Adebayo Akinfenwa is one of the most famous modern English footballers never to have played in the Premier League. ‘The Beast’ carved out a distinguished career in the lower leagues bolstered by his charisma and reputation gained as the world’s strongest footballer.
The Sportsman sat down with Akinfenwa ahead of the release of ‘Beast Mode’, a feature-length documentary on Prime Video chronicling his storied career. No topic was off limits as we found out what makes one of football’s most memorable characters tick.
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What can fans expect from ‘Beast Mode’?
People use the word inspirational. But for me, it's just a look into my truths. It's a look back at my journey, some high moments, some low moments. I think it's a testament of what has been behind me, on what's helped drive me, my brothers, my family, my faith.
It's good, it's overwhelming. The hardest thing was trying to cram 40 years into a 90-minute documentary. There were times when I said things as a passing moment, whereas living it wasn't just a moment. The flip side, just seeing the end of the project, it was overwhelming. It's humbling. And I hope people take away that it's okay to be yourself, it's okay to be comfortable in your own skin. That's the whole point I want people to take away from the documentary.
In the documentary, there are sections that deal with the uncertainty of retirement from football. A few months in, how's retirement treating you?
I've been busier now than I was when I was actually playing football, which is the nice thing. Because I do think the transition from whenever you've done anything for such a long period of time, and it changes, I think that's the most difficult period. But I've been busy. So it's not like my mind has been idle. I've been blessed enough to be able to go into BT and still be able to stay in the game. I still do talkSPORT. I've got the documentary coming out.
Now I haven't got an excuse, I take the kids to school, I do the school runs every morning. These are things that I wasn't able to do before. I'm not always happy, sometimes I want to have a lie in but having five kids does not allow me to have a lie in! So it's that balance. At the moment, I'm enjoying it. I was blessed enough to play the game that I loved for 22 years. And now I'm looking forward to pastures new.
There's some incredibly emotional scenes in the film, where you talk about some of the horrendous racist abuse that you've dealt with over the course of your career. In your view, what do those in charge of football need to do to stamp out racism in the game once and for all?
It's a hard thing in the sense of stamping racism out of football, because I actually don't think racism is a football problem. I think it's a societal problem. Those individuals who are in society come to football games. So it is a hard process.
I do believe we are blessed, especially over here. We are so much more in a better place. I think everything must start with a conversation. But that can't be the only thing. We can't just say now we're identifying or just talking about it, that means we're doing enough. It’s not, it’s a starting point. I do think it's a conversation you continuously need to have.
There's a joyous moment for you in the film when you receive a message from Jurgen Klopp. What was that experience like for you?
I played the game for 22 years, and I had some standout moments. But literally, that's up there. That's up there with one of the very best. I think sometimes people think because we are footballers, we're not fans or we can't be excited. I was a school kid when I got that video from Klopp. I was gassed. I let the world know.
I'm always an individual who speaks how he feels. Even when I said that after the game, I was just talking because I was in my feelings. Liverpool won the Premier League. So I was like, if somebody's gonna hit me up on WhatsApp it'll be Klopp. Then to get to my phone afterwards, and he had actually sent me a message, it's the testament of the man he is. It’s humbling, mind-boggling.
Not trying to toot my own horn, but we will also put the Pep Guardiola quotes in there. And when we played Jose Mourinho. For me Gareth Ainsworth is the best manager out there. I'm being biased! But when I'm interacting with Klopp, Mourinho and Pep, it's humbling. I didn't get to the elite as a footballer, but to be able to have the elite managers say nice things about me or have conversations, it's truly humbling.
One facet in which nobody can deny your elite status is strength. You were the strongest player on FIFA for a number of years. How much did that elevate your profile and help your career?
There were two elements which I think played a major role in uplifting my profile. That was the YouTuber JJ, also known as KSI, and the FIFA community.
I didn't realise how big both communities were when I first found out about them. FIFA is global, right? It's all over the world .Whenever you get a game you want to play with the fastest, the strongest, that's what you go to straight away. Because it just gives you that little bit of edge. So to be able to have something that was solely mine every year for me was validation.
I enjoyed the gym and every preseason, every day, I’d bang gym. So to be able to at the start of every new FIFA game, to be able to get that validation of ‘you're the strongest person in the game’. I remember saying that when I ran with it, saying when I retire, I tell you this now ain't nobody taking it off me. I think one time there was a glitch in the Matrix where they messed up and gave it to somebody but that was just a glitch in the Matrix. We're going to speed past that. I was constantly the strongest player in the game and that meant a lot.
Obviously that gave you the reputation of being a powerhouse. Did any opposition players ever try to test you physically on the pitch?
Yeah, especially the young pups. They wanted to try and make a name for themselves. All tried. Everyone failed. It was cool.
I wanted to test myself against Virgil van Dijk. That's just because he’s dominant, aggressive, real good in the air, fast. I would have never beat him for pace, but you want to test yourself. When I was playing against people in my league, especially the younger generation that played FIFA. They would want to test themselves to show how strong they thought they were and quickly realised that there's only one certified Beast Mode.
Who would win in an arm wrestling match between you and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson?
Good question. I've met Dwayne. DJ, that's what I like to call him because we’re cool now we’ve met. We high fived and I saw his arm, now this was before Black Adam, you know he pumped up a little bit for Black Adam. But I'd say I'd win or draw. Because if he was willing, and I'd like to get my brothers to come in and help me, I'm just putting it out there right now. So it's either a win or a draw. Let's just go with that.
Do you have a favourite shirt from your career? Also, what was the worst shirt that you had to wear?
My worst shirt that comes to mind, Gillingham had a pink kit. I'm a big guy in a pink kit, it just didn't show up nice for me. It didn't really fit nice for me, made me look a bit bigger than what I was. That's what I'm sticking to anyway! My favourite probably was the last Wycombe home shirt. It was similar but it had changed in the sense where it hugged me in the right places. Meaning it hugged me on my arms. It made my arms look diesel.
Were you big on swapping shirts in your career? If so, do you have any favourites you’ve collected?
I only started getting shirts in the latter stages of my career. I wasn't really massive on collecting. But then as you get older, you start realising, ‘let me try and take moments and memories towards the last bit of my career.’
The kitman hated me because I was giving away shirts most games, I was giving away quite a fair bit of shirts. I didn't swap but I got Stevie G’s shirt. So that's one of my pride and joy shirts. I also got Kevin De Bruyne's shirt the season I retired, which was good as well. Also Van Dijk sent me his shirt. I didn’t get to play against him. But they're probably the three shirts.
🥅 Games: 32
⚽️ Goals: 10
🅰️ Assists: 6
@daRealAkinfenwa | @wwfcofficial
And he's not done yet.
We touched on The Rock. You've made your own move into professional wrestling recently appearing for Progress Wrestling. Any thoughts on stepping into the ring for a match at some point?
I'm still going through the training process of wrestling, learning how to take the bumps, take the falls. I enjoy it. I did the first one and the energy was electric. Anybody that knows me knows I love energy. I love connecting. So watch this space.
I always said that when I retire, I was going to try as many new things as possible. I'm enjoying my time and at the moment. I'm learning, it’s hard I won't lie. The boys work hard and they really do their due diligence. But it's similar in the sense where I think if you want consistency and dedication, I think that's just a given across the board. So that side of it, I'm okay with that. I'm kind of used to that. But then it's also like my body's hurting in places which normally didn't hurt. I'm normally the one throwing people on the floor. This one's a little bit different!
Finally, if you could boil down your incredible career into just one moment which you could relive; what would it be?
I think for pure adulation would have been when we beat Oxford to get promoted to the Champ. The reason I say that is because I was at the age of 38. When you're early in your career, you're always in your head, “Oh I can win something again.”. I knew at the age of 38 when we got promoted to the Champ, that was the pinnacle.
That was the moment I had that confer a lot of experience being a father. So it just brings everything into perspective. When we got promoted, it was pure euphoria. That moment and it was this catch 22. Because there weren't no fans and there weren't family at the stadium for us to bond and celebrate with. That was the only disappointing thing. But then at the flip side of it actually allowed the players, the staff, the club to just celebrate with each other. There was no going off to see in wives or kids, it was literally just the people that was in the stadium and the people that were making noise were the club members. It was just a band of brothers.
Beast Mode is available to watch on Prime Video now.
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject To Change
