adminLONDON. — Republic of Ireland manager Vera Pauw says she was raped and sexually assaulted by three different men involved in Dutch football.
The 59-year-old, who played for the Netherlands and managed them for six years, has been the Irish boss since 2019.
In a statement released on Twitter, she said: “For 35 years I have kept a secret from the world, from my family, from my team-mates, my players, my colleagues and, I can now accept, from myself.”
She says she was raped by a “prominent football official” when she was a young player — and later sexually assaulted by two other men.
All three were employed in Dutch football at the time of the incidents, her statement said.
In response, the Dutch FA said it had launched an independent investigation in the past, with Pauw’s co-operation, and admitted it had made mistakes.
“We acknowledge the errors identified in the report and it should not have happened to her. It is unacceptable that Vera did not experience the safe working environment to which she was entitled at the time,” it said.
Pauw added that she was exposed to systematic sexual abuse, abuse of power, bullying and intimidation in her time in the Dutch set-up as a player and manager.
“For these past 35 years I have kept the abuse private. I have allowed the memory of it to control my life, to fill me with daily pain and anguish, to dominate my inner feelings,” she said.
“To many I am seen as a brash and loud football coach and manager, a tough woman who has risen to the top in a man’s world. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
She says she filed five reports to the Dutch FA without getting a satisfactory response so has recently reported the offences to the Dutch police. — BBC Sport.
Online Reporter