Kolkata: In what can be called as one of the darkest days in the history of football, the NPCC (National Police Chiefs’ Council) revealed on Friday that over 98 clubs from all levels of European football has been affected with child sexual abuse.The police has identified over 83 suspects all of whom are either out of reach or dead.
According to the statistics by the NPCC, the total number of victims are said to be 350, out of which over 98 percent are males, and the age at which the alleged abuse is said to take place ranges from seven to 20.
This shocking revelation from the NPCC comes three weeks after former Crewe defender Andrew Woodward revealed in an interview with The Guardian that he was a victim of sexual abuse when he was 11.This triggered a series of similar revelations as former Crewe player Steve Walters revealed that he was abused. Also other players, namely, Paul Stewart and David White revealed similar facts of them being sexually abused.
A spokesperson of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children(NSPCC) said, “These shocking numbers now identified by police reveal the deeply disturbing extent of abuse that has been going on within football.”
According to a report by The Guardian, an unnamed Newcastle United player had tried to contact the police alleging that coach George Ormond was involved in this grave crime. Ormond, was jailed in 2002 was involved in such assaults for over 24 years.
According to FA chairman Greg Clarke, Southampton, a club participating in the famous Barclay’s Premier League was deeply affected by this crisis.
Dave Merrington, who was the manager of the club from 1995-1996 has shown full support for the Southampton players (precisely 12) who have made claims that former youth coach Bob Higgins had sexually abused them. Merrington said that he felt that things were not right when he was the youth team coach in 1989.
Merrington also revealed that he had also confronted Higgins, who was cleared of child sexual abuse charges in 1992 and has publicly, denied any involvement in such affairs.However the latest wave of allegations tell a different story.
According to a report by Sunsport, Merrington had said the following, “In the minibus on the way back from a game, I overheard players making sexual innuendos abut Higgins.”Also he said that, “I knew then there was something wrong and told the manager (Chris Nicholl).We need to sort this out. It’s quite serious and you’ve got to let the board deal with it.”
It is said that Nicholl had talked to the police and felt that Higgins needed to be talked to and Merrington was best placed to do so. Merrington also revealed that when he talked to Higgins about this, the latter was annoyed and left.
However the positive side to the story is that Simon Bailey, the chief constable of the Norfolk and leader of the NPCC said, “Allegations received by police forces across the country are being swiftly acted upon.”
Also, he said, “We are ensuring an efficient and effective service-wide approach to investigating allegations, removing the potential for duplication and enabling the timely and effective sharing of intelligence and information between forces. We are also liaising closely with the Football Association to ensure all relevant information they hold is shared to inform investigations moving forward.”
The NPCC has also said that all such allegations were being treated seriously and a total of 639 cases were relayed to Operation Hydrant- a police investigation dealing with sexual abuse in the game.