FA’s credibility at stake over abuse scandal

ACCUSATIONS that abuse by coaches was covered up have rocked English football, damaging the multibillion-pound sport’s image and earning it comparisons with scandals in the Catholic Church and the BBC’s Jimmy Savile case.

Over 20 victims have come forward since the floodgates were opened when Andy Woodward spoke out to the Guardian, and there is growing incredulit y t hat English footba l l’s governing body the Football Association (FA) was unaware of the rumours and claims that the abuse was going on.

British lawmaker Damian Collins, chairman of the influential Culture Media and Sports Parliamentary Committee, said there was a culture of avoiding the problem at the FA and the clubs.

“A picture is building up of people in football not having addressed the abuse and also may have turned their gaze away from it,” he said.

Giving credence to his view is the fact the FA dismissed with a terse “no comment” claims made by Ian Ackley about the abuse he had suffered at the hands of serial offender and youth coach Barry Bennell in a Channel Four documentary in 1997.

Such disdainful treatment of victims and also whistleblowers is of concern to Collins.

“Abuse is an incredibly seri- ous problem, and my concern is how does a victim or a whistleblower report it?” said the 42-year-old.

“Because often they are met wit h a response of ‘Do you have documentar y ev idence’ and if you don’t t hen you’re told you bet ter keep you r mouth shut.”

Greg Clarke, the recently elected chairman of the FA, which has launched its own inquiry headed up by an eminent lawyer, does not believe there has been a cover-up but has conceded that a blind eye might have been turned to the stories of abuse.

“I think the moral consequences of failing to deal with some of these issues in the past we must get to the bottom of,” Clarke said on Tuesday.

However, wit h revelat ions emerging on a daily basis the i mage of t he FA is ta k i ng a pounding.

T h e BBC re v e a l e d o n Wednesday the FA scrapped a review into its Child Protection Programme two years into its existence in 2003 and the journalist who made the 1997 Channel Four documentary insists there is a 2005 FA report lying gathering dust which has 250 names of abused underage footballers on it.

Collins for his part said that if he and his committee are not satsified by the reference points set by the FA for their inquiry then they will sum- mon Clarke in the new year to appear before them.

“I am concerned the inquiry by the FA will be too narrowly focused on the claims themselves and not on the broader picture,” said Collins.

“I am worried the clubs will end up doi ng t hei r ow n housework and it won’t look at t he broader cultura l issues of how people got away with the abuse and will avoid posi ng d i f f ic u lt a nd per t i nent questions.”

Ackley said he hoped for one outcome above all else at the end of the inquiry.

“Finally someone in authority might say: ‘Yes, we were at fault. We are accountable’,” Ackley told the Times.