“For 35 years I have kept a secret from the world, from my family, from my teammates, my players, my colleagues and myself.”
This is how Vera Pauw begins her statement, which she shared on social media. The 59-year-old, who is now the national team captain for Ireland, was a long-time national team player for the Netherlands and also the national team captain for several years for the Dutch women’s national football team.
In her statement, Vera Pauw says that she was raped by a person with a “prominent position in Dutch football” when she was a young player. She also states that she has later been sexually abused on two occasions by two different men. All three must have been employed in Dutch football at the time.
She further writes that she has also been subjected to, among other things, abuse of power and bullying during her time as a player and coach in Dutch football.
I did not experience it as rape then.
Reported to the police
Pauw has in a long interview with the Dutch newspaper NRC told in detail. She says that in 1986, when she was 23 years old, she met the man she now accuses of rape. She says he was “sexually aggressive” and that she told him to stop which he did not.
About a month ago, she reported the incident as rape to the police in Amsterdam.
– That was what it was, when I look back on it, she says.
The NRC has been investigating the whole thing for several weeks and has also spoken to the man whom Pauw accuses of rape. He says he had an affair with Pauw, but denies that there was any sexually aggressive behavior.
– No. Nothing inappropriate happened in that regard. Never in my whole life, by the way, he tells the NRC according to the Irish Independent.
In the statement that Pauw has published on social media, she writes that she went to the police after on several occasions not receiving enough response from the Dutch football association KNVB.
Independent investigation
The union further writes that they jointly with Vera Pauw initiated an independent investigation.
“We want to discuss the recommendations from the investigation internally and with Vera very carefully and as soon as possible, so that we can take action,” the union writes.
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