Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Andrew Woodward | ||
Date of birth | 23 September 1973 | ||
Place of birth | Stockport, Cheshire, England | ||
Position(s) | Defender | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1992–1995 | Crewe Alexandra | 20 | (0) |
1995–2000 | Bury | 115 | (1) |
2000–2001 | Sheffield United | 3 | (0) |
2000–2001 | → Scunthorpe United (loan) | 12 | (0) |
2001–2002 | Halifax Town | 30 | (1) |
2002–2003 | Northwich Victoria | 8 | (0) |
Total | 188 | (2) | |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Andrew Woodward (born 23 September 1973) is an English former professional footballer who played in the English Football League for Crewe Alexandra, Bury, Sheffield United, Scunthorpe United (two loan spells) and Halifax Town. [1] Later a serving police officer, dismissed for gross misconduct in November 2016, he shortly after revealed he had been a victim of child sexual abuse, writing a book about his experiences.
Woodward signed his first professional contract with Crewe in July 1992, and made his first team debut on 17 April 1993, coming on as a substitute in a Third Division match at Walsall; he made eight further substitute appearances that season including in the play-off final against York City at Wembley on 5 May 1993. [2] He made his first of 11 starts for Crewe on 17 August 1993, playing in a League Cup tie against Wrexham at Gresty Road. [2] He made 14 appearances for Crewe during their promotion-winning 1993–94 campaign, but then made only two further substitute appearances for the Railwaymen. [2]
He joined Bury on 13 March 1995 and played for the Lancashire club 135 times in five years. He scored his first league goal on 26 December 1998 against his former club, Crewe, in a 3–1 defeat at Gresty Road. [3] He was then signed by Sheffield United in March 2000. He played only four games for the Blades, and had two loan spells at Scunthorpe, before joining Halifax Town in the summer of 2001. [1] He scored his second league goal, for Halifax in a 2–2 draw against Carlisle United, on 29 March 2002. When Halifax went into administration in the summer of 2002, Woodward was sacked, and subsequently joined Northwich Victoria. [4]
Andrew Woodward joined the Lancashire police force after retiring from football, eventually leaving the force in November 2016. He was dismissed for gross misconduct following an inappropriate relationship with a family member of a victim. [5]
Later in November 2016, it was reported that Woodward had been a victim of repeated child sexual abuse by Barry Bennell (later convicted for sexual abuse) while a trainee at Crewe Alexandra in the 1980s. [5] [6] [7] [8] Woodward later claimed "People should know I suffered more than one abuser". [9]
In Manchester on 5 December 2016, Woodward was one of five abuse victims at the launch of an organisation, the Offside Trust, to support player victims of abuse and their families. [10] [11] Initially a director of the Trust, Woodward resigned on 27 January 2017. [12] [13]
In October 2017, Woodward criticised Football Association chairman Greg Clarke for 'humiliating' remarks Clarke made to a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee hearing, [14] [15] while the Professional Footballers' Association's chief executive Gordon Taylor said the PFA might sue Clarke over suggestions Taylor had not supported Woodward with further counselling. [16]
In December 2017, two men from Crewe were jailed for 'trolling' Woodward on social media. [17]
In June 2019, shortly before publication of Andy Woodward's autobiography Position of Trust, The Guardian reported that Barry Bennell's cousin, Ronald Bennell, had been jailed in 1971 for the rape and murder of Woodward's aunt, Lynda Stewart, and that Barry Bennell had married Woodward's older sister, also named Lynda, in 1991. [18] The Guardian's coverage also said Woodward unsuccessfully sued Crewe for damages in 2004. [19] Woodward's book was shortlisted for the 2019 William Hill Sports Book of the Year. [20] Woodward's story was dramatised in the 2022 television film Floodlights, in which he is portrayed by Gerard Kearns and his younger self by Max Fletcher. [21]
The Football Association is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the amateur and professional game in its territory.
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Child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom includes the proliferation of indecent images, online exploitation, transnational abuse, and contact abuse. Efforts to prevent child sexual abuse include providing information to children and parents, and disrupting abusive situations. Perpetrators may act alone or as part of a group or street gang, and may either exploit vulnerabilities in children and young people or have long-standing sexual attraction to children. Underreporting of child sexual abuse and low conviction rates remain barriers to justice, among other factors. In the UK, high profile media coverage of child sexual abuse has often focused on cases of institutional and celebrity abuse, as well as offences committed by groups, also known informally as grooming gangs.
Gregory Allison Clarke is an English businessman and football administrator, who was chairman of The Football Association from 4 September 2016. He resigned on 10 November 2020 after making offensive comments while talking to MPs. He was elected as the Vice President of FIFA on 7 February 2019 and resigned from this role on 12 November.
A child sexual abuse scandal involving the abuse of young players at football clubs in the United Kingdom began in mid-November 2016. The revelations began when former professional footballers waived their rights to anonymity and talked publicly about being abused by former coaches and scouts in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. This led to a surge of further allegations, as well as allegations that some clubs had covered them up.
The sexual abuse scandal at Crewe Alexandra F.C. concerned child sexual abuse by former football coach Barry Bennell while employed at English professional football club Crewe Alexandra in the 1980s. While Bennell had been convicted for sex offences in the US in 1994 and in the UK in 1998, fresh allegations were made in November 2016, initially relating to Crewe Alexandra and Manchester City. The scandal then rapidly extended as allegations were made about numerous other abusers at many other UK football clubs. The Football Association, football clubs and police forces quickly established various inquiries and investigations; by July 2018, 300 suspects were reported to have been identified by 849 alleged victims, with 2,807 incidents involving 340 different clubs.
Floodlights is a British television film first broadcast on BBC Two on 17 May 2022. The film is about Andy Woodward, a former professional footballer who in 2016 revealed that he was a victim of child sexual abuse by the predatory coach Barry Bennell. Woodward is played by Gerard Kearns and his younger self by screen debutant Max Fletcher, and Bennell by Jonas Armstrong. The film was praised for the acting by its three leads, and how it conveyed the emotional pain of abuse without showing it on screen.
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