Child abuse in Scottish football: Shocking report is a must-read for all those involved in our national game – Scotsman comment

The final report of the Independent Review of Sexual Abuse in Scottish Football is profoundly shocking to read despite the depressing familiarity of the incidents described.
Report into child abuse in football warned it was not a 'historical' issue and remained a potential threat (Picture: PA)Report into child abuse in football warned it was not a 'historical' issue and remained a potential threat (Picture: PA)
Report into child abuse in football warned it was not a 'historical' issue and remained a potential threat (Picture: PA)

For far too many children, Scotland’s national sport became a “source of trauma and torment, a site where they experienced the unimaginable at key points in their young lives leaving many of them with legacies of trauma, pain, depression and anxiety”.

One witness told the review of how he was repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted by a coach from the age of ten over an 18-month period until he quit the game and described the lasting affect this had had on his life.

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He has “suffered from depression throughout his life since and has difficulty sleeping”, the report states, adding “his experiences and the trauma brought about have had a considerable impact on his close relationships particularly with his parents and wife”.

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Some may think that child abuse in football is a thing of the past, but the report warns this is not a “historical” issue. “It is not something confined or consigned to our past. It is not an

aberration driven by societal conditions long overcome or outdated. The preconditions and possibility of sexual abuse in families, in communities and in sport remain and endure.”

So everyone involved in football would do well to read this report, as unrelentingly grim as it is, and learn necessary lessons from missed chances to put a stop to abuse and catch those responsible.

As the report says, football is “probably, our largest and most significant cultural institution”. It must also be a safe space for Scotland’s children.

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