Football is no stranger to scandal, but the scale of the sex abuse allegations now circling the beautiful game is something new. Over 350 incidences of sexual abuse have been reported in football’s sprawling academy system. Crewe Alexandra was the focal point of the initial allegations, but the net has widened rapidly – taking in the likes of Chelsea, Newcastle and now QPR. It’s no exaggeration to compare this scandal to Operation Yewtree. But it’s important, too, that the Football Association, which is conducting the probe into what has happened, learns its lessons from Yewtree.
So far, the football world is making the right noises about facing up to what has happened. Wayne Rooney has repeated the calls by the NSPCC and FA urging players to ‘speak out’. And aside from a certain former darts player, most commentators seem to share in the importance of alleged victims speaking up. But there remains the danger that the FA will make this a probe into football clubs, rather than about the prospect that there could have been a systematic failure by the FA itself to root out the abuse.
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