In what is sure to become one of the biggest exposes in football, some ex-footballers have revealed how they were abused as children by football coaches.
Andy Woodward was the first footballer to go public last week as two other players also shared how they were similarly abused. Perhaps the most shocking revelation was from Chris Unsworth who said ex-Crewe Alexandra coach Barry Bennell raped him ‘up to 100 times’. Mr. Unsworth added that he “never told a soul”
Several ex-players have made allegations about being sexually abused by coaches as children – and coach Barry Bennell has served three sentences for child sex offenses. Unsworth added thâ Bennell would sometimes have several children over whom he would abuse; ‘We never spoke to each other about it,” Mr Unsworth said. “I was raped between 50 and 100 times.”
Unsworth was nine years old at the time of the incident and he said about the phase of his life, “I knew what I wanted to get, and I thought this is what I had to go through. I knew it was wrong but I just went with it,”
A dedicated NSPCC hotline – 0800 023 2642 – which was set up after the abuse claims came to light and received more than 50 calls within its first two hours.
