ABUSE ‘WASN’T JUST FOOTBALL’

The police operation widens beyond national game to multiple sports Fresh claims some of Bennell’s victims committed suicide 15 ‘prominent’ people and 26 sports venues investigated

THE abuse scandal engulfing football is already encroaching into other sports across the country, The Mail on Sunday can reveal, with police forces investigating at least 15 sporting individuals of ‘public prominence’ who have been accused of child abuse in the past decades.

Operation Hydrant, which coordinates the national response to the Jimmy Savile scandal and the thousands of historical sex abuse cases which were reported in its wake, includes probes into allegations against famous sportspeople, with crimes being investigated at 26 separate sporting venues.

The investigations began before recent revelations from footballers who have said they were sexually abused while at football clubs in the Eighties and Nineties.

The statistics from Operation Hydrant seem to indicate that the deluge of revelations about non-recent sex abuse, since former Crewe player Andy Woodward waived his anonymity and revealed the abuse he suffered at the hands of former Crewe coach Barry Bennell, is unlikely to be confined to football.

But the scale of the issue in football continues to grow. ‘Given the speed at which players are coming forward to tell us about abuse, I would expect there to be a considerable number of cases eventually,’ said Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association.

Taylor confirmed that allegations of abuse have been made against ‘multiple’ coaches, not just Bennell, and that the complainants involved Leeds, as well as the cases at Crewe, who yesterday announced they would begin a formal investigation, Stoke and Manchester City.

The accusations relate to alleged abuses more than 20 years ago and do not involve current coaches. One agency is examining the possibility there may have been multiple suicides among players who were coached by Bennell. ‘We will do whatever necessary to help any player or former player,’ said Taylor. Recent statements by victims have prompted fresh calls for the FA to launch their own investigation into what was known and when. A joint FA and NSPCC report in 2005 was said to have found 250 cases of abuse in the game and it was reported that 60 to 70 individuals had been banned as a danger to children.

The 2005 report helped change attitudes to safeguarding, with new guidelines implemented, but was never made public in full.