The former president of the Footscray Football Club has denied knowing a club volunteer was jailed for sexually abusing a young boy on club grounds.
Peter Gordon told the Victorian Supreme Court he was first made aware of Graeme Hobbs' crimes when a journalist contacted the club in April last year.
Hobbs pleaded guilty to sexually abusing Adam Kneale in May 25, 1994, with the local paper splashing the story on the front page.
Mr Gordon denied ever seeing or being told about the article, which detailed how Hobbs sexually assaulted a 12-year-old Kneale behind the Western Oval grandstand.
Mr Gordon was president of the Footscray Football Club at the time the story was published.
"I'm almost certain I didn't see it and I wasn't told about it because I would have remembered it," Mr Gordon told the court on Tuesday.
"If it was known about by senior management, I should have known about it."
Mr Kneale is suing the club in the Victorian Supreme Court, alleging it was vicariously liable for his abuse as it gave Hobbs special access.
The Western Bulldogs reject the claims.
During his evidence, Mr Gordon was also questioned about a conversation a police officer had with the club's then-finance manager Stephen Smith in February 1993.
The constable, who had recently charged Hobbs, told Mr Smith about the arrest, the potential impact it would have on the club and that other victims might come forward.
Mr Gordon said he was never told about that conversation, instead hearing about it for the first time on Tuesday.
"I would have expected it to be reported to the CEO and I imagine the CEO would have reported it to the board," he told the court.
Mr Gordon initially said it was not a significant club failure that senior management was not informed, noting the abuse happened years earlier and Hobbs was no longer at the club.
But he conceded insofar as the club was vicariously liable for Mr Smith, it was a failing.
Mr Kneale is also seeking aggravated damages after the club didn't reach out to him when his abuse became public - a failure he says left him with no closure after everything that happened on its grounds.
Mr Gordon, who is also related to Mr Kneale, said he would have contacted him if he was aware of the abuse.
"If I had known that Adam Kneale was this person and was hurting over this and aggrieved about the club and its role, then I would have bent over backwards to reach out to him," he said.
The civil trial before Justice Melinda Richards continues.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
