FOOTY COACH ‘LURED’ BOYS TO HIS HOUSE AND ‘SPANKED ONE WITH CANE’
FORMER MENTOR ON TRIAL DENIES ALL ALLEGATIONS
A FORMER football coach “lured” young boys to his home with offers of sports massages where he spanked, play wrestled and used a cane, a court heard.
Geoffrey Broome, 60, of Farebrother Street, Grimsby is charged with four offences of indecently assaulting one boy, three offences against another and one against a third. The offences are said to have happened when all three boys were under the age of 16. The coach for Grimsby and Cleethorpes District squad and CGB Humbertherm, who later went on to coach at Scunthorpe United, denied eight offences of indecent assault. Prosecutor Nick Adlington told the jury at Doncaster Crown Court, at the start of the trial that Geoff Broome was a highly-respected youth football coach who had previously worked at Grimsby Town FC.
He had formed the Grimsby and Cleethorpes District site and later went on to manage Solarglass which later became CGB Humbertherm.
He also claimed to be a scout for Torquay United. The court heard in evidence how he took a player to a physiotherapist. But after leaving the appointment, he suggested to the young player that he should have a massage at his home. The court heard he laid the naked player on the floor of his living room and used oils.
When he finished he suggested they have a “playfight” before recommending the youth take a shower. He told the boy not to mention what he had done to anyone, before giving him a lift home.
On another occasion he again gave the youth a sports massage, this time in an upstairs bedroom. The football coach is said to have produced a cane and used it on the bare buttocks of the player, the jury heard. The former player said Broome then
offered him the chance to whip him with it and took off his underpants.
On a separate occasion he took the player in his car and drove to a secluded lane in Humberston, where he again used a cane on the player’s bare bottom, the jury was told. Mr Adlington said: “The youth felt scared and uncomfortable. The defendant told him not to tell anyone he had been at his home.”
In court, one of the players said he had not reported the incidents at the time.
“I didn’t want it to affect my chances of becoming a professional footballer in the future. I had aspirations,” he told the court.
“I was fearful what would happen next. He told me not to say anything to anyone.”
The court also heard from another player who said he was also lured to the coach’s home in Farebrother Street, Grimsby with the offer of a sports massage. He said the coach had suggested the young player had a thigh injury, which he could treat with massage, in preparation for a forthcoming football tournament.
He told the player to lay on the floor of his living room on a towel. Oils were used and he suggested the footballer remove his boxer shorts, but he refused. When the player went to have a shower there was no towel in the bathroom and he had to shout to the coach for a towel to dry himself. The young player left quickly and ran home, the jury was told. Judge Graham Reeds, QC, presiding at Doncaster Crown Court asked the witness to draw a diagram of the upstairs of the home in Farebrother Street, which was shown to the jury.
Mr Adlington said Broome was arrested in May 2018 and questioned at Scunthorpe Police Station where he denied indecently assaulting the players. He admitted he had often given them lifts to and from matches and training sessions.
He confirmed he had no qualifications in sports massage and denied he got sexual gratification from the acts. The prosecutor said the players reported the incidents from the 1990s.
They said they had spoken to their respective partners about the indecent assaults after hearing about convicted paedophile Barry Bennell, a former coach with Crewe Alexandra and Manchester City and Stoke City. In cross examination of the players giving evidence, defence barrister Michele Stuart-Lofthouse said her client did not deny giving sports massages, but denied striking the player with a cane. She said on behalf of her client he had given oneto-one training to the players to build up their confidence.
The trial continues.