Safeguarding

 

Ten years after survivors broke football’s silence on child sexual abuse, a new platform acknowledges their courage.

In November 2016, former professional footballer Andy Woodward waived his anonymity to speak publicly about the sexual abuse he suffered as a young player. While he wasn’t the first to speak out – survivors had spoken out in the decades before, both publicly and privately – his interviews became the gateway for hundreds of others to come forward.

What followed was one of the most painful reckonings in the history of English football, revitalising how the game protects children.

Voices of Truth is an acknowledgement of this pivotal anniversary. It recognises the abuse survivors suffered as children, and accepts that the game could and should have done more. It also acknowledges the tremendous courage it took for survivors to come forward (whether publicly, or privately), and the game’s gratitude to them. It’s also for those survivors who have not spoken up, and kept their truth inside.

Led by survivors

From the outset, the Voices of Truth platform was not designed for survivors but shaped by them. Specifically, the Survivor Support and Safeguarding Advisory Group – whose members include people with lived experience alongside independent safeguarding and wellbeing professionals. This group and other survivors and professionals helped inform the approach, the name, and shape the look and feel of the work.

Capturing a spirit rather than a single story

Voices of Truth aims to put survivors at its centre. It’s for those who came forward publicly, those who disclosed privately, and those who have never felt able to speak out at all, and kept their truth close by.

For many survivors, their experience remains private. So rather than tell any one story, the messaging uses symbolism to capture a spirit and a feeling of justice and progress. The aim is something every survivor can recognise themselves in – whether their voice has been heard publicly, privately, or not.

The visuals

The key image from the messaging is cropped tight on a goal net. It places the story firmly in football, but far from the glamour of the game. Seen this close and anchored to the bottom of the composition, the netting hints at a cage. At its centre is a small tear in the netting, damage made over time.

Above the net, a robin takes flight. The choice of bird was not incidental. The robin is one of the few British birds that sings all year round, and even through the dark nights. It has long been associated with hope, resilience and connections to loved ones. Coupled with a bold red, the result is an image designed to stop people without shocking them. Arresting, but dignified and reflective.

The Voices of Truth marque

The Voices of Truth name is set in a bold, plain sans-serif, chosen to feel steady and strong rather than decorative. Inside the R, is a child playing football. It’s a reminder of who survivors were when the abuse took place. Of complete innocence. Children who simply wanted to play the game they loved. The figure is deliberately gender-neutral, reflecting the fact that non-recent abuse affected girls as well as boys.

Written like news, not an ad campaign

Restraint runs through the language used in Voices of Truth. The typography and messaging signal significant news, rather than sensationalism.

The messaging rests on three short lines. Every truth is vital, makes clear that every account matters, whenever and however it is shared. Every voice is a victory recognises that speaking up is an achievement in itself, whatever setting that is in, and whatever follows. The voices of truth will always be heard, stops the acknowledgement from being solely commemorative by creating a commitment for the future.

Not a full stop

Voices of Truth is not a memorial. Alongside its acknowledgement of the past, it reflects on what football has learned from the lived experience of so many survivors, what has changed as a result, and how safeguarding is continuously evolving across the game at all levels.

Anyone affected by abuse in football can find details of the support available at:
thefa.com/voicesoftruth
thefa.com/football-rules-governance/safeguarding/section-9-support-for-survivors