Child sexual abuse victims say recreational sport used as cover for their abuse

Survivors of child sexual abuse have told an independent inquiry that recreational sport was used as a cover for their abuse, resulting in "far-reaching impacts".

A report from the ongoing Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse outlines how coaches and instructors exploited children's vulnerabilities in order to groom and abuse them, with overnight stays and a lack of supervision enabling the abuse to take place.

For the majority of participants who came forward, sport was a hobby or pastime rather than an activity they pursued to an elite level, with the abuse carried out between the 1950s and early 2010s.

Experiences came across a wide range of sports, including angling, boxing, canoeing, football, gymnastics, ice skating and swimming, and were reported to the Truth Project, which is part of the inquiry.

Of the 3,939 people who came forward to share an experience of sexual abuse between June 2016 and March 2020, 64 of them - or 2% - described child sexual abuse that took place in a sports context.

Of these participants, 91% reported being sexually abused by a sporting coach or volunteer in a sports organisation, while the most frequent location of the abuse was sports clubs.

The paper, published in collaboration with the Truth Project, is based on qualitative analysis of nine of the 64 accounts of abuse in sport contexts.

One anonymised contributor recalled: "Like, say you'd be on any sort of residential trip, they'd be running in showers, taking pictures of the children naked, whilst they were having a shower. And it was all done out of, like, a laugh and joke."

Another account said: "As much as he was abusing me, he'd then put me in positions of power. So, I'd go to conferences and he'd turn up and he was going to that conference. You know, always had me in his sights."

The report found: "Participants relayed how the sexual abuse took place in a variety of locations, both within and outside of sports locations. Within sports locations sexual abuse took place in communal or public spaces such as changing rooms, swimming pools and sports halls, sometimes covertly while other people were present."

It concluded: "Sexual abuse by those involved in sports contexts was often perpetrated during overnight stays, trips away and visiting the perpetrator's home, sometimes, but not always, associated with the activities of the sports club or association. Perpetrators also sometimes used sports-related rewards, such as allowing the child to play in a more senior team, as a method of grooming or coercion."

Dr Sophia King, principal researcher at the inquiry, said: "In this report, victims and survivors describe how perpetrators in sports contexts would create opportunities for abuse, which often took place under the guise of sporting activity. Participants' accounts were examined to provide a more in-depth insight into abuse in these contexts, with many reporting that they were groomed as a way to normalise what was happening."

The lasting and extensive impacts of the abuse are also covered by the inquiry.

One participant described the effects as "horrendous", adding "You carry it with you forever. And it's like when I switched on and realised that it's the vulnerability of everything, you know. For the rest of your life you'll feel vulnerable."

'It stripped me of everything'

Paul Stewart, former professional footballer for clubs including Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, has collaborated with the inquiry and spoke of his own experience of sexual abuse.

"I have read some of the accounts from the survivors and it's like reading your own story," he told BBC Sport.

"I think people who don't understand think that when the abuse stops that everything is fine and you get on with your life. For me, personally, while the abuse was horrendous, it was the impact it had on later life.

"The impact on my later life for me, not being able to cuddle my own children, to tell my wife that I love her, then the drugs and the drink, really had a devastating effect. And ongoing effect, if I'm honest.

"It stripped me of everything - the ability to love and trust, and it also left me constantly thinking of a way out."