Players had to 'grin and bear' abuse from football coach Bob Higgins, jury told

A former footballer who claims he was indecently assaulted by the former Southampton youth coach Bob Higgins has told a jury that players had to “grin and bear” the abuse.

The footballer, who has now retired from top flight sport, said young players had no choice but to accept the abuse and compared life under Higgins to being in the army.

A jury at Salisbury crown court has been told that Higgins, who also worked at Peterborough United, is a predatory paedophile who used his “supreme power” to carry out a campaign of sexual abuse against schoolboy footballers over a quarter of a century.

Higgins, now 65, allegedly abused boys on training camps, at the home he shared with his wife, Shirley, in his car, and on ferries heading to cup competitions in Sweden. He denies 50 counts of indecent assault against 24 boys.

The first footballer to give evidence, who can be identified only as C, described how he hid in a toilet after Higgins indecently assaulted him as they watched television and stayed there until his mother picked him up.

In a video interview played in court, C described how Higgins would give soapy massages to the boys. “You would lie face down on the floor and he would get the soapy water out. You would be naked, head to toe, and he would massage you from top to bottom. He would touch you everywhere.

“He massaged everything: your buttocks, inner thigh. We all sort of grinned and beared it. It’s like being in the army. If you are told to run through a wall, you do it.

“I tried to avoid any one to one contact with Bob. It was easier to be at the back of the group. You do what you have to do really, we did not have any options.”

Describing one alleged incident when he was 14, complainant C said: “I was training with Southampton twice a week. After training I would go back to Bob’s house with other players and our parents would pick us up from there.

“On this occasion, I was sat in closest to Bob. He started with his hand at the top of my thigh, then moved it down and under my shorts. It happened very quickly. I was a bit confused by it, I am still confused now really.

“His wife was there in the room, I know that for a fact. I went to the toilet. I think I stayed in there until there was a shout to say my mum was there to pick me up.”

Speaking of his former coach, the player said: “The parents and the players would all say you have got to impress Bob. He was the one that gave you the ticket to the next level.

“There are mixed emotions [when I think about Bob]. He was the one that pushed me in the right direction.”

The court heard C had sent a thank you card to his former coach when he was given his first schoolboy contract and a signed picture of himself after he turned professional.

MacDonald suggested the player would not have done this if he had been sexually abused, but C replied: “Everybody is different. You deal with things differently.”

The trial continues.