Police Say 248 British Soccer Clubs Were Impacted by Child Sex Abuse Scandal
The widespread sexual abuse scandal within the British soccer system continued to grow in scope Wednesday with the release of updated figures showing nearly 250 clubs linked to the decadeslong issue.
The Associated Press passed along the numbers released by the National Police Chiefs' Council, which noted 248 clubs are involved in the growing scandal. There is a total of 184 suspects and 526 potential victims, 97 percent of which are male.
In addition, a total of 1,016 referrals were made to the investigation from various outlets, according to the AP. Police chief constable Simon Bailey told the outlet "allegations of non-recent child sexual abuse are complex and often require specialist skills and knowledge and can take time to progress."
Michael Holden of Reuters wrote in early December that the number of reported victims was around 350, which means there's been about 175 new potential victims identified over the past six weeks. English Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn stated at the time the governing body would be as transparent as possible.
"If the FA have made errors, we will own up to them as must the rest of football if avoidable errors have been made," Glenn said. "The only way that this gets dealt with is through openness and honesty and everyone exposing what has happened."
Katrin Bennhold of the New York Times detailed abuse claims made against coaches at youth level. Richard Scorer of Slater and Gordon Lawyers predicated the scandal would continue to grow due to the "near absolute power" coaches held over players in the soccer-rich country.
"They are the gatekeepers of dreams," Scorer said.
Andrew Woodward provided information to the New York Times about his experience, which included being raped by a coach who threatened to bench him if he resisted the advances.
Alexandra Topping of the Guardian reported the problem extends beyond the soccer pitch, too. Abuse victims have also been identified from 22 different sports ranging from rugby to gymnastics by Operation Hydrant, which was created to investigate historic abuse cases in 2014.
