Child abuse in football clubs… “Not one for us” say the police

 

• Who Arsenal are in for, and who will be displaced from the squad
• Threats against players reach a new level; that could slow the market down

By Sir Hardly Anyone

If you are a regular reader of Untold you will know that from time to time we have kept pace with the issue of how Premier League clubs treat young players.  Indeed there has of course been a lot of publicity about the way that some players have been sexually abused at clubs – which tends to hide the fact that there are other issues too.

For as the BBC put it,  “Premier League clubs have continued to play two footballers, and kept a boss in post, while knowing they are under police investigation for sexual or domestic violence.  Alleged victims told the BBC that the Football Association and Premier League prioritise commercial interests over the safety of women.  They describe a culture of fear associated with speaking out.”

The football bodies say they take sexual misconduct very seriously – but what they don’t tell you is that they have several almighty weapons on their side which they do threaten to use.

First, if you were ever to go after a club over a matter of sexual misconduct or over training a player or playing a player when injured, the club might well threaten to bankrupt the individual.   Or if the club is in financial difficulties it can go into liquidation knowing it can reform a little while later.   As one report headlined, “Rangers abuse claim victim told to contact liquidators for compensation.”

Of course, the abused person, or her or his parents can go to the police.  But as I have found out in a case that I have been following, child abuse (which of course can involve playing a youngster when he is injured and should be having treatment) is most likely to be dismissed by the police and other authorities simply as “not one for us”.

Indeed I have had reports that show that the police only follow up sexual abuse cases  and they don’t count a club playing an child when injured (perhaps because they have no other players available) as physical abuse.

But perhaps worst of all is the view that child abuse in football is an old story, it doesn’t happen any more and no one is interested – so the media won’t run with it.   And yet as the headline from the Guardian said “Football sexual abuse report: FA ‘did not do enough to keep children safe’ “

Yet that too is now a story that is over three years old and so no one wants to discuss it anymore.  However, at the time of that Guardian story, the governing bodies of football were “accused of institutional failure after Bennell conviction” and the “FA, Premier League and leading clubs issued formal apologies.”

But what good are formal apologies if now, neither the police nor the media want to follow up stories about abuse of young people just because there is no sexual element involved?  For clearly, playing a 15 year old when he has an injury and should be receiving medical attention is still abuse even though there is no sexual element.

However, to a man and woman, police forces that are informed about club behaviour through mistreating children will have nothing to do with the issue.

Indeed so big a problem is this, there is even a ResearchGate article on the subject, “Playing through Pain: Children and Young People’s Experiences of Physical Aggression and Violence in Sport.”

The fact is that clubs want youngsters with that special extra bit of talent, but they don’t want them on the sidelines getting treatment for injuries.   So it would appear (and I must be clear here this is merely what I have been told, I have not witnessed this) they make it clear to the young player that if he or she drops out of the team for treatment and a layoff, the player might not get back into the team.   If that does happen (and again I stress, I am reporting what I am told nothing more) you can imagine what the response of the average 15 or 16 year old will be.

In fact, if you want to go further into this there is an academic article on the internet “Making young children give everything to football is a bad idea – here’s why.”

Of course the media doesn’t want to know about this because they just want to run transfer rumours.   The clubs don’t want anyone talking about it because as things stand they can take on youngsters and when they are injured cast them aside.   And the youngsters who are injured don’t want anyone talking about it because they are still dreaming of being stars.

]It really is not how it should be.