- FA finally confess they only investigate people, not clubs, leaving young players totally open to abuse
- Child abuse in football clubs… “Not one for us” say the police
- How clubs are using a gap in the rules to allow them to ignore young players’ injuries
By Tony Attwood
I have written before about issues relating to concerns over the well-being of and treatment of academy players, and expressed my personal view that there seems to be no organisation that is willing to investigate the cases that are raised.
As we all know there have been many allegations of the abuse of young players, and indeed subsequent court cases which have centred around the sexual abuse of players. But there are also accusations of abuse of a different kind, such as where young players are (for example) played even when they have an injury. This, it is suggested, happens simply because it is expedient to do so, and is no shortage of young players desperate to get a chance with a club.
In such cases the youngster will play, rather than step down because of the injury, the injury might be made worse, and the player is then cast aside, without gaining the proper treatment.
Worse, to their eternal discredit, the Football Association have continuously and persistently refused to take this matter up claiming such issues are the responsibility of the club, or perhaps a civil case involving employment law. But the FA are in overall charge of football in this country, and even if they think they can’t act, surely they have a duty to present the matter fully to whoever is able to act, rather than just tell parents, “it”s not us”.
Now however new evidence seems to have emerged that Liverpool FC submitted a falsified document to the Premier League in an attempt to misrepresent its financial obligations to a young academy player. It is being said that “the alteration of key dates on an official registration form has led to allegations of fraudulent misrepresentation, further intensifying scrutiny over the club’s conduct in the case.”
To be quite clear again, I cannot verify this matter, although it seems that the father of the affected player has provided evidence showing that Liverpool directed the family to leave a registration form updated – something that most certainly should not happen. The allegation is that Liverpool subsequently changed the document, although I stress, I can’t verify this. If Liverpool make a statement, I will of course publish it here in full.
For this is obviously, a very serious matter, especially as we know that back in 2017 Liverpool were accused of submitting a falsified document to the Premier League when trying to lure a 12-year-old schoolboy from Stoke City. As the report in the Telegraph at the time said, “Father and son completed the document … three days before the latter began the new school year at his private school, the fees for which Liverpool had agreed to pay until he was 16. The club directed the pair not to date their signatures, an instruction the father ignored to ensure the moment was accurately recorded. The next time the family saw the document – after it had been submitted to the Premier League – all the signatures on it were dated September 21, including the father’s, beneath which a ‘1’ had been inserted after his initial ‘2’.
When this story first broke, the Telegraph also added, “The lack of transparency in the governing body’s investigation raises serious questions about the accountability of football institutions and their commitment to fair play.”
The accusations in that case revealed a major problem, for although of course, we can’t say who did what, and if any regulations were broken, what does seem to be uncontested then, and which is causing a problem now, is that neither the FA nor the Premier League were willing to “intervene meaningfully” as the Telegraph puts it, when such accusations are made. As the newspaper continues, this reveals “a broader issue with how young footballers are recruited and discarded. The promises made by elite clubs often come with hidden risks, leaving players and families vulnerable when deals fall apart due to regulatory loopholes or administrative indifference.”
Now this is exactly the sort of thing that football needs to get a grip with so that there is one body that is responsible for investigatinig such accusations. One would think this can hardly be the Premier League because they would then be investigating one of their own, and we have been seeing for the past year how this pans out..
Thus the parent (who of course may not have the sort of savings and/or income to take on a football club in court) is left on her/his own. Clubs it seems can simply say, “Oh it’s just the parent making a fuss,” and refuse to give a young player a scan, can carry on playing him, and then throw him out because “he’s not up to it”.
One of the footballing bodies in England needs to take responsibility for the well-being of young players recruited by senior clubs and be willing to ensure that the senior clubs are held to account if they don’t give young players the medical treatment they need. As the FA seem not to be interested, another independent body is needed.
As I have written before, this is the exploitation of young people of the sort that most of us brought up in England, probably learned about in school in relation to the early days of coal mining in this country. It is a shock to find not only that it continues, but that despite the revelations about it, still nothing is happening. And we have to ask why. Why won’t the FA, the League, and the media, at least investigate the issue?
