One of the UK’s most experienced prosecutors has called on sport to introduce an independent safeguarding regulator following a series of high-profile abuse allegations.

Nazir Afzal, who was chief Crown prosecutor for the North West of England between 2011 and 2015, said the “statistics in sport are as heartbreaking as you can imagine” and called on governing bodies to self-fund a mechanism through which victims can report their experiences.

in november a Premier League footballer accused of rape has been questioned further by police, while the English Football Association (FA) also opened a safeguarding inquiry into a separate Premier League executive who was previously investigated by the police for a number of sexual offences. Neither can be named for legal reasons.

last month, The Athletic also reported allegations from former Fulham Ladies captain Ronnie Gibbons that the club’s then owner, Mohamed Al Fayed, sexually assaulted her twice in 2000. Subsequent, The Athletic also reported on the deep concern of three former Fulham Ladies players that their allegations of sexual abuse at the football club in the 1990s and early 2000s were not properly investigated by the Metropolitan Police or the FA.

“Those women were brave to come forward,” says Afzal. “There has been so much silence, and abuse requires silence to occur. There will only be justice if the victims speak up and are given the opportunity to document what they are experiencing.”

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Speaking at Women in Sport’s 40th anniversary conference on Tuesday afternoon, Afzal argued that one solution was for sport to self-fund an independent regulatory body.

“The reality is we don’t talk about abuse enough,” he said. “We are not talking about the fact that one in four women will experience domestic abuse. We’re not talking about one in five being sexually assaulted. We’re not talking about the fact that over 3.1 million British adults were sexually abused as children. These are the government figures and this is the extent of the pandemic.

“And the sad thing is that the statistics in sports are as heartbreaking as you can imagine. You have the same problem. People are silenced. People do not feel able to speak. Whistleblowers have faced enormous repercussions as a result of what happened to them, and all of those things happen simply because they want to speak out.

“So what are we doing differently? The easiest thing is to make sure your voices are heard, so regulation is absolutely essential. It is absolutely important to have a backup regulator.

“The smaller (sports) shouldn’t pay, but you need an independent agency to provide that level of independent scrutiny in terms of your performance. This will build public confidence, which will ensure that victims are properly heard.”

The proposed Football Governance Bill, which will contain an independent football regulatory body, currently makes no provision for safeguarding or cases of abuse.

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(Clive Rose/Getty Images)