelly • 13 Kernaghan • 14 Babb • 15 Coyne • 16 Cascarino • 17 McGoldrick • 18 Whelan • 19 McLoughlin • 20 D. Kelly • 21 McAteer • 22 A. Kelly • Coach: Charlton