Apologies mean nothing. SFA must do right thing
was abused by former referee Hugh Stevenson Picture: Andrew Cawley was able to have that access to me, and to the others he abused, was because of the SFA.”
Stuart said the assault prompted him to abandon his dreams of becoming a referee and the trauma had a devastating impact on personal relationships throughout his adult life.
He said: “I’d been determined to become a professional referee and enrolled on the SFA training programme where I was considered promising. Stevenson – who knew my parents because my father had been one of his teachers – reassured them he’d look after me.”
Stevenson invited Stuart to play in a friendly match between re f e re e s in L a n a rk s h i re and Renfrewshire, and then on to the awards ceremony afterwards.
He said: “It wa s the first significant match I’d played at and first grown up dinner function I’d been to. I was underage and never a drinker, but I was encouraged to have a couple of beers. Two bottles of beer left me slightly dizzy. Stevenson laughed and said he’d run me home.
“I now understand Stevenson singled me out as vulnerable. Once I was in his car, I was an easy target.
“I did what he told me and was shocked when he began to abuse me. In those days you didn’t challenge anyone in authority. I froze.”
After the sickening assault Stuart said he became withdrawn and suffered nightmares and flashbacks.
He said: “I couldn’t tell my folks what happened. How could I? My parents went to their graves never knowing what Stevenson did to me.
“I spent years bottling up the abuse and couldn’t trust anyone ever again. My marriage broke down. Other relationships struggled as I find it impossible to trust. I’m still suffering flashbacks, nightmares, depression.
“I bitterly regret not speaking out about it before now, and urge anyone suffering in silence not to make the same mistake.”
He said it was only after Stevenson was named in the 2016 TV documentary that he realised he was not the only victim. It was then that he decided to report the incident to police, contact a lawyer and get expert medical help.
Child abuse campaigner David Whelan said that as Scottish football’s governing body, the SFA had a responsibility to take the lead in properly helping victims.
He said: “They should accept responsibility and liability, and do so quickly.
“By not accepting liability, they leave victims feeling worthless and abused all over again.”
The S FA’S stance appears to contradict its own interim independent report, which noted: “Most people who are sexually abused as children or young people do not report this immediately or even soon after. Many do not speak of these events until much later in life and some never reveal their experiences.
“We would of course like to think that in situations where harm is said to have been done under the auspices of a particular organisation or club this would be responded to directly, humanely, sympathetically and with a strong sense of justice. Acknowledgement is a start. Creating reasons not to do so where none exist is, in our view, actively counterproductive...”
The full report issued in February this year goes further, stating: “It is a matter of dismay to the Review that the issue of ‘ belief’ still resonated within the current experiences of those affected.
“Some people told the Review that it had been inferred to them even quite recently – and often quite directly – that they have been making up accounts in order to obtain compensation etc. It is the view of the Independent Review that this attempt to undermine their credibility and disregard the impact they have endured is unacceptable and constitutes a serious wrong.”
After the first report, SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell apologised to victims and said he was committed, along with the clubs, to ensuring its recommendations were implemented.
Pa t r i c k Mc G u i r e , senior partner for Thompsons Solicitors, who represents a number of football abuse victims including Stuart Mcmillan, said the firm had numerous cases involving the SFA, including several in which Hugh Stevenson was named as an abuser.
M r Mc Gu i re said: “S a d l y, the response by the SFA to Mr Mcmillan’s case and to those of others has been, despite their own very damning report, to use every possible legal technicality to deny survivors of historic abuse financial justice.”
MSP Ja m e s Dornan, an outspoken critic of how football has treated abuse victims, said: “The SFA must forget how much these claims will cost and think instead of the debt they owe to individuals who, whilst under their supposed care and protection, had their lives overturned by individuals those institutions made them believe they could trust.”
Darr yl Broadfoot, the SFA’S head of sport, said: “Given that matters are ongoing it would be inappropriate to comment.”
The Scottish Football Association will no doubt be congratulating themselves that they have “done the right thing” by those who were abused in football.
But in fact, all they have done is pay lip service to the dreadful wrongs of the past.
It’s all too easy to do the moral thing and say a few contrite words – but they need to do the right thing and put money into repairing damaged lives.
An apology, no matter how nice or sincere the words, is worth nothing at all unless it is backed up by action.
The SFA must accept liability. If they do not, their apologies are not only worthless, they are tantamount to abusing victims all over again.
I’ve been campaigning on historic child abuse issues for almost 30 years. I’ve seen and heard the most appalling cases of abuse, victims left scarred and broken.
At the beginning of my journey, organisations were loathe to even acknowledge terrible past abuses.
Persistent campaigning by survivors means there is, at last, recognition. Organisations are now apologising. But without taking the appropriate action
It saddens me that despite decades of campaigning and increased awareness, organisations where vulnerable young children suffered abuse continue to behave as if they have learned nothing at all.
Instead of fulfilling their responsibilities towards those whose lives have been badly damaged, it appears the SFA are no different to other organisations.
Instead of reaching out and repairing the damage done, it looks very much to my experienced eye that they have spoken to their lawyers and their insurers who have probably told them what to do and say to make them sound as if they are sorry – but not liable.
What is the use of any apology if it fails to repair the damage done? Child abuse to right the damage done, apologies are hollow.
By not accepting liability, they leave victims feeling worthless and abused all over again.
As football’s governing body, the SFA has a responsibility to take the lead on this issue.
The SFA and clubs where abuse took place are no different from any of the organisations and institutions where children were abused in care and who found themselves at the centre of the child abuse inquiry.
They should accept responsibility and liability, and do so quickly wherever possible without dragging victims through years of combative court actions.
Martin Henry will know all of those things from his years of working with the church and abuse victims, so I’m surprised that message was not spelled out loud and clear in his report along with his words urging apology. causes lifelong damage – damage that cannot be repaired without proper professional help.
These organisations issue statements and apologies which sound very sincere, but are meaningless when it comes right down to it.
Martin Henry knows full well that any apology without reparation is worthless. Insurance companies might be happy that an apology gets them off the hook, but it won’t help heal victims. The SFA has a responsibility to do the right thing.