'My footballer brother hid his sexuality for years'

The sister of a former footballer who vanished for decades because he could not discuss his homosexuality with his family hopes a new film will give others strength.

Denise Smith said her brother Tony Powell, a former Bath City, Bournemouth and Norwich City player cut all ties in 1981 while he was playing football in the USA.

He was found in 2002 to be a motel manager in California, and despite his family's efforts to contact him he did not speak to them until just a few years ago.

Denise hopes the documentary, The Last Guest Of The Holloway Motel, about Tony's life, which was shown in Bath on Saturday as part of a UK tour, will inspire people "to find the courage to speak with their families".

Ahead of the film's screening, Denise from Bristol, said: "I know not all families will be accepting. But even if they aren't, you as an individual will have then been true to yourself, and you then won't have to live a lie.

"It didn't matter to us, and it felt like what a waste of years. If only he could have found the courage to say something.

"There was so much empathy and sympathy for him. It was his decision, he found a life where he could be his true self without question.

"The longer you don't hear from someone or speak to them, the harder it gets to do it."

Tony, 79, was a defender in England until 1981 when he then moved to the United States to play for multiple teams, before ending his career and moving to Hollywood.

Denise said Tony then became a motel manager until the 2000s in Los Angeles, before it was being converted into temporary housing for people who were homeless.

About three years ago US documentary-makers Ramiel Petros and Nick Freeman visited the motel to make a film about its conversion, and recorded Tony.

From there, Ramiel said, they saw a "much bigger story" about about his disappearance from the public eye.

Denise said: "It's about Tony as a footballer and being gay - which even to this day - is not accepted in the football world.

"He went from being a very successful professional footballer. He lost everything, he walked away from his own family, not just his wife.

"It's a story of how he moved away and chose a different life to lead.

"Even to this day he's very guarded about what's gone in his life, we've found out very little."

Denise said she had no clues as to Tony's whereabouts until 2002, when Norwich City was celebrating its centenary by tracking down former players, and they had "a breakthrough".

Denise said a local reporter approached her saying she had arranged to interview Tony, and Denise asked to pass on a message. However, Tony did not respond.

"I did call the hotel and I'm sure it was him who answered the phone. He just said 'there's no Tony Powell who works here'," Denise said.

"We tried. I guess he just wasn't ready to be found."

Denise said Ramiel and Nick contacted her "out of the blue" for the film, and from there Denise and the rest Tony's of family reconnected.

She added their mum and dad died within a few years of him stopping communication.

Tony now suffers with dementia and lives in an assisted living centre, in San Diego.

Ramiel said: "I met Tony shortly after moving to west Hollywood. Before I knew he was a "missing" footballer, I met him as my neighbour running an abandoned motel.

"What started off as a short film about a local motel manager became a much bigger story when he told us that he had once been a professional footballer.

"So much about Tony's past is heart-breaking, but throughout the process of making this film, his story becomes so much more hopeful.

"It becomes a beautiful portrait of family, acceptance, and you learn that it's never too late to be yourself and make amends.

"As the film finally makes its homecoming across the UK, I hope that audiences learn through Tony's incredible story that the cost professional athletes pay when they are forced to hide who they are while doing what they love."

The film is on a nationwide tour and is showing in other areas such as Norwich, Newcastle and Brighton.

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