Former football players have been coming forward to say they were sexually abused as youth players. The NSPCC set up a hotline for them to call and it has already received more than 100 calls. It is to be expected that many more ex footballers will follow and call up, which may damage the reputation of football in the UK.
Four ex professionals have spoken to the media about what they had experienced in the past, while two former youth players who left the game due to abuse have also come forward.
Who has spoken out?
16th November: Former Bury and Sheffield United player Andy Woodward (aged 43) told the Guardian he was sexually abused by convicted paedophile and former football coach, Barry Bennell, while at Crewe Alexandra between the ages of 11 and 15.
22nd November: Steve Walters (aged 44) also claimed to have been sexually abused by Barry Bennell while at Crewe Alexandra.
23rd November: Former England and Tottenham footballer Paul Stewart (aged 52), told the Mirror he was sexually abused as a youth player. He began his professional career with Blackpool and he also played for Manchester City and Liverpool, claims an unnamed coach, not Barry Bennell, abused him daily for four years.
23rd November: Ex-Manchester City player David White (aged 49), claims he was also sexually abused by Barry Bennell in the late 1970's and early 1980's, while playing for Whitehall FC.
24th November: An anonymous ex-footballer contacted police to say he was a victim of George Ormond, a former Newcastle United youth coach.
What have the ex footballers said?
Andy Woodward: "It was his way of finding out which players were the weaker ones or the softer ones. It started within a few weeks. Initially it was sexually touching but it rapidly got worse and he raped me. I don't want to put a number on how many times it happened, but it was over a four-year period."
Steve Walters: "I just had to pretend it never happened and block it out. I knew it could never come out and I was absolutely petrified because I thought that if it did ever come out that would be it for my career - finished. All these years, I've had this secret inside me. It's been unbearable but, just from reading the article from Andy, it already feels like a massive burden off my shoulders. I have to do this, and I just hope it will help bring more people forward, too."
Paul Stewart: "One day, travelling in the car, he started to touch me. It frightened me to death, I did not know what to do. It progressed to sexually abusing me. He said he would kill my mother, my father, my two brothers if I breathed a word about it. The mental scars led me into other problems with drink and drugs. The level of abuse got worse and worse. I was always under threat, if I was not playing well, he would threaten me with violence as well as sexual abuse. He was a monster."
David White: "While I believe throughout my football career I have come to terms with what had happened, I now realise the effects of Bennell's actions were much more far-reaching than I knew then. I have come to terms with the fact Bennell's actions influenced almost every event and relationship in my life."
Who is Barry Bennell?
-He was a youth coach at Crewe Alexandra-He has been jailed three times for sex abuse
-He was jailed most recently in 2015 for two years for a sexual offence committed against a 12 year old boy
-He permanently remains suspended from football
I think that it is good that these footballers are coming out and telling the news what has happened to them previously as it is not an easy topic to talk about. It is said that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually abused before the age of 18. However, because child sex abuse is very secretive, many of the cases will never be reported. It is disgusting how someone will happily ruin a child's life like that.
Include a comparison, perhaps to a different sport or different country. Otherwise, very in depth research.
ReplyDeleteVery good detail and research, include what form of representation this is.
ReplyDeleteNice piece not much to add expect for what has already been said.
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