Vera Pauw thanks Irish public for 'love and support'

Republic of Ireland manager Vera Pauw has thanked the Irish public for their "love and support" after she released a statement alleging that she was raped as a young player in the Netherlands.

At the start of this month Pauw revealed she had suffered abuse and serious sexual assault during her time as a player and coach in Dutch football, detailing how she has tried to have her case heard by the football authorities in the Netherlands but had not received a satisfactory response.

The Dutch FA, KNVB, subsequently apologised to Pauw and released their own statement saying: "At the KNVB we are very shocked by the experiences from a not recent past that Vera Pauw told us about in a conversation last year.

"The KNVB should have approached a number of issues differently."

Pauw appeared on the panel for RTÉ's coverage of the Women's Euro 2022 clash between Finland and Germany on Saturday night.

At the start of the programme, she took the opportunity to thank all of those who had offered their support in the last two weeks.

"It's been overwhelming," she said.

"When I put out the statement, it's not only what I experienced 30 years ago, it's the ongoing result of it; constantly an abuse of power and intimidation and everything that comes with it.

"The fact the people have welcomed me and given me so much love and support, it was just something I could hardly handle - especially the people in ireland. Everybody made such an effort to really write something to me. I've seen most of the messages... it's just incredible.

"People said, 'hands off, Vera's ours, come here and we will make sure that you're safe'. The key thing is that here in Ireland, I've always felt safe.

"There's not been one moment that I didn't feel safe.

"It makes me strong