Twelve months on from revelations that its Little League team was infiltrated by paedophile coaches for more than a decade in the 1960s and 70s, St Kilda Football Club has announced support services for survivors of childhood sexual abuse at the club.
The club has agreed to a charter of cooperation with In Good Faith Foundation (IGFF), a support and advocacy service for "survivors, families and communities impacted by institutional abuses", which will provide independent counselling services to former St Kilda Little League and Saints Junior League players.
In April 2021, former St Kilda star Rod Owen revealed to ABC Sport the devastating legacy of his childhood sexual abuse by Saints Little League coach Darrell Ray, who led the team between 1967 and 1977, and team manager, the late Albert Briggs, who administrated the team from 1967 to 1980.
Owen's story, and a subsequent ABC Sport Investigation, led to disclosures by dozens of former Saints Little League players.
Another child sex offender, Ray's brother-in-law Gary Mitchell, had been the team's unofficial assistant coach, driving boys to and from games.
Briggs and convicted sex offender Trevor Gravell, both timekeepers at the Saints in the 1980s and 90s, were stripped of their St Kilda life memberships in the wake of the revelations.
St Kilda chief executive Matt Finnis said the development of the charter followed a period of education and introspection by the club's senior leadership, after which it chose to pursue a "trauma-informed" response to the club's historical abuse issue.
"We want to be proactive in providing support wherever practicable, but we also understand the natural hesitancy which might exist in survivors engaging with the club," Finnis said in a statement.
The club said the charter "codifies a commitment to advocate, support and engage any survivors within the St Kilda Football Club community and facilitate a 'no wrong door' approach for people to seek help and assistance."
It said IGFF could provide survivors and whistleblowers with "practical welfare and support engaging with the National Redress Scheme, civil justice pathways, facilitate warm referrals to counselling services and legal advice, assistance with issues of dependence, and day-to-day survivor support."
In Good Faith Foundation chief executive Clare Leaney praised St Kilda's decision.
"We pride ourselves on an ability to constructively engage with organisations to achieve best practice in supporting victims and survivors of institutional abuse," Leaney said in a statement.
"We're committed to providing independent practical welfare, and the provision of wrap around care to address survivor needs.
"We are also committed to provide trauma informed guidance to St Kilda football club, as it seeks to support its community."
The club said its commitments under the charter were in addition to existing child safety policies, and might extend to services delivered by the club's newly launched Danny Frawley Centre for health and wellbeing, if appropriate.
But IGFF stressed the independence of its support for survivors and its aim to "ingrain their experiences into St Kilda Football Club's response to contemporary disclosures of historical abuse".
An IGFF statement continued: "We hope that by assisting to acknowledge the wrongs of the past, those survivors that wish to re-engage with the St Kilda Football Club, will be able to do so knowing that they can be supported by IGFF's independent team of experienced caseworkers and advocates."
A year on from telling his story, Owen remains estranged from the club, but welcomed the announcement of support services.
"As kids, all we wanted to do was wear that St Kilda jumper, but what we've suffered as a result has been devastating. It ruined my career, it destroyed my life and did so much harm to my family. Some of my childhood friends lost their lives. Plenty of others need a lot of help."
Anyone affected by historical institutional abuse at St Kilda football club can contact the In Good Faith Foundation by calling 1300 12 IGFF (4433), emailing igff@igff.org.au or visiting the organisation's website, igff.org.au for additional information and services.
