Soccer

Football abuse scandal: Referrals from hotline triple the number in Jimmy Savile case

The NSPCC said more than 860 calls had been made to the helpline in its first week

Video grab taken from the BBC of (from left-right) of Jason Dunford, Steve Walters, host Victoria Derbyshire, Chris Unsworth, Andy Woodward speaking to BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme. Photo: BBC News
Video grab taken from the BBC of (from left-right) of Jason Dunford, Steve Walters, host Victoria Derbyshire, Chris Unsworth, Andy Woodward speaking to BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme. Photo: BBC News
Thu Dec 01 2016 - 08:47

Referrals from calls to a dedicated football abuse hotline more than tripled the amount made in the first three days of the Jimmy Savile scandal, the NSPCC has said.

The scale was revealed as former Newcastle United striker David Eatock became the latest footballer to tell police he was sexually abused in the sport.

The NSPCC said more than 860 calls had been made to the helpline in its first week after it was launched on November 23th to support the victims of child sex abuse within football.

Its chief executive, Peter Wanless, said there had been a "staggering surge" in the amount of people getting in touch.

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He said: “The number of high-profile footballers bravely speaking out about their ordeal has rightly caught the attention of the entire country.

“We have had a staggering surge in calls to our football hotline, which reveals the worrying extent of abuse that had been going on within the sport.”

The helpline was set up with the support and funding of the Football Association after former player Andy Woodward said he had been abused as a young player.

Within two hours of the opening of the helpline, the charity said it had been contacted 50 times by members of the public. Within the first three days, it had made 60 referrals to the police or children’s services.

The charity made 17 such referrals in the same time frame following the opening of its Savile helpline in 2012.

Mr Wanless said anyone who wishes to contact the helpline “can do so in confidence, with the knowledge they will be listened to and supported”.

“In future, footballers — both young players and former athletes — must have the confidence to open up about sexual abuse and feel able to come forward,” he said.

Mr Eatock, now 40, has said that after he joined Newcastle at 18, George Ormond, a former club youth coach, indecently assaulted him and performed a sex act in front of him in two separate incidents, the Guardian reported.

Ormond was jailed for six years in 2002 for carrying out numerous assaults spanning 24 years.

:: The NSPCC’s football abuse helpline can be called 24 hours a day on 0800 023 2642.