The BBC has shelved plans to highlight Scottish cases in a primetime series exposing sexual abuse in football, leading to anger from survivors. Last week a report commissioned by the Scottish FA found that paedophiles infiltrated the national sport with ease and preyed on vulnerable boys and...
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The BBC has shelved plans to highlight Scottish cases in a primetime series exposing sexual abuse in football, leading to anger from survivors.
Last week a report commissioned by the Scottish FA found that paedophiles
infiltrated the national sport with ease and preyed on vulnerable boys and teenagers for more than three decades.
The Independent Review of Sexual Abuse in Scottish Football called on clubs, including Celtic, Rangers and Hibernian, to provide compensation and issue a “clear and unreserved”
public apology to the dozens of victims who endured “incalculable” suffering.
Researchers working on a BBC 1 documentary series travelled to Scotland to speak to survivors of abuse at Celtic Boys Club after several senior figures at the feeder team were convicted for molesting young players.
The show claimed that the series, entitled Football’s Darkest Secret, would shine a light on historical abuse “all across the country”. However, only English testimony will feature in the three-part programme, which is directed by the Bafta-winning filmmaker Daniel Gordon and will be shown later this year.
“We were delighted when we heard the BBC were interested in telling our stories,” said one Scottish-based survivor, who asked not to be named. “We felt that at last, after everything we have gone through, our voices would finally be heard across the whole of the UK.
“When I heard that our contributions weren’t going to be used it felt like I had been punched in the stomach. We have been let down once again and it’s hard to take.”
A spokeswoman for the programme stressed that a BBC Scotland investigation, entitled Football Abuse: The Ugly Side of the Beautiful Game, first screened fours years ago, would be repeated next month.
A source close to the production said: “As part of the initial extensive research for the Football’s Darkest Secret project conversations were held with ex-Scottish players. None of them were interviewed on camera.”
A press release for the documentary states: “The series will examine abuse that has taken place in youth football all across the country, from Manchester to Newcastle, Crewe to Southampton.
“Three years in the making, Football’s Darkest Secret is the definitive account of this dark chapter in English football and the ensuing attempts to seek justice decades later. The series aims to shine a light on the damaging ripple effect caused by child sexual abuse and offers a unique insight into the way it impacts survivors and their families.”
The Scottish FA-commissioned report found that known paedophiles had worked together to groom boys and trafficked them over borders, within the UK and overseas, for abuse.