The English football federation (FA) experienced inexcusable "institutional failures" in the protection of children against sexual violence, particularly between 1995 and 2000, an independent report said on Wednesday.
“The FA has acted far too slowly to put in place appropriate and sufficient child protection measures and to ensure that this protection is taken seriously enough by those involved in this sport,” explains the more than 700 long report. pages.
The investigation, launched by the federation in 2016 and which covered the period from 1970 to 2005, estimates that notable convictions - including that, in 1995 in the United States, of Barry Bennell, former coach of youth teams, especially in Crewe Alexandra - should have caused a change on this issue, while it took another 5 years for the federation to put specific measures in place.
“These are serious institutional failures for which there is no excuse.
During this period, the federation did not do enough to shelter the children, ”adds the report.
And even after 2000, mistakes were made, such as failing to do anything to prevent Barry Bennell from continuing to practice after his release from prison in 2003. The report acknowledges that it is uncertain whether he officiated. in a club after that date, but the mere fact of not providing measures to prohibit him "has put children in danger".
Sentenced five times for acts of pedophilia, Bennell was notably sentenced in early 2018 to 31 years in prison for sexual violence against 12 boys aged 8 to 15 between 1979 and 1991. The case of Bob Higgins, a youth coach in Southampton and Peterborough, sentenced to 24 years in prison in 2019 for 46 sexual assault on a minor or sexual assault on 24 people between 1971 and 1996, was also mentioned, the FA not having acted against him, even after 2003, when the texts would have allowed it more easily.
The clubs are not spared either by the report, which judges their actions "too slow and inadequate".
In particular, they too often ignored rumors or complaints when they reached them, laments the report.
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