By Tim Parsons-
An independent review into historical child sexual abuse in football has concluded that the Football Association did not do enough to keep children safe.
Headed by Clive Sheldon QC, the inquiry found the FA culpable of “institutional failure” at its delay in introducing safeguarding after 1995, when Barry Bennell and some high-profile abusers in other sports had already been prosecuted and convicted.
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The inquiry identified failures to act adequately on complaints or rumours of sexual abuse at eight professional clubs. They include Chelsea, Aston Villa, Newcastle United, Southampton, Peterborough – and at Manchester City, Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City, where Bennell was a youth coach.
Sheldon found that in general, football and the young people who played the sport were left vulnerable to abuse boys, due to the none existence of a safeguarding culture.
The review found that victims were bullied, scared or manipulated into silence, and very few specific reports of abuse were made within clubs, or to the FA
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Slow
The review found the FA was “too slow” to have sufficient protection measures in place between October 1995 and May 2000.
It said there was no evidence the FA knew of a problem before summer 1995.The report focused on the abuse of children between 1970 and 2005 criticised the Football Association for being too slow.
It said: “The FA 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. These are significant institutional failings for which there is no excuse.”
The long awaited 710-page review, led by Clive Sheldon QC and commissioned by the FA in 2016, found:
Following high-profile convictions of child sexual abusers from the summer of 1995 until May 2000, the FA “could, and should have done more to keep children safe”, the report said.
Significant Delay
There was a significant delay by the FA in putting in place sufficient child protection measures in football at that time. In that period, the FA “did not do enough” to keep children safe and “child protection was not regarded as an urgent priority”.
The FA failed to ban two of the most notorious perpetrators of child sexual abuse, Barry Bennell and Bob Higgins, from involvement in football.
There were known to be at least 240 suspects and 692 survivors, yet relatively few people reported abuse. and the actual level was likely to be far higher.
Where incidents of abuse were reported to people in authority at football clubs, their responses were “rarely competent or appropriate”.
Abuse within football was “not commonplace”. The overwhelming majority of young people were able to engage in football safely.
While several of the perpetrators knew each other, there was not evidence of a “paedophile ring” in football – Sheldon says: “I do not consider that perpetrators shared boys with one another for sexual purposes, or shared information with one another that would have facilitated child sexual abuse.”
Sheldon’s review has made 13 safeguarding recommendations, and he said:
“Understanding and acknowledging the appalling abuse suffered by young players in the period covered by the review is important for its own sake.
“Survivors deserve to be listened to, and their suffering deserves to be properly recognised. As well as recognising and facing up to what happened in the past, it is also important that this terrible history is not repeated, and that everything possible is done now to safeguard the current and future generations of young players.”
Children’s charity the NSPCC set up a hotline with the Football Association dedicated to footballers who had experienced sexual abuse – more than 860 calls were received in the first week.
After investigations involving several police forces started, the FA announced an independent inquiry into non-recent child sex abuse, led by Sheldon.
Sheldon’s review said the FA was unaware that abuse had actually occurred in football prior to the summer of 1995, before Bennell had been convicted in Florida in connection with a football-related tour. The report found that the provision of child protection guidance was “not something which was happening widely within sport”.
Offenders
The offenders are numerous . Barry Bennell – the former Crewe Alexandra and Manchester City coach is serving a 34-year sentence after being convicted of child sexual abuse five times. He was convicted of sexual abuse against 22 boys in total, although it is believed more than 100 victims have come forward to say they were abused by Bennell.
Barry Bennell Image:cnn.com
George Ormond – the former Newcastle youth coach was jailed in 2002 for six years after being found guilty of abusing seven boys under 16 between 1975 and 1999. Other victims subsequently came forward and Ormond was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2018 after being found guilty of 36 counts of sexual abuse against 18 victims between 1973 and 1998.
Jailed Newcastle coach : George Ormond Image:entirely media
Eddie Heath – Chelsea announced in November 2016 they were investigating allegations of sexual abuse by former chief scout Heath, who died in 1983. Evidence from 23 witnesses detailed how Heath groomed and abused young boys aged 10 to 17 in the 1970s. An external review said some adults at Chelsea must have been aware of Heath’s abuse but “turned a blind eye”. Chelsea apologised unreservedly after the review was published in 2019.
Jailed: Eddie Heath groomed boys in the 70’s Image: entirely media
Bob Higgins – the former Southampton and Peterborough youth coach was jailed for 24 years and three months in 2019 on 45 counts of indecent assault against teenage boys. Six players alleged abuse against a former Southampton employee, who was later named as Higgins, in December 2016.
Former coach Bob Higgins got 24 years for indecent assault against boys Image: Itv
Michael ‘Kit’ Carson – the 75-year-old killed himself by crashing into a tree on the first day of his trial in 2019. He was accused of sexually abusing boys under 16, from 1978 to 2009. Carson had worked for Peterborough United, Cambridge United and Norwich City.
Ted Langford – the former Aston Villa and Leicester City part-time scout was jailed in 2007 for the sexual abuse of four boys between 1976 and 1989.
Frank Roper – worked as a scout in the north west of England. Roper, who died in 2005, sexually abused young footballers while recruiting players to Blackpool’s school of excellence.
Phil Edwards – former Watford physio who died in 2019 while on bail for an alleged child sex offence. Hertfordshire police were subsequently contacted by 16 people who made complaints about Edwards.
Compensation Scheme
In March 2019, Manchester City set up a multi-million pound compensation scheme for victims of historical child sexual abuse carried out by former coaches.
The report said that Manchester City senior management were aware of rumours and concerns about Barry Bennell’s conduct in the early 1980s. “The club did not investigate these rumours. It should have done so. The club should also have investigated the arrangements for boys staying at Bennell’s house.”
Crewe Alexandra have reiterated that they were not aware of any sexual abuse by Bennell until 1994 when he was convicted of sexual assault, and did not receive a single complaint about sexual abuse by him.
The Sheldon report said: “It is likely that three directors of Crewe Alexandra FC discussed concerns about Bennell which hinted at his sexual interest in children. There is no evidence that the advice of a senior police officer to the club’s former chairman to keep a ‘watching brief’ on Bennell was heeded. The club should also have ensured that there were appropriate arrangements in place for boys staying overnight at Bennell’s house. The boys should have been spoken to periodically to check that they were being properly cared for. Had such steps been taken, this might have led to boys making disclosures to the club”.
Stoke City were “also aware of rumours about Bennell” during his time associated with the club in the early 1990s, said the report, and steps should have been taken to monitor his activities.
Premier League clubs Aston Villa and Leicester paid damages to five victims of Langford in March 2020. The report said Aston Villa should have reported disclosures about sexual abuse by Langford to the police when his role as a scout was terminated in July 1989.
And on Wednesday, Southampton admitted “considerable failings” and said they were “deeply sorry” to young footballers abused by Higgins.
Inappropriate Behaviour
The report found that Southampton and Peterborough FC were also aware of rumours about the inappropriate behaviour of Bob Higgins, and were aware that boys were staying at his home. “This awareness should have resulted in greater monitoring by the clubs. Had Higgins been properly monitored this might have prevented some of his abuse of young players.”
At Chelsea, in relation to Eddie Heath, the Sheldon report said steps should have been taken to protect the young player who had made a disclosure about abuse in or around 1975.
Newcastle United should have acted more quickly following disclosures of abuse by George Ormond at the youth club “Monty’s” in early 1997. Ormond was only removed from the club many months later, and after Ormond had been permitted to travel abroad with young players. The report found that despite being aware of the allegations, no additional safeguards were put in place by the club.
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