Child abuse report 'dark day' for game

LONDON • Football Association (FA) chief executive Mark Bullingham said on Wednesday that the revelation of historical child abuse in English football has marked a "dark day" for the sport.

An independent report into decades of sexual abuse of young players in England has strongly criticised the FA, saying the governing body "did not do enough to keep children safe".

The 710-page review, conducted by Queen's Counsel Clive Sheldon into the abuse of children between 1970 and 2005, found "significant institutional failings for which there is no excuse" and said the FA was slow to react when it became aware of problems in 1995.

He found there were at least 240 suspects and 692 survivors of sexual abuse up till August last year but said the actual number of cases was likely to be "far greater".

The review also found failings at eight professional clubs - Chelsea, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Southampton, Crewe Alexandra, Stoke and Peterborough.

Bullingham said the findings marked a "dark day for the beautiful game" and addressed the victims of abuse in a statement.

"No child should ever have experienced the abuse you did," he said.

"What you went through was horrific and it is deeply upsetting that more was not done by the game at the time, to give you the protection you deserved."

He added: "There's a famous quote that says: 'For evil to flourish simply requires that good people do nothing'. There are too many examples of that throughout this report. There is no excuse."

He also said that systems and policies were now in place.

"As a game we failed to prevent this abuse. We all have to learn from that, in order to protect future generations," he said.

"We will continue to keep safeguarding children at the heart of everything we do. The past must never be forgotten, and we must never be complacent."

Mr Julian Knight, the chair of the British Parliament's digital, culture, media and sport committee said the FA's failure to protect children was "truly shocking".

"The FA has grave questions to answer about its past record and needs to reassure parents about what it's doing now to ensure that children are kept safe," he said.

The review was prompted after a 2016 Guardian newspaper interview with a victim led to other victims coming forward with their accounts.

There have subsequently been several criminal convictions.

The report contains 20 personal accounts of abuse, which Sheldon described as having "a devastating impact on the lives of many of the survivors, as well as their families and loved ones".

He wrote: "Survivors have described to me the suicide attempts, excessive alcohol or drug intake or dependency, periods of depression and other mental illness, failed relationships with partners and children, which they attribute to the sexual abuse they experienced as children."

The FA was also criticised for its failure to act against Barry Bennell, a coach at lower league Crewe who later joined City, and started serving in 2018 a 34-year prison sentence for child sexual abuse.

The report said the FA was aware Bennell had pleaded guilty in Florida in 1995 to sexual abuse and that, even though he was jailed in 1998, did not suspend him until 2011.

The report has made a series of recommendations to the FA including full-time safeguarding officers for major clubs and a widening of the system of spot checks for grassroots clubs.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE