Every Sunday we want to send letters on current occasions at this point. With greetings and kisses straight from the editorial staff – lines to smile, blow your nose and think about football protagonists from all leagues. This Sunday we are sending our letter to the English Football Association …
Dear Football Association!
You are the oldest football association in the world, founded in the motherland of modern football. In a pub on Great Queen Street in London representatives of several clubs agreed on October 26, 1863 on a first general football set of rules. Today “your” Premier League is the most expensive league in the world, the future British king is your president and you are in second place in the UEFA five-year standings. With so much tradition and experience, you might think that it is something like an independent league now Investigation were found not possible.
A report released on Wednesday this week concluded that the association was significantly complicit in the child abuse scandal uncovered in 2016. There is talk of institutional deficiencies: the protection of children was not prioritized, they were not believed and perpetrators were not removed from the association. The whole thing was exposed when a youth coach with a criminal record was accused of abusing children. “The devil in human form” – that is what Barry Bennell was called at his trial three years ago. The former Chelsea youth player coached children at Manchester City, Crewe, Stoke City and Leeds United. He was sentenced to 31 years in prison for fifty cases of abuse of boys aged eight to fifteen over a ten-year period. Not only the association, but also the clubs concerned did not come off well in the investigation: The Manchester City staff knew that teenagers were staying at Bennell’s home, but nobody investigated the matter.
That is a shocking testimony. Especially in a system where performance counts, young people should be given special protection. In so-called male domains in particular, this was and is sometimes neglected. The breaking up of such encrusted structures, where weakness must not exist, has certainly also become possible thanks to me-too and black-lives-matter debates. Emancipation is a liberation from stereotypes and ultimately benefits not only women, minorities and those who do not conform to the norm, but everyone.
Dear FA, I hope you draw the right conclusions from this investigation. Offenders who – in whatever form – want to assault those who are under protection will always seek their proximity – whether they are children’s homes, nursing homes or youth sports associations. It takes an awareness that such incidents can happen, and independent confidants who are the contact persons for the young people in such cases. In times when the term “victim” is primarily used as an insult, this is of course difficult. As the oldest football association in the world, you should perhaps also play a pioneering role in this regard.
That wishes
Marie Saturday, abseits.at
PS: The series of Internet messages ends with this anniversary letter. Thanks to all readers! You were well.
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