The FA Pledges To Do Right By The Victims Of England’s Ongoing Football Sexual Abuse Scandal
Content Warning for sexual assault and child abuse.
FA chairman Greg Clarke has said England’s governing football body will stand by victims of sexual assault after several former footballers went public with their stories of abuse and exploitation.
Last week, former Bury and Sheffield United defender Andy Woodward gave an interview to The Guardian in which he detailed years of sexual abuse he suffered while signed as a youth player for Crewe Alexandra. The 43-year-old said that, between the ages of 11 and 15, he was repeatedly abused by former coach Barry Bennell, who has since been convicted of pedophilia charges in an unrelated case.
Since then, several more retired footballers came forward with similar stories of assault, all around the same period at Crewe Alexandra, all with Bennell named as the attacker. A lengthy pattern of abuse has emerged, one in which the victims felt tremendous pressure to stay silent.
Woodward explained that the abuse was rooted in the toxic atmosphere that permeates the dressing rooms at football clubs throughout Britain, in which asserting dominance is vital and any sign of weakness is brutally punished.