Club Statement – STV News Report
On Wednesday this week, the campaign group End Sexual Misconduct in Sport (ESMIS) held a successful Parliamentary Round Table in Holyrood on the subject of tackling misogyny in sport.
In their evening news, STV reported on the event and informed viewers that in the first year of ESMIS’s campaign only one football club in Scotland had adopted a dedicated Sexual Misconduct Policy. Disappointingly, the reporter omitted the pertinent piece of information as to which club that was. Instead, against the express wishes of the campaign group’s spokesperson, the report went on to dredge up a predictable negative angle in which to portray our club.
Responding to the news report, Clyde’s Vice Chair Bryan Macpherson, who has been collaborating with the campaign group over the past year stated:-
“During the season just ended, Clyde Football Club was proud to become the first team in Scotland to adopt a comprehensive Sexual Misconduct Policy. This decision was grounded in a belief that the policy ESMIS is promoting represents the best foundation from which to begin eradicating misogyny in the game. What we now have in place doesn’t simply codify a process to follow when things go wrong, it is a statement of intent to play our part in tackling what we already know to be wrong within the game and in society at large.
“From the outset, I made it clear to the campaign group that we would not seek publicity for ourselves, and more specifically that this was not an attempt to absolve ourselves of the reputational damage suffered in recent times. However, for any news outlet to ignore our dedication to a cause, and to do so for the purpose of maintaining a lazy sensationalist narrative around past events is unacceptable.
“At Wednesday’s meeting in the Scottish Parliament, we reaffirmed our commitment to commend ESMIS to our fellow SPFL clubs. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with them and hope that we can do so without further unhelpful and unnecessary interventions from media sources who prioritise viewing figures and clickbait over what would otherwise have been a more positive news story.”
A spokesperson for ESMIS added:-
“We were delighted that Clyde reached out to us last year to discuss implementing a sexual misconduct policy and we have been thoroughly impressed by their commitment to the cause throughout this process.
“This policy is publicly available but we did not seek media attention when this was published back 2023 as it was stressed that this was not being put in place for publicity or to repair any reputational damage, and I can affirm that this work was done because it is the right thing to do.
“While we are grateful for the coverage of our Roundtable by STV and the handling of the sensitive matters surrounding the campaign, it was disheartening to see the portrayal of Clyde FC in a negative light with reference made to an individual we prefer to avoid discussing within our campaign.
“We firmly believe that implementing a sexual misconduct policy is the first step for clubs in addressing malpractice and toxic culture. It’s paramount that clubs subsequently implement training, education and robust and comprehensive processes and procedures.
“Crucially, professional sport as whole, HAS to acknowledge when they have made harmful decisions. Clyde Football Club is the first club to take that first step, proudly make the changes and in our view, earned the right to be commended.
“Furthermore, it is not trauma informed to consistently showcase images of abusers, and in reference to their acts of wrongdoing or crimes, without consent from the victim/survivor involved. The victim/survivor should at the very least have prior warning that their attacker will be featured. As a survivor-led campaign, we will never be comfortable with our work being triggering to those we so deeply want to help.”