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Hangin' With ... HBO Real Sports Producer Chapman Downes

CHAPMAN DOWNES is a producer of HBO's "Real Sports." Downes and co-producer MAX GERSHBERG's piece on sexual abuse in British football was the lead segment in Tuesday's episode. In November, allegations by former Crewe Alexandra player ANDY WOODWARD that he was sexually assaulted by a coach were followed by hundreds of accounts from former players claiming they were sexually abused. The story quickly caught the attention of Downes, Gershberg and Real Sports reporter DAVID SCOTT. This episode of "Real Sports" will re-air on Friday at 1pm and Saturday at 11:30am. Downes spoke to SBD Global about the impact of the story, his efforts to contact the FA and clubs involved in the scandal and the victims' thoughts on how the issue is being investigated. 

On Woodward's decision to speak out ...
Chapman Downes: [Former Chelsea player] Gary Johnson didn't end up coming forward until Andy went forward. He said that gave him the confidence to come out. The same with Derek Bell, the former Newcastle player. All these guys saw Andy Woodward come out and decided to come forward because of Woodward. We met with about 10 other guys when we were over there who said they all went forward because of Andy. ... I think they saw Andy and it certainly gave them the strength to come forward. They felt like they weren't alone. All these guys want to expose it. While they're certainly upset that this has happened to others, there's a great sense of relief that, 'Hey, I'm not alone. This wasn't just me.' They all expressed to us how they felt ashamed that they allowed this to happen. 

On current Crewe Alexandra Chair John Bowler, who was said to have been warned about Barry Bennell ... 
Downes: Certainly Andy Woodward and Andy's mom are surprised that he's still there. I think that anybody who was at Crewe and who was abused by Barry Bennell and suffered at his hands are surprised that John Bowler is now the chairman after finding out that, at least according to our reporting, he was warned -- and the team was warned -- about Barry Bennell and others within Crewe.

On attempting to contact Crewe, Chelsea and the FA ...
Downes: We didn't include it in the piece, but when we were over there, we went and knocked on their [Crewe Alexandra's] door. David Scott went right up to the front door. We recorded that, we didn't end up using it. We contacted them numerous times, as well as every other team, Chelsea and certainly the FA. And no one wanted to talk. I understand them not wanting to talk with this ongoing investigation, but from our side, it's always disappointing when we don't have that other side.

On whether the issue of sexual abuse is still prevalent ... 
Downes: I think the answer to that question is, no one knows. I don't think anybody knows, and that's why people want the FA and these teams to take this investigation very seriously and really dig deep. I think that if they're willing to get to the bottom of it, we'll find out. The door is still open there. They have this ongoing investigation. The teams are supposedly investigating, the FA is supposedly investigating. There are ongoing criminal investigations all over the country. The pedophile who abused Derek Bell up in the Newcastle area when he was at his boys club up there was just, within the last three days, charged with 27 additional counts of sexual abuse. There have been more charges against Barry Bennell. And these charges run 25 years, from the '70s right up until the late '90s, early 2000s. The scope of it is unbelievable, and they are obviously very early in the investigation. 

On the victims' belief that there are more who have yet to speak out ...
Downes: There have been close to 600 now who have gone forward to the authorities. They all think it's just the tip of the iceberg. Gary Johnson told us he had six or seven guys, former players who were children just like he was, that were raped by Eddie Heath. And they all told us that. We put three guys on from three different teams and they all said a handful of other players have called them. That's 20 right there. They think that the number, they wouldn't be surprised if it's 1,000 or 1,500. 

On what the producers were looking to accomplish with this story ...
Downes: We're always looking for good stories that are layered and have depth and can sustain 10 to 15 to 25 minutes. That was our goal, to find something that was a good story. But certainly it's rewarding and it's nice to shine a light on something as dark and as upsetting and as disturbing as this if it can help others come out, whether it's kids here in the States who have been abused or over there. That's the reason why all the guys came forward, we heard that again and again, to help other victims out there who have not come forward.

On their evaluation of how it turned out ...
Downes: We're pretty happy. As I said earlier, we were really hoping that we would get the FA or one of the teams. So when you don't have that ... it's always better to have that person, to hear from that side. But when that side doesn't want to talk, it's certainly not worth killing the piece over that, because it wouldn't be fair to the story.

Hangin' With runs each Friday in SBD Global.

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