Football Australia has announced an independent investigation into the treatment of female footballers after Matildas legend Lisa De Vanna made allegations of sexual abuse suffered throughout her career.
De Vanna has said she sexual harassment, indecent assault, grooming and bullying from senior players stretching back to 2001 when she was a member of the Young Matildas.
“I was pulled down from behind and dry-humped by a few of my teammates. I fought my way off the floor kicking and screaming. They thought it was funny,” De Vanna told News Corp.
“I was just a young kid from Perth, I didn’t know any different. I lost my shit and wanted to punch them.”
De Vanna also detailed incidents of sexual harassment she said occurred in a shower and involved unwanted advances from other players.
Football Australia said it had received a direct complaint from De Vanna but that some of her concerns from the News Corp interview were not covered.
“While it is not appropriate to discuss individual cases, we have met with Lisa De Vanna and heard her grievances, and can confirm that the specific allegations made public were not raised with us in that meeting,” a Football Australia statement read.
“We have no knowledge of what steps, if any our predecessor organisation, Soccer Australia, undertook in 2001. In the event that Lisa chooses to lodge a formal complaint through the appropriate channels, we will be in a position to investigate and, if appropriate, act accordingly.
“Australian football takes a zero-tolerance approach to any conduct which breaches the standards and values expected of people involved in the game.
“To that end, we encourage anyone to bring forward their concerns through Football Australia’s formal complaints process under the Member Protection Framework, with the knowledge that any such matter will be taken seriously and investigated thoroughly.
“Over and above Football Australia’s formal complaints handling protocols, we have also been engaging with Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) to develop an additional process for independently investigating allegations of a historical nature as they relate to former players and staff.”
De Vanna made 150 appearances for Australia, scoring 47 goals and played in four World Cups.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Two different issues, one dates back to 2001, the other is to do with the questionnaire in 2019. The senior players from were gone by about 2010 , De Vanna was the most senior player for the 10 years after that.
Murray Fosts
Guest
I expect to see a story from Mary manhaater, the Roars resident activist, on the topic of entitled women, and the toxic culture in womens soccer ,that im absolutely sure she would have been aware of. But I won't be holding my breath.
Nuxman
Roar Rookie
A Nay you insinuated enough to show me that you are a troublemaker and definately sexist.
Nuxman
Roar Rookie
Can,t believe all these people attacking the victim!all males Too.disgraceful.
Nuxman
Roar Rookie
This discussion tells us a lot more about you.and it ain,t pretty
Nuxman
Roar Rookie
Bullshit Andy. You are out of order!!!
Nuxman
Roar Rookie
Andy I always enjoyed your posts but you have gone too far with your attemptedcharacter assasination of Lisa. Completely unacceptable
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
True, however the framework guides the FFA's response. It is designed to assist those under the FFA's duty of care and does not require intimate knowledge to access. It is a governance tool and such tools benefit from regular public scrutiny. Unfortunately for governance mechanisms, the public tends to be far more interested in whether Ronaldo is left on the bench or has a start. This particular case may well highlight any shortcomings in the framework as well as strengths.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Actually I remember now the Matildas were saying they had no issues with Stajic after his sacking just one player in the squad . I wonder if the one player is De Vanna.
NoMates
Roar Rookie
I think they need to harden up, they think the men's game is all roses?
Redondo
Roar Rookie
Good idea
Marcel
Guest
LdV claims ....now deep sixed to article #77 on the Herald news feed. If you think that sort of thing happens by accident you simply don't understand how news agencies work.
Winter
Guest
Which is something I guarantee 95% of peoppe on committees have never read. Usually it's volunteers that dont have a law or human resources background.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Best that this be thoroughly investigated, that the FA be open and transparent about it, and that if need be, remedies be in place to minimise the risk of such occurences (and that needs to all happen well, well before the WWC). As a general statement, I'd like to think that there are more resources in the game to provide pastoral care to teenagers moving up the ranks, and that overall, we probably have better systems and programs in place today than we did 20 years ago.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
This may provide a robust test of the FFA's Member Protection Framework and the Complaints Procedure which is embedded within.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
youre kidding me right about insinuating? lets say this goes to court, any barrister will attack her 'character', nowhere did i say any of the claims/allegations (at this stage) didnt happen, theres no smoke without fire as that saying goes thats the standard response that someone gives when you accuse them of being woke or SJWs lol - not a shot at you, because you know your stuff. but humor me anyway... why would people that have zero interest in a particular sport, comment on it in the first place? (it'd be like me commenting on a AFL post, which i would never do - its not my sport, i dont know anything about it; my opinion isnt valid on it in the slightest) the fact you have people signing up just to add in thier opinion on a socially hot topic at at the moment (happend on the gender inclusive a league artiale as well) tells you everything about them and the unfortunate culture we live in i found myself on the moderation list when i spoke in more details about stajic and tonyiks seperate case on here - i dont intend to go on it a third time lol so i shall bow out of this topic now
Sydneysideliner
Roar Rookie
Yeah this is a particularly uncomfortable topic to discuss in a public space outside of a formal investigation. You only have to look at all the dog-whistling blokes commenting on twitter, or the comment at the top of this page complaining about the "lesbian mafia", to realise it can't get a fair, unprejudiced hearing in public. On the flipside, we're here because football is abysmal at internal investigations and the Stajcic debacle (whatever it was actually about) is fresh in everyone's minds.
Redondo
Roar Rookie
AA - In the context of this article, I certainly read your words as insinuating something you wouldn't dare post as a comment - for legal reasons. And, just out of interest, by 'woke' do you mean people who don't agree with you?
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
definitely has played for a lot of teams, definitely has lots of different stories :)
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
ahhhh Jak isn’t it always funny the amount of posters that don’t have accounts that sign up to post of topics like this about a sport they know zero about and in particular try and have a slick response to what i say? i have never understood how the SJW or woke culture got so big, people just love to jump on anything dont they? never insinuated anything, you’re the one assuming here. whats that saying about assumptions…… :laughing: