REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL, TV’s most-honored sports journalism series, with a record 18 Sports Emmy® Awards for Outstanding Sports Journalism, returns for more enterprising features and reporting when the show’s 242nd edition debuts Tuesday, May 23rd (10:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.
Soccer’s Darkest Secret, one of the show’s latest offerings, details a horrific scandal that has shaken the beautiful game to its core, more than matchfixing or corruption ever could.
Former British pro soccer player Andy Woodward blew the lid off the largest sexual abuse scandal in soccer history last November when he revealed the abuse he had suffered from his long-time youth coach. More than 500 other former players have since emerged with similar allegations, claiming they were sexually abused while playing for youth teams associated with some of the biggest clubs in pro soccer.
REAL SPORTS correspondent David Scott travels to the United Kingdom to talk with several victims and even a former club official, who tells of having his warnings dismissed. The report examines why the governing body of English football and the many clubs implicated have remained largely silent while what some believe to be a system-wide cover-up persists.
The stories uncovered by Scott are absolutely terrifying and disgusting accounts of abuse, abuse involving children. And the abuse was done by those trusted by both players and families. It is a terrible story, but one that must be heard. This is investigative journalism at its best, important work that will bring perpetrators to justice and finally hold clubs accountable for the atrocities done by their employees.
