Bristow causes outrage with comments on football child sex abuse cases
caused outrage on Twitter with a string of
offensive posts relating to the several cases of
child sex abuse in football that have recently
come to light.
Former Manchester City winger David White
and ex-Crewe Alexandra players Andy Woodward
and Steve Walters have accused former Crewe
employee Barry Bennell of abusing them when
they were young footballers.
Paul Stewart has also told of how he suffered
abuse at the hands of an unnamed coach as a
young player, with the ex-England international
revealing his abuser used Bennell's crimes in an
attempt to legitimise the incidents.
Bennell was sentenced to nine years in prison in
1998 after he admitted sexual offences against
six boys and the 62-year-old has since been
handed a further two sentences for charges
relating to child abuse.
The victims have been widely praised for their
bravery in waiving their anonymity and making
their cases public, but Bristow prompted angry
responses from dozens of people on Twitter
during a hugely insensitive series of posts on
Monday.
Bristow, 59, suggested the victims should have
taken to physical violence later in their lives to
get revenge on their abusers, while his use
of offensive terminology provoked further
outrage.
"Dart players tough guys footballers wimps," he
posted. "Bet the rugby boys are ok ha ha. U got
to sought [sic] him out when u get older or dont
look in the mirror glad i am a dart player proper
men.
"Trouble is nowadays u cant tell the truth what
do u feel out there tweet me. Everybody that
works on tv is frightened to say the truth
because they are frightened to lose their job, life
shouldnt be like that.
"What i was saying was when the football lads
got older and fitter they should have went back
and sorted him out.
"U people replying don't twist what i sent out, i
tell the truth if u dont like it tough. No i am not i
am saying they should have got their own back,
the way i was brought up that's what we done."
Former England hooker Brian Moore, himself a
victim of sex abuse as a child, was scathing on
Twitter when alerted to Bristow's remarks.
"I'm not even going to address the many
reasons these tweets are wrong," he said.
"I'll just say ignorance is no excuse for this
idiocy."
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