After tickets, the next most common complaint Leeds United Supporters Network, with its 9000 plus members, receive is about Jimmy Savile chants. Whilst strenuous efforts have been made to rid the game of racist, homophobic, and 'tragedy chanting', the abusive, obscene Savile chants are seen as acceptable by the footballing authorities, police, and clubs. This week a Leeds Supporter was fined and banned for three years for making airplane gestures at Cardiff City fans over a recently signed player's death in a plane crash.

When I first started working on this, I was not fully aware of the extent of child sexual abuse and how the mere mention of Jimmy Savile can cause dangerous trauma to the survivors. This is quite a long piece and it describes the efforts that have been made to explain the seriousness of this and how so many people and organisations want to ignore the problem. Perhaps the last few paragraphs will shock, but please read them . A short email to the FA requesting that they do something about this could make a difference.

I tested the article on Linkedin as it is a sensitive subject, and there was positive feedback. It will be taken back to the FA.

Chief Inspector Pete Hall was quoted as saying that the gesture was' highly offensive and can cause genuine distress', but no action has been taken on the 'Savile' chants despite the regularity and the offensive nature of these chants.

Some Leeds supporters believe the chants are just banter, others dislike the 'paedo' inference. There is a much deeper, more problematic aspect to this which many are unaware of - that of the damage to survivors of sexual abuse,  which could be thousands at every game.

Gabrielle Shaw CEO of the Charity NAPAC ( National Association for People Abuse in Childhood)

' What to one person is a throwaway jokey comment can act as a trigger for Survivors and not just those abused by Jimmy Savile'

'It can hit with the force of a physical blow and bring it all back. It can cause real damage'

Throw a punch at a football match and a supporter would be facing a custodial sentence, chant about Jimmy Savile and it is ignored, even though the effect can be similar.

The Scale of the Problem

Fights at football nowadays, thankfully, are rare, but the level of sexual abuse is almost at epidemic proportions affecting every aspect of society, most of which is hidden.  NAPAC, using an empirical study by Radford et al, estimate there are 11 million survivors in the UK and over 1 million victims each year.

Extrapolating these figures and adjusting for gender, there are probably over 4200 survivors of sexual abuse at every Leeds United home game. In the away contingent, which initiate the chants, there may be 300 victims. Each time the chants are heard there could be irreparable damage to a survivor.

Abuse thrives in secrecy.

The person that has sat next to you for years, you nod to when you see them in the bar or sit next to them on the coach, could be a survivor of sexual abuse. According to the National Crime agency 90% of this despicable criminal activity goes unreported and is not even mentioned to their partner, parents, family, or friends. The average time it takes an individual to disclose, once the abuse stops, is 22 years. The survivor suffers in silence. Few supporters would shout racist comments next to a person from the ethnic minority or homophobic remarks next to a member of the LBGT+ community, however because the issue is invisible the Savile chants persist.

Nick Ward of NAPAC said to me

'We hear from hundreds of survivors on a weekly basis and we are well aware of the damaging and triggering impacts words can have, particularly in an environment such as a football ground'

It is not unique to Leeds, in attempting to rile Leeds supporters, opposition fans, unknowingly, are likely to have caused damage to the health of their own supporters. With nearly 1 million supporters watching professional football on an average weekend there could be over 11000 fans in the grounds that have suffered sexual abuse. This is not a small problem.

Ian Dean Director of the CSA centre commented

 'We need to recognise and acknowledge the scale of the problem'

Jeff Barlow, the author of the Leeds Hospital investigation into Savile

'The chanting can be a real issue for some victims to hear. Even victims of abuse whose abusers are not associated with Savile. The mere mention of Savile could be a trigger that can cause distress'

Savile has come to be shorthand for sexual abuse in the country for survivors.

Damage that Savile chanting can cause to Survivors

As a club we are acutely aware of suicide. Maria Panangoh reflecting on an overarching study of 68 others said that 'Conclusively sexual abuse is associated with an increased likelihood that they will be at risk of suicide in later life' According to a report in Psychology Quarterly this can be six times more likely than the general population. For children, Ged Flynn, CEO of Papyrus who work to stop young people from taking their own lives, believed that 70% of children who had thought about taking their own lives had been abused.

Triggers such sights, sounds, or smells can have severe consequences for survivors at any stage of their lives. They often have to relive the trauma bringing feelings of helplessness and hopelessness to the forefront and creating both psychological and physiological reactions. There is an uncomfortable truth that the Savile chants harm people, fellow football supporters, fellow human beings.

 Common symptoms include major depression, severe anxiety, substance use, PTSD, and they are 5 times more likely to commit a criminal offence.

The Jay report said 'It is not a problem that is confined to the past'

The FA, EFL, the Press, and the Police

When considering all the evidence it is clear that something needs to be done about the chanting. We presented all our findings to the FA, EFL, the national and local press and called for a meeting with the Police. The FA, who have the mantra 'Non action is not an option' did precisely that, nothing, and did not even have the courtesy of acknowledging the email.

The Press staggeringly similar, no reaction, even from those that are usually desperate for any quote from us. Total silence. It isn't hard to imagine an uncomfortable shuffling of the release to the bottom of the to do pile.

The Police agreed to a meeting, then cancelled it, and then failed to respond to subsequent attempts to rearrange. However an agreement to meet at a higher level has been agreed in the light of the 'Sala' prosecution and comments.

Ian Dean commented 'As a society it is not just that we don't see child sexual abuse, we don't want to see it'

Sadly this seems to be the case.

The EFL did suggest that they would raise the matter with their Executive Committee to see if it can be added to the Tragedy Chanting discussions. It clearly isn't a tragedy, it is criminal. Bradford, Munich, and Ibrox had no criminal element. Exceptions are Istanbul and Heysel, even Hillsborough, the driver of the tragedy chanting campaign, I believe there has only been one successful prosecution.

Savile chanting is clearly different. It can affect everybody who has been the victim of a criminal act whether prosecuted or not.

Enter the BBC

The BBC decided to dramatize the life of Jimmy Savile against the advice of many professionals who feared it could trigger some of the effects that were mentioned earlier. Obviously there is a safety net which does not occur in the ground, an off switch and alternative channels. 'The Reckoning' however used Leeds United Supporters to provide a shortcut about Savile's necrophilia by inventing an obscene chant. This associated our supporters with prior knowledge of Savile's activities. According to the BBC this was used to taunt opposition supporters, who obviously would be aware of the significance of the reference many years before the revelations of Savile's activities - which appeared a year or so after his death. The BBC felt they could hide this in a continuation of the Dirty Leeds jibe. On the terraces, Leeds supporters and indeed opposition fans, according to the BBC, had the knowledge of Savile's behaviour that those who knew him intimately, such as the Police, hospital and charity administrators, Margaret Thatcher, the Royal Family and The Roman Catholic Church, did not.

The BBC obviously felt enough time had elapsed to be able to broadcast the programme, once again they were fallible. Despite inventing a chant, they ignored that real Jimmy Savile chanting persists with all its ramifications for survivors. They ensured that this will continue for the foreseeable future by linking it to the club.

The BBC denied they had invented the chant, and they had obtained it from first hand sources.

Remarkable foresight from a position of hindsight.

However one of the 20 year season ticket holders who didn't miss a game for many seasons throughout the period in question said about the BBC.

'Why are they arguing this, we were there, we know we didn't sing this or have it sung at us until after his death'

A retired Chair of one the largest supporters clubs in the UK remarked

'Leeds fans can be accused of many sick chants over the years, and often, they are guilty as charged, but this one is total b*******'   

External evidence was provided by the author Colin Irwin who in his popular book 'Sing when you're winning' spent time with Leeds supporters standing close to the opposition fans and despite writing about many chants not one related to Jimmy Savile.

We raised a complaint against the BBC which was unceremoniously and condescendingly rejected. However, it  allowed us to attempt once more to highlight the issue with the Press by pivoting on the BBC angle.

This time the Daily Mail journalist Matt Barlow courageously took up the cudgel and lambasted the BBC and raised the issue with the FA, opening the door again. It was subsequently picked up by the Daily Express and the Daily Star who lifted Matt Barlow's story. We are grateful to Matt Barlow.

The FA and Leeds United

We returned  to the FA. Probably because there was the watching eye of the national press they did respond but they tried to push the matter under the carpet and indeed tried to lever responsibility back to Leeds United as if the club were culpable as Savile was born and lived in the City

We confirmed that we had allowed the club to view the research and correspondence, and as this affected all clubs supporters that were survivors of sexual abuse in the Championship it was clearly under the panoptic jurisdiction of the FA as they were responsible for overseeing all aspects of the game.

 Angus Kinnear, in one of our meetings, had said that he would talk to the other members of the tragedy chanting working group. However, it is felt that this is an initiative that should come from the fans in support of their fellow supporters that have suffered sexual abuse in silence. Football is for the fans after all. It is not an action that Leeds United can take ownership of when it is football as a whole that should tackle this unrecognised issue.

Disappointingly, given the extent of the problem which we have described at length,  we have not heard from the Football Association again. There is clearly a resistance to engage with the complexity, secrecy, and scale surrounding child sexual abuse. The publication of a snappy catch phrase is not enough, it changes nothing. It is a veneer and pays superficial lip service. There has to be action and the FA are able to do this by talking to the clubs, the Police, and introducing an education programme. Many charities believe that this is the final taboo.

What do these chants feel like to a survivor of sexual abuse?

I spent some time talking to the NAPAC

Gabrielle Shaw CEO of NAPAC said

'The negative impact of these chants cannot be overstated. Not only can they be extremely triggering for victims and survivors, but they serve to trivialise the huge societal issue of childhood abuse.'

Put yourself in the shoes of a survivor. You are in a packed, noisy crowd. Hundreds of people around you are singing about an abuser. You start to panic as you are forcibly reminded of what happened to you. Your heart is barrelling in your chest and your throat feels tight. You are ashamed of your response. You feel trapped and powerless, exactly as you felt when you were abused.

These chants have a real, physical, and emotional impact. Not for the few, but for the many. The ONS estimates at least 1 in 5 adults in England and Wales experienced abuse in childhood, apply that to average Championship match and that's 3800 survivors at any given fixture.

It is imperative that fans across all clubs understand the scope of the issue, and that participating in these chants they are retraumatising those they have sat and supported with, season after season'

Pressure is needed.   PLEASE THINK ABOUT TAKING ACTION

It would be beneficial if supporters of all clubs could ask the FA to take action to stop the Savile chanting for the sake of the survivors. A short email would be sufficient.

safeguarding.children@thefa.com

The NAPAC - can be contacted at www.napac.org.uk

Clive

Chair

 Leeds United Supporters Network