Head of review urges survivors to come forward
The head of the review into historic sexual abuse in English football has appealed to abuse survivors to come forward and tell their stories.
Clive Sheldon QC has implored victims to come to him in confidence as his enquiry, set up by the Football Association last year, reaches what he calls “a crucial stage”.
Sheldon and his team have been in the ‘deep investigation’ phase of their review since May, gathering evidence on historical child abuse in English football to find out what happened, how much the authorities knew and what they could have done differently.
The enquiry team has written to all 65,000 football clubs in England and started pouring through 5,000 boxes of potentially relevant material from the FA’s archive. They have begun talking to victims, 741 of whom have been traced, and while Sheldon praised the bravery of those who have come forward, he said that he wants more to do so, especially from the amateur game.
So far most of the “dozens” of survivors who have spoken to the review have been from professional football and those from amateur football have been said to be “reluctant” to come forward. But Sheldon and his team want a broader range of testimony, and have made a new questionnaire available online on Sunday evening to help that process.
“We have made good progress with the review and have now reached a crucial stage, hearing directly from survivors of abuse,” Clive Sheldon said.
“Survivor testimony is critical to getting to the bottom of how abuse allegations were dealt with within football and to ensure that we take forward the right lessons.” The review is especially interested in hearing from victims who reported their abuse to a football official, so that they can establish how much various governing bodies knew and what they did in response. But for now the review needs more victims to come forward, and Sheldon insisted again that their identities would be protected.
“I fully understand the sensitivity of giving evidence, and we will do everything in our power to give survivors the opportunity to have their voice heard, including by taking anonymous evidence,” he said.
“I am hugely grateful to those who have felt able to come forward so far and would like to hear from as many other survivors as possible, particularly from the amateur game. Their testimony will be hugely valuable in our search for the truth.”
The review was set up by the FA in December 2016 and is due to report next year.