(CNN)After allegations of abuse in women’s football surfaced in recent weeks in the US, Venezuela and Australia, the sport’s world governing body FIFA fears they could be the “tip of the iceberg.”
Joyce Cook, FIFA’s Chief Education and Social Responsibility Officer, told CNN Sport’s Amanda Davies that there will probably be similar stories out there, and encourages people to come forward.
“We are incredibly serious about eradicating abuse from sport, from football,” Cook said. “We’ve spoken to a lot of other international sports federations about this topic over the last year.
“And what’s clear is that part of ensuring that we have a safe sport means that we also have to provide remedy for those that have been abused, that are being abused and to make sure that any perpetrators not only not welcome but banned from sport.
“So I think we will see a lot more cases coming forward for sure. And so we should and we urge people to come forward and to feel safe to do so.”
Former New Zealand international Rebecca Smith, who worked at FIFA between 2013 and 2018, says she was “shocked” at the lack of structure around reporting abuse.
“There wasn’t a set way to manage allegations or information that was coming in on sexual abuse or sexual harassment,” Smith told CNN Sport.
“And then just the communications, both internally, externally to those who had submitted complaints or issues, just the lack of care and communication; it was really disappointing if I’m really honest, because I feel like there’s nothing more important than the health and safety of the main characters in sport.”
“So I think it’s a lot more prevalent, a lot more rife than what’s out there in the public. And I think that it needs to be a priority for governing bodies and those that are the ones that are responsible for the health and safety of players,” she added.
When offered a right of reply to Smith’s comments, FIFA said that its reporting system, BKMS, was launched in 2013.
However FIFA has another problem in the challenge it faces in dealing with the issue of abuse of women’s football — unpaid fines.
“We’ve got levied a $1 million,” said Cook. “I mean, we haven’t seen those fines being paid. And we have no way to enforce that because, you know, we have to sanction individuals.”
