Tv programme about Torbett - new allegations.

[StuGers 477]

Scottish FA statement on Parliament report

Wednesday, 26 April 2017

 

Scottish FA statement in response to Health and Sport Committee report:

“We welcome the Scottish Government’s recognition that the current format of the PVG scheme is ineffective at present and may not be preventing unsuitable people from doing regulated work. We are in full agreement that this situation should be rectified and the scheme overhauled as soon as possible.

 

“From the moment allegations of child sexual abuse in Scottish football were raised last year, we have been proactive in taking the necessary measures – in partnership with the relevant authorities - to deal with these alleged cases of historic abuse but also to give confidence to young players and their families that Scottish football is a safe environment in 2017.

 

“We have been working with all affiliated national associations, including the Scottish Youth FA to ensure that each of these bodies makes any changes required to ensure they are fit for purpose in this vital area of child protection.

 

“The independent review into the historic allegations is well under way and we will continue to provide updates on the progress made. In parallel, we are engaged in regular dialogue with Police Scotland, who are the investigatory authority in this matter. We have contributed at length to the Health and Sport Committee and note the comments of its chair and the publication of today’s report.

 

“For absolute clarity, as the Scottish Youth FA is the employing organisation for youth football in Scotland. The responsibility for PVG checks in youth football rests with the Scottish Youth FA.**

 

“It is important to stress that all coaches and staff engaged directly by the Scottish FA are fully compliant with the PVG legislation. We have also outlined to the committee the extent of our protracted correspondence with the Scottish Youth FA on the matter of their outstanding checks and gaining clarity on the exact number that remain to be fulfilled.

 

“The board of the Scottish FA has also issued a directive to all our members, including affiliated national bodies such as the Scottish Youth FA, to comply with all policies and procedures issued by the Scottish FA on matters of child protection and wellbeing. We have set deadlines for compliance and implementation and any failure to meet these will be regarded as a breach of our regulations and will result in a referral to the Compliance Officer for potential action by an independent Judicial Panel.

 

“We believe we have demonstrated the seriousness of our intentions and therefore strongly refute and do not recognise Mr Findlay’s own personal opinions.

 

“The committee will surely recognise the importance of devolved responsibility, sitting as it does in the Scottish Parliament, and therefore understand better than most that the Scottish Youth FA has jurisdiction over youth football in Scotland.**

 

“We are fully aware of our own responsibilities as the governing body and reiterate our commitment to reassuring young players and parents that Scottish football is a safe environment in which to play.”

 

http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=1961&newsCategoryID=3&newsID=16914&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral

 

"From the moment cases were raised last year...."

 

Say that again!?

[the gunslinger 3,366]

SFA 'asleep on the job' leaving kids at risk from sex predators, says bombshell Holyrood report into MSPs demand football chiefs take urgent action as they accuse SFA of complacency and SYFA of misleading government officials over background checks.

 

Scots kids are at risk from paedophiles because football chiefs are not doing enough to protect them, a bombshell report from MSPs warns today.

 

They are demanding “urgent action” to stop predators preying on vulnerable young players.

 

The Daily Record has exposed cases of sexual abuse in football, including allegations against Jim McCafferty, a former kitman with Celtic, Hibs and Falkirk.

 

Now, in findings that will send shockwaves through Scottish sport, MSPs have accused the Scottish Football Association of “being asleep on the job” over the issue.

 

And they say the Scottish Youth Football Association “misled” government officials over the extent of a backlog of checks on coaches and officials working with young players.

 

The probe by Holyrood’s influential health and sports committee was launched after cases of historical child sexual abuse in football came to light over the last year.

 

But the findings relate to the systems in place today – meaning children are still at risk.

 

The report says that the system that registers people who work with children must be tightened and warns the current Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme “may not be preventing unsuitable people from doing regulated work”.

 

A Scottish Government review of the system is expected to take a year and it could be 2019 before new laws are in place.

 

Committee convener Neil Findlay said: “We’re talking about the safety of children – urgent action is needed now to strengthen the scheme as 2019 is too long to wait for new legislation.“We believe the current system of PVG checks may not be preventing unsuitable people from doing regulated work with children.”

 

In February, the SYFA admitted almost 1000 youth football coaches and officials had not completed the full PVG background checks, managed through Disclosure Scotland.

 

During faltering evidence to the committee, SYFA chief executive David Little said the outstanding checks were a result of the high level of churn of their 15,000 volunteers who run leagues and coach 60,000 players.

 

But Findlay blasted: “We have raised serious concerns about the ability of the SYFA to ensure PVG checks are carried out efficiently.“We cannot even now be confident that the SYFA is being truthful in relation to the size of their backlog.

 

“We consider the SFA to have been asleep on the job and continuingly complacent in this area.“We are left with concerns about the current protections being afforded to youth footballers in Scotland.”

 

The report says the buck stops with the SFA and urged them to eradicate “current failings”.

 

It added: “The current approach is not working effectively to protect children and young people in football and in our view, the ultimate responsibility for this lies with the SFA.”

 

MSPs called for strengthening of child protection requirements for all sport governing bodies and recommended grants from SportScotland be dependent on “adequate procedures being in place and adhered to”.

 

The report also raised concerns football agents are not covered by the need for child protection checks and called for the “anomaly” to be addressed.

 

The Scottish Football Association are setting up an independent review, which will consider the PVG process.

 

They were approached for a comment but did not respond.

 

An SYFA spokesman said last night: “The thousands of volunteers and staff of the SYFA place the safety of Scotland’s youth footballers at the heart of everything we do.

“We have tightened our procedures in recent months and are among the very best-performing youth sports bodies when it comes to ensuring Disclosure Scotland checks are carried out in a timely fashion.

 

“We are very disappointed with comments that we in any way misled anyone about our procedures and have been open and honest in all our dealings with the Parliament.

“We will study the report in detail once we receive a copy.”

 

Sport Minister Aileen Campbell welcomed the report. She said: “We all share the committee’s desire to ensure children are protected.“The Deputy First Minister announced a review of the PVG scheme last year. It will lead to a formal consultation and we will take forward any legislation necessary to ensure the PVG scheme retains its essential purpose of safeguarding.”

 

MSPs conducting the probe heard from football bodies, police and children’s charities.They were also warned allegations of abuse may be the tip of the iceberg.

 

Police are investigating 130 reports of child sexual abuse in the sport.

Makes you wonder if the sfa arent just covering up for their friendly clubs but actively involved.

 

 

[boabie 230]

“For absolute clarity, as the Scottish Youth FA is the employing organisation for youth football in Scotland. The responsibility for PVG checks in youth football rests with the Scottish Youth FA.

 

"For absolute clarity Celtic Boys Club is a separate entity from Celtic FC . "

 

FFS , you'd think they'd shell out for different script writers.

[RANGERRAB 3,273]

“For absolute clarity, as the Scottish Youth FA is the employing organisation for youth football in Scotland. The responsibility for PVG checks in youth football rests with the Scottish Youth FA.

 

[[/b]"For absolute clarity Celtic Boys Club is a separate entity from Celtic FC . "

 

[[/b]FFS , you'd think they'd shell out for different script writers.

 

Incredible isn't it ?

 

So where does Celtic Boys Club get its funding from then ? And Celtic FC have no say whatsoever in who gets appointed in Celtic Boys Club? And all those photos of young boys and Celtic first team players and managers too. Just coincidence ?

 

Do they think we're all stupid ?

 

What we have here is a club infiltrated by paedophiles during the 1960's, 1970's, 1980's and 1990's now too. Is this club just incredibly unlucky or is there something more sinister here?

 

The time has long past when the SFA can bury its head in the sand & pretend there is nothing they can do.If it is proven that cover-ups took place (over 4 decades)severe punishments must take place which may include the removal of past honours, demotion from the top division and a European ban

 

That's how serious this is.

Edited April 26, 2017 by RANGERRAB

[aweebluesoandso 290]

“For absolute clarity, as the Scottish Youth FA is the employing organisation for youth football in Scotland. The responsibility for PVG checks in youth football rests with the Scottish Youth FA.

 

"For absolute clarity Celtic Boys Club is a separate entity from Celtic FC . "

 

FFS , you'd think they'd shell out for different script writers.

 

They both, Celtic and the SFA have the same Low Level Paper Gatherers ltd as their lawyers, Harper Macleod

Edited April 26, 2017 by aweebluesoandso

[StuGers 477]

Makes you wonder if the sfa arent just covering up for their friendly clubs but actively involved.

 

Exactly what I said even previous to this statement.

[Uilleam 5,458]

I am sure that I read, recently, that The Knowledgeable John actually "sacked" Torbett from his post @sellikboys'club.

This would indicate that sellikfootballclub had the power to fire, and, presumably, hire at the subsidiary organisation, and thus

was in control of it.

 

The SFA will, in all likelihood, conclude that there were no regs, or guidelines, or established procedures, or best practice recommendations/requirements, in place, consequently rasellik was not and is not in breach of anything, that it acted no differently from many other clubs, and that while it should perhaps, ideally, have demonstrated rather more of a duty of care, there is no basis for further action.

 

Where it gets interesting, and we have to be careful to separate this out, and be equally careful how we talk about it, is the criminal investigation. If it is established that there was criminal activity over a no of years, and that those in control of the club -and, by extension, and practice, the boys' club- were aware of this activity, and of its criminal nature, and failed to take appropriate action by contacting the police, then we could be looking at something gey close to a criminal conspiracy.

 

If this scenario emerges from the investigation, and if the parties in control of the clubs are found guilty of a cover up,then, given the nature, extent, and duration of this crime, the football authorities would have to take action. In my humble opinion this would involve title stripping, and suspension from ALL football competitions for a minimum - minimum- period of 5 years, if not sine die.

Note that it would have to be treated as a unique case, sui generis, and thus the current rule book would not be sufficient to cover it, save under catch alls for criminality, gross moral turpitude, and the like.

[SteveC 150]

I am sure that I read, recently, that The Knowledgeable John actually "sacked" Torbett from his post @sellikboys'club.

This would indicate that sellikfootballclub had the power to fire, and, presumably, hire at the subsidiary organisation, and thus

was in control of it.

 

The SFA will, in all likelihood, conclude that there were no regs, or guidelines, or established procedures, or best practice recommendations/requirements, in place, consequently rasellik was not and is not in breach of anything, that it acted no differently from many other clubs, and that while it should perhaps, ideally, have demonstrated rather more of a duty of care, there is no basis for further action.

 

Where it gets interesting, and we have to be careful to separate this out, and be equally careful how we talk about it, is the criminal investigation. If it is established that there was criminal activity over a no of years, and that those in control of the club -and, by extension, and practice, the boys' club- were aware of this activity, and of its criminal nature, and failed to take appropriate action by contacting the police, then we could be looking at something gey close to a criminal conspiracy.

 

If this scenario emerges from the investigation, and if the parties in control of the clubs are found guilty of a cover up,then, given the nature, extent, and duration of this crime, the football authorities would have to take action. In my humble opinion this would involve title stripping, and suspension from ALL football competitions for a minimum - minimum- period of 5 years, if not sine die.

Note that it would have to be treated as a unique case, sui generis, and thus the current rule book would not be sufficient to cover it, save under catch alls for criminality, gross moral turpitude, and the like.

 

Except none of that'll ever happen unless there's drastic changes in the media and society at large. If it wasn't for Rangers' forums there'd be virtually nowhere to read about this and we are just preaching to the converted. The rest of society doesn't seem interested in the story except as a football wide one affecting dozens of clubs.

[Uilleam 5,458]

Prosecutions -successful prosecutions- will force the issue.

It just takes one to crack......

[StuGers 477]

They both, Celtic and the SFA have the same Low Level Paper Gatherers ltd as their lawyers, Harper Macleod

 

 

Why am I not surprised by that imaginable coincidence?

 

Surely there is a major conflict of interest there?