Abuse Survivors Blog

Tim Emmott

Tim Emmott
Tim has worked for Emmott Snell since he was 15 and continues to do so, on an ad hoc basis, during his University holidays. He has just achieved a 2.1 Politics degree from the University of East Anglia and is about to embark on a M Sc in Marketing.

Recent Posts

Why are reports of childhood sexual abuse in football rising?

Written by Tim Emmott on 21 Jul 2017

Instances of abuse in sport have hit the headlines in recent years, most notably in football, where allegations of childhood sexual abuse have become rife. Over 300 clubs in the country have been directly affected by the scandal. It has been claimed by those involved that we could be facing a crisis on the scale of the Jimmy Savile scandal – described as a ‘tidal wave’ by Greg Clarke, chairman of the Football Association.

Some convictions have already been secured – this firm acts for one of the victims of Johnathan Bedford, for example, a former youth football coach and referee of a local youth football club in Lincoln, who got over 11 years in November last year. 

Other prosecutions are well under way. The latest instance to hit the news is that of Bob Higgins, former youth coach and scout with Southampton in the 1980s (who went on to other clubs including Peterborough). Higgins has been charged with 65 counts of indecent assault against 23 boys

The media has brought to light the prevalence of, and opportunity for, such abuse within football and is forcing clubs to address potential safeguarding shortcomings in terms of protecting the safety of their young players.

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