BEVERLY HILLS, March 17, (THEWILL) – The English Football Association has received an independent review that dived into historical sexual abuse in football and arrived at the conclusion that there have been “institutional failings” at the FA in the period investigated.
These findings constitute part of a report from Clive Sheldon QC, a senior barrister, who was commissioned by England’s governing body to investigate further, after former footballer Andy Woodward came out to openly admit to being abused by former Crewe youth coach and now convicted paedophile Barry Bennell in 2016.
Sheldon’s focus of investigation spanned the period between 1970 and 2005, when a previous review took place to look into safeguarding.
There was, in the report, an acknowledgement that the evidence did not show that the FA knew of a “systematic problem of child sexual abuse within the game in England”, but immediately pointed out the organisation, as a whole, failed in its responsibility to take appropriate action after a conference in July 1996 provided counsel on the best practices in child protection to national governing bodies from a number of sports including football.
Even if ignorant, Sheldon alleged that the FA ought to have sprung quickly to action rather than how they responded. He asserted that they acted “far too slowly to introduce appropriate and sufficient child protection measures, and to ensure that safeguarding was taken sufficiently seriously by those involved in the game” and that it did “not do enough to keep children safe”.
Sheldon clarified that prior to that period, the lack of guidance was “a failure of sport as a whole” rather than just football.
The QC’s report also held that clubs were often “naive” about the possibility of abuse and did not facilitate or encourage young players to raise concerns, which must have been extremely difficult to bear for these youngsters under their care and responsibility.
He listened to and heard evidence from survivors, whose stories illustrated that abusers were manipulative and often used “elaborate grooming tactics” which were mainly conducted in “private” to the disadvantage of these victims.
Evidently, the report contains a number of cases which have been investigated and this includes that of Bennell. The perpetrator is believed to have had more than 100 victims in the course of his criminal acts. For these known cases, he is serving a total sentence of 34 years plus two additional years on licence for child sexual offences in the UK.
Sheldon reports that the management in Manchester City, Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City, where Bennell worked as a youth coach or scout, fell below expectations especially in the aspect of investigating rumours circulating about their employee.
Owing to ignorance and naivety, clubs often missed warning signals and were reluctant to look into matters if there was no “concrete evidence” against any of their crew. It was an approach that provided many perpetrators opportunities to hide within football and use their positions to “ruin the lives of many children” forever.
Sheldon insisted that it was “important this terrible history is not repeated” and to forestall any recurrences, offered a number of recommendations to The FA. They include:
The provision of safeguarding training to parents/carers and players at a professional level
All FA Board and senior management team members, as well as the board of directors at every club, to receive safeguarding training at least every three years
Assigning one member of the FA’s Board to the role of ‘Children’s Safeguarding Champion’
To develop a five year strategy with specific intervention to support the voices of children
The requirement of all grassroots clubs to make their safeguarding policy and the contact details of the Welfare Officer readily available to parents and carers of all junior players, under the age of 18
Widen the system of spot checks for grassroots clubs to review the clubs’ safeguarding policies and practices, including overnight stays, away travel and trips, use of social media, and coaching in a digital environment, as well as to obtain the views of children and young people, and to sanction those clubs that fail to comply.
The annual publication of a safeguarding report, which should include a statement from the FA Chairman
A yearly National Day of Safeguarding in Football to raise awareness of the issues
The FA posted a statement via Twitter in response to Sheldon’s 710-page report. It read: “Clive Sheldon QC’s independent report regarding allegations of non-recent child sexual abuse in football has been published today.
“We will publish our full response at 3pm, once Clive Sheldon’s media conference has concluded.”
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