Children put at risk by flaws in safeguarding
Among major sports without register of offenders calls for law changes and formation of national body
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Children are being put at risk by fundamental flaws in the policing of paedophile coaches in football and other major sports, a Daily Telegraph investigation has found.
Ten days after the publication of a bombshell report into football’s child sexual abuse scandal, survivors, MPS, athlete groups and even sports themselves have called for action to fill gaps in the system.
A Telegraph investigation into those gaps found:
h Football, rugby and cricket are among the major sports not to publish a register of those banned from working with children, risking leaving offenders free to strike elsewhere.
h The lack of a sport-wide safeguarding body threatens inconsistent sanctions for transgressors.
h Some abuse risks going unpunished because failing to report it to police is not a criminal offence. h At least 10 football clubs in the Championship and League One may need to alter their safeguarding provision to comply with recommendations of the Independent Review into Child Sexual Abuse in Football. hthe principle of double jeopardy for most types of abuse means offenders could walk free and deny victims justice.
The findings prompted abuse survivor Paul Stewart to lead calls for a safeguarding equivalent of UK Antidoping, for football and other sports to sign up to a national public register of coaches banned from working with children, and for changes to the law on mandatory reporting and double jeopardy.
Last week’s report by Clive Sheldon QC found there were still “a number of gaps” in safeguarding within the sport, but made no recommendations about how to fill some of them, to the dismay of those hoping it would lead to a major crackdown on child abuse.
Those gaps include the lack of sports which publish a register of those banned for safeguarding reasons, with only athletics, cycling and rowing confirming such information could be found on their websites.
The Football Association announced only last week that it had banned former Crewe Alexandra manager Dario Gradi indefinitely for safeguarding reasons, more than four years after suspending him. That prompted concerns there had been nothing since 2016 to stop Gradi – whom Sheldon cleared of serious wrongdoing but
found he could have done more to prevent abuse – coaching youngsters outside of the FA’S jurisdiction.
The Sheldon report called for the FA to examine how such gaps could be “filled in” and Stewart said one way “without doubt” would be for it to sign up to a national public register of banned coaches or simply publish such sanctions itself.
“I don’t know why the FA wouldn’t do it,” said the former England, Tottenham and Liverpool midfielder, who delivers safeguarding training at professional clubs.
The Offside Trust survivors’ group said: “There can be no more secrecy. This is 2021. If a coach is banned from working with children, we should be told why. Otherwise, there is nothing to stop them moving on to be a danger elsewhere.”
Sarah Champion, MP for Rotherham and former chair of the Allparty Parliamentary Group on Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse, said: “Parents have a right to know if there is a potential risk to their child. I applaud those sports which publish a list of coaches banned for safeguarding reasons and fail to see why others refuse to do the same.”
The FA said it agreed with the Sheldon report that safeguarding gaps highlighted “should be discussed with government”, but
‘I applaud those sports which publish a list and fail to see why others refuse to do the same’
declined to comment on whether the solution should include publishing sanctions or a public register.
However, the governing bodies for rugby, cricket, tennis, athletics, cycling, swimming, gymnastics, rowing, boxing, equestrianism, triathlon, judo and canoeing all said they were open to such a register.
Some even expressed a willingness to defer responsibility for policing safeguarding to an equivalent body to Ukad, something endorsed by both Stewart and the British Athletes Commission, which said: “Any potential loopholes must be closed. For this reason, the creation of an effective, independent agency, overseeing safeguarding across all sports, would be a positive step.”