You can see it in his eyes...

[Workingman]

... the sadness and hurt.

I am talking about Paul Stewart the footballer who broke the news of child abuse by football coaches in the 1970s and 80s. He is a brave man.

There are reports that following his disclosure some 350 more players have come forward, prompting an inquiry by the FA.

These are very sad times for football and nobody yet knows how many more were involved, but what we do know is that coaches, above all others, had the power to make or break a young man's career and some of them abused that power.

I have to say that I am not really surprised that these perverts got through the net because there wasn't one. CRB checks did not start till 2002. When I helped train my son's team, from age 7 to 14, we had other dads who would come along and help out. Nobody, not one of us, had CRB/DBS checks carried out.

[cromwell]

It's an incredibly brave thing to do.
Predators like Bennell and his ilk want throwing into jail and forgetting about; paedophiles cannot be reformed.

[Suff]

I always find this is very hard to talk about. Mainly because my feelings will always walk over someone's sensibilities.

It always takes one brave act to start the ball rolling and thank god for the bravery of those who do. When I was in the Army in my basic training, the previous platoon had had a real uproar. One of the recruits had complained that one of the sergeants was molesting him. In typical Army fashion they attacked the messenger and the senior sergeant got the whole platoon out and screamed them up and down about vicious slurs on his "team" and that he would not put up with it. Then he invited anyone else to come forward about molestation.

Then the line began to from.

One brave soul.

[Workingman]

News is out that former Chelsea player, Gary Johnson, was paid £50,000 hush money having been molested by Eddie Heath, chief scout. There is a paper trail with this allegation as Johnson set lawyers on Chelsea over his allegations.

The number allegations is rising by the minute. The NSPCC hotline has 860 allegations to go on top of the 350 already made, and if the FA's statement of yesterday is carried out some big clubs could fall.

[Kaz]

The problem with CRB, or equivalent, is that it only shows up those who have been caught - many out there never are, and slip under the wire. I'm glad this is coming out now - all those lives, blighted by this vile abuse, perhaps now some of them can heal.

[Kaz]

It's an incredibly brave thing to do.
Predators like Bennell and his ilk want throwing into jail and forgetting about; paedophiles cannot be reformed.

Exactly right, their 'preferences' are there for life

[Workingman]

The problem with CRB, or equivalent, is that it only shows up those who have been caught

That is very true. Another problem is that CRB/DBS checks are only useful up to the point they are done. Unless there is constant monitoring they are more of a protection for the employer rather than a safeguard for clients.

I have just started volunteering for a local help group and had a DBS done on Wednesday afternoon. I could have done anything since then, but as Kaz says, unless I got caught I am free to go.