Expert: Why DID FA scrap child protection project?

A LEADING academic hired by the FA to conduct a flagship study into child protection has told of her shock when the project was ditched less than half way through.

Dr Kate Russell was a key member of the team of specialists commissioned by the FA in 2001 to undertake the review.

The Child Protection In Football Research Project 2002-2006 was aimed at monitoring the level of child protection at each club and assessing the impact of a new strategy it had rolled out across England to protect under-18s. Scheduled to run for five years, the study was scrapped three years early and Dr Russell, pictured left, is the first person involved to speak out since the football child abuse scandal came to light. She told Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘When the project was first initiated there was lots of fanfare. It was decided the FA was going to be one of the first sporting bodies to have a look at this and do something really, really positive.

‘When that didn’t happen and when we began to hit some difficulties, it kind of felt like: “What’s going on, what’s the deal, are you really serious about trying to find about what is happening?”’

In the first two years, Dr Russell and her fellow academics spoke to 189 children as well as referees, senior coaches and administrators, amounting to a total of 482 interviews. But in the second year the FA slashed the budget by 40 per cent, before finally pulling the plug in 2003.

In notes written at the time, project leader Celia Brackenridge commented: ‘The whole business has drained me and left me feeling even more cynical about their (the FA) intentions to develop welfare initiatives.’

The FA has said it can’t comment on why the project was scrapped because of its new review into sex abuse.