Footballs Darkest Secret

Truly shocking and heartbreaking at the same time

 

Just watched them on ifollow. I read Andy Woodwards book a couple of weeks ago. It was heartbreaking.

The documentary was equally so.

Horrific.

 

Brave men who came forward.

 

Strange place this, 100 pages on the American election, yet close to silence on the biggest scandal to affect the game we all love.

 

I'll be honest with you, I have just had to google it to know what it was about. Will watch it tonight now though. Maybe others in the same boat?

 

Absolutely not pointing a finger at you or other posters, it's just that the whole report release has been done very quietly as if 'football' wants the thing to just go away.

 

Do watch it all. It's a difficult watch. Harrowing.

 

I know mate. I think you're right, it should be more of a focal point. I only watch a handful of live TV shows these days so tend to miss any promotional stuff for documentaries like this. Will be interesting to see what it is like, but guessing highly unpleasant of course.

 

Heartbreaking to see the effects it had. Paul Stewart looked utterly broken

 

Definitely a difficult watch but having read Andy Woodward's book I knew it would be. It's an absolute scandal that the football authorities just turned a blind eye to such obvious abuse.
How on earth did Bob Higgins walk out of court a free man as recently as 2018? Can't believe a jury didn't unanimously convict him.
It must be difficult for anyone under about 40 to understand what sort of world we lived in back in the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Truly shocking looking back with hindsight......

 

I think as a topic, it's a bit too close to home for a lot of people to feel comfortable commenting on. As a child of the 80s I went to Reds in the Community football camps, went to cubs and scouts, went to martial arts training, all pretty much unsupervised by parents. When you look back at the victims of this kind of abuse, you can only feel relieved that you weren't put in harms way.
The way parents were so trusting with their kids back then seems madness to me now as a father of 4.

 

Dario Gradi, for so long held up to be a maestro of youth development, should be doing time for his negligence/ complicity.

 

Survivorsnetwork.org and malesurvivorstrust.org, and malesurvivor.co.uk, are organisations that you can contact if you are a victim of past abuse. Well run organisations that I have had contact with over the last 30 years. Some of the people helping there are survivors of child sexual abuse and rape. They can offer support and advice if you are the husband/partner of someone who suffered abuse and/or rape as a child. Sometimes as partners we maybe don't know how to help or what to say,understandably so.
You can find these groups on social media, too, if you are a subscriber.

 

in last nights final episode were the following statistics --- 800 victims have come forward - 342 !! clubs implicated - 300 suspects named.

the problem for many victims of male on male sexual abuse is that it might 'confuse' them sexually - and it may be because of their fear of this sexual 'confusion' coming out in the open that many men reman silent.

 

So many brave men coming forward. David White was some Football player as I remember from his two against us when I braved Maine Road as a kid. Bennell will die in prison.

 

Watched them all on Tuesday night, extremely tough viewing. Makes you wonder how many other organisations are sitting on historic abuse claims.

However for every programme like this there will be others which give too much air time to people like 'Nick' who stops folk coming forward.

These organisations and some individuals have vast wealth and reach and can kill or muddy the water on cases.

Operations Yewtree and Midland to my mind were both poisoned by dark forces trying to keep a lid on things. Individuals like 'Nick' don't just come out of nowhere and why was so much attention placed on him? How many others were dying to tell their honest stories.

 

A bit like the Catholic Church then?

 

The Crewe chairman has just resigned over the scandal, the only person that was still left at the club from when it happened

 

I wonder how we would react if a BFC player complained about being sexually abused by a BFC staff member - would we give this guy 100% support or would our loyalty be with the Club to the extent that we discount what the player said?

 

Must watch.
I didn't have a dry eye .
Disgusting how a blind eye towards these coaches someone at the club's must have known.
Heart breaking to watch those brave blokes who brought them to justice