- An abuse survivor has taken legal action against a Melbourne-based club
- She received a massive payment for the abuse she suffered
A “sleazy” trench-coated volunteer who took photographs of scantily clad teenage footballers was not enough evidence to prove an AFL club could have anticipated he was a paedophile, a court has been told.
The Western Bulldogs, formally known as Footscray, have appealed against a jury finding of negligence against them and a subsequent $5.9 million payout to a survivor of child sexual abuse.
It was the largest award ever paid to a survivor of abuse in Australia.
Adam Kneale, 51, has taken legal action against the Melbourne-based club after being abused between 1984 and 1990 by fundraising volunteer Graeme Hobbs.
Hobbs, who has since died, first sexually abused Kneale when he was 11 or 12 in an administration building at the club’s home ground in 1984.
After a four-week trial in Melbourne’s Supreme Court, a six-person jury found the Bulldogs negligent and awarded $5,943,151 in damages, including $3,250,000 for Kneale’s pain and suffering.
However, the Bulldogs maintain the club is not responsible for Mr Kneale’s abuse and asked Victoria’s Court of Appeal on Friday to overturn the jury’s verdict and payout.
Adam Kneale (pictured) was awarded a record compensation payment after being sexually abused as a child at the Footscray Football Club, now known as the Western Bulldogs, between 1984 and 1990.
Kneale (pictured) was just 11 or 12 when he was sexually abused at Western Oval by a volunteer.
Bulldogs lawyer Bret Walker SC said the “red flags” reported to club leaders about Hobbs were not sufficient evidence to prove he would commit child sexual abuse.
Red flags included Hobbs wearing a trench coat, being a “sleazy character” and engaging in sexualized locker room talk with teenage players, Walker said.
They also involved Hobbs taking “joking” photos of young footballers in their hotel rooms while they were half naked on a trip.
“It is not enough to appeal to hindsight: the man was a criminal and it was therefore a warning sign to have seen an innocent person in his company; there is nothing more to it than that,” he told the court.
“If there had been evidence of fondling, sure, but there was nothing like that at all.”
But Kneale’s barrister, Sam Hay KC, said Hobbs’ behaviour – when put in context with 15 or 16-year-olds – should have got him kicked out of the club much earlier than it happened in 1992.
“This is highly inappropriate behavior for an adult in a locker room where people are not of legal age,” he said.
Fundraising volunteer Graeme Hobbs (pictured) was found to have sexually abused Kneale at Footscray Football Club when he was a child.
Western Bulldogs Football Club CEO Ameet Bains leaves the Supreme Court of Victoria during trial in 2023
Mr Walker argued that the jury was misled by Kneale’s legal team during the trial and said the $5.9m payout was “manifestly excessive”.
Mr Hay accepted the amount awarded by the jury was high but said it could be an indication of how the public viewed the nature of his client’s abuse.
“There may be a disconnect between how judges evaluate these losses and how the community evaluates them,” he said.
The judges reserved their decision.
Kneale’s lawyers have filed a second lawsuit on behalf of another survivor of Hobbs’ abuse against the Bulldogs in the Victorian Supreme Court.
“My clients are determined to see this through – it’s been a long road,” lawyer Michael Magazanik told AAP on Thursday.
A Bulldogs spokesman confirmed a statement of claim had been issued against the club relating to allegations from the 1980s.
“The club intends to defend the matter, noting that it treats any allegations of this nature with the utmost seriousness and care for all involved,” it said.