St Kilda football club to offer independent support services for survivors of childhood sexual abuse in Saints Little League team

Twelve months on from revelations that its Little League team was infiltrated by paedophile coaches for more than a decade in the 1960s and '70s, St Kilda Football Club has announced support services for survivors of childhood sexual abuse at the club.

The club has agreed to a charter of cooperation with In Good Faith Foundation (IGFF), a support and advocacy service for «survivors, families and communities impacted by institutional abuses», which will provide independent counselling services to former St Kilda Little League and Saints Junior League players.

In April 2021, former St Kilda star Rod Owen revealed to ABC Sport the devastating legacy of his childhood sexual abuse by Saints Little League coach Darrell Ray, who led the team between 1967 and 1977 and team manager, the late Albert Briggs, who administrated the team from 1967 to 1980.

Owen's story, and a subsequent ABC Sport Investigation, led to disclosures by dozens of former Saints Little League players.

Another child sex offender, Ray's brother-in-law Gary Mitchell, had been the team's unofficial assistant coach, driving boys to and from games.

Using a coveted St Kilda jumper as bait, a 1970s paedophile ring turned the Saints Little League dreams of many boys into a nightmare.

Briggs and convicted sex offender Trevor Gravell, both timekeepers at the Saints in the 1980s and 90s, were stripped of their St Kilda life memberships in the wake of the revelations. 

St Kilda chief executive Matt Finnis said the development of the charter followed a period of education and introspection by the club's senior leadership, after which it chose to pursue a «trauma-informed» response to the club's historical abuse issue.

«We want to be proactive in providing support wherever