Nathan Austin (born 15 February 1994) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

, who plays as a striker for East Fife. He has also previously played for East Fife,

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional F ...

and

Kelty Hearts Kelty Hearts Football Club is a football club based in the village of Kelty in Fife, Scotland. Formed in 1975 and nicknamed ''the Hearts'', ''the Maroon Machine'' and ''the Jambos'', they play their home games at New Central Park. Their home ...

Career

Austin, born in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, England moved to Scotland with his family in 2001 at the age of seven. Whilst playing for youth side East Wemyss District under-15s, Austin came to the attention of the media after being subjected to racist abuse during matches for the side. Initially it was reported that he was to quit football because of the abuse, however he vowed to persevere after receiving support from the public and then-

Scottish FA The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for ...

chief executive

Gordon Smith Gordon Smith may refer to: In politics *Gordon H. Smith (born 1952), former U.S. Senator from Oregon, and current Area Authority for the LDS Church * Gordon Elsworth Smith (1918–2005), Canadian politician * Gordon Smith (academic) (1927–2009), ...

. Eventually Austin signed for amateur side Leven United, before moving on to

Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as cinch League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League One was e ...

side East Fife in July 2013. Austin made his debut for the

Methil Methil (Scottish Gaelic: Meadhchill) is an eastern coastal town in Scotland. It was first recorded as "Methkil" in 1207, and belonged to the Bishop of St Andrews. Two Bronze Age cemeteries have been discovered which date the settlement as ov ...

club in the

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Forfar Athletic Forfar Athletic Football Club are a Scottish semi-professional football club from the town of Forfar, Angus. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League and currently play in Scottish League Two. They play their home games a ...

, coming on as an 85th minute substitute for Scott McBride and his first goal for the side came in a 1–0 defeat of

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( gd, Obar Bhrothaig ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast some ENE of Dundee and SSW of Aberdeen. The ...

in January 2014. His second season with the club saw him improve on the five goals he scored in his debut season, with the striker netting 14 times in competitive 38 matches, including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against Threave Rovers in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

against

Elgin City Elgin City Football Club (also known as City or The Black and Whites) is a professional senior football club based in Elgin, Moray. Elgin was founded in 1893 and originally played their football in the Highland Football League. The club was g ...

in a 3–5 victory. His third season with East Fife started even more brightly, and by January 2016 Austin had scored 16 goals in 25 appearances, adding two further hat-tricks to his score-sheet against both Montrose and

Stirling Albion Stirling Albion Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Stirling. The club was founded in 1945 following the demise of King's Park after World War II. The club currently competes in Scottish League Two as a member of the ...

. His performances attracted the attention of a number of top-tier sides, with

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

and

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

all reported as targeting Austin for a potential move. Austin was eventually signed by

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

side

on 15 January 2016, with the player remaining at

Bayview Stadium Bayview Stadium, known formerly as New Bayview, is a football stadium in the Scottish town of Methil, Fife. It is home to East Fife. It was opened in 1998, after the club relocated from the original Bayview Park across town. The stadium can ac ...

on loan for the remainder of the season as part of the deal. Austin continued to lead the line prolifically for the Fifers in the second half of the season; he scored one goal and assisted another the day after his transfer to Falkirk in a 4–2 win away to Annan Athletic, and also scored the following week in a 3–1 away victory at East Stirling. East Fife were to go on a great run of form towards the business end of the season, and eventually finished top of

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

, ensuring promotion to

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

and giving Austin a league winners medal. Austin spent just under two years with Falkirk, before being released from his contract in December 2017. He then signed for

, and made his debut in a 1–1 draw against

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

on 2 January 2018. He scored his first hat-trick for the club on 14 April 2018, in 5–1 win against

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

. In May 2019, Austin signed for

Lowland League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) is a senior association football, football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, actin ...

side

. He was loaned to East Fife in March 2021.

Personal life

Austin's younger brother Jordan is also a footballer and played alongside him at East Fife in Nathan’s first spell at the club both players went in a different path since.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

East Fife *

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as cinch League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League Two was ...

: 2015–16 Kelty Hearts *

: 2019–20,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

: 2021–22

Individual

* PFA Scotland Team of the Year League Two: 2015–16 * PFA Scotland Team of the Year League Two: 2021–22 *

Top Goalscorer: 2019–20

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Nathan 1994 births Men's association football forwards East Fife F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Living people Scottish men's footballers Scottish Professional Football League players Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. players Footballers from Fife Black British sportsmen Scottish people of Barbadian descent Kelty Hearts F.C. players Lowland Football League players Anglo-Scots