All sexual assault claims made against professional footballers in the past five years are to be re-examined by Victoria state police as sex allegations engulf football teams across the country.
Assistant state police commissioner Simon Overland said yesterday the decision was made in response to a public outcry that previous claims of rape and sexual assault were not properly investigated.
"Given those concerns we just decided to go back over five years and have a look at matters that have been referred to us," Overland told public radio.
"We need to work out how many matters have been referred to us and then just have a look at the way we've dealt with those and see if there's anything we can learn from it."
In neighboring New South Wales state, allegations against the top rated rugby league team Canterbury Bulldogs plunged the game into scandal with players admitting that group sex is "nothing new" for them
Police are investigating allegations by a 20-year-old woman that six Bulldog players raped her at the team's hotel following a pre-season match.
Two weeks later, rival rugby league team Melbourne Storm said it, too, was investigating similar claims against two of its players.
In Victoria's most popular football code, Australian Rules, two players in the St Kilda club recently denied claims they had raped two women.
Overland said the case review would consider instances where a complaint was resolved after civil litigation resulted in a confidential damages settlement.
"We are aware of concerns that that may have happened," he said.
"I guess it's likely that there may be other matters that come our way given the league's stance on this, which I think is quite correct to encourage people to come forward.
"If there are other matters we just want to make sure we deal with them in an appropriate way."
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