Abuse in sport | Thunder vs. NFF after referee scandal in Bergen:

BERGEN (Nettavisen): – I don’t understand what the circle was thinking and I no longer respect them. We have lost all confidence in the Hordaland football club and in the football association in general, they have not proven to be worthy of their trust.

That is the clear speech of Svein Kåre Takle in this interview with Nettavisen.

Takle is the current chairman of the board of directors for Kalandseid IL, the small club outside of Bergen that last year had a big scandal on its lap.

In July, one of the club’s associate judges was arrested and charged with various crimes, including sexual relations and abusive behavior towards several children under the age of 16.

The sports referee has been in custody since he was arrested last summer and is due to appear in court on Monday.

LEE: Sports judge accused of having sex with children

In addition to sexual relations with children under 16 years of age, the judge is in charge of dealing with images that sexualize children and exploiting their position as a judge to obtain sexual relations.

– Come like lightning from a clear sky

Takle says Kalandseid heard nothing about the warning NFF Hordaland received from the judge 11 months before the arrest.

– He was thus allowed to continue in his positions, despite receiving these notifications. In all those 11 months, it was no secret what kind of position he held here with us. However, it came like lightning from a clear sky when he was arrested, Takle said.

– Didn’t you get a message that a warning had reached you?

– No. We didn’t get a clue, no signal, nothing. If I’m going to get mad at someone, it’s with the circuit and the NFF. These were not little signs or clues, they actually received a direct warning, but had to wait another 11 months. I don’t think it’s that neat, Takle thinks.

Several of the charges relate to incidents that occurred after NFF Hordaland was notified by the same judge in August 2018.

– In hindsight, what do you think should have been done, Takle?

– They should have called us, the club he was affiliated with, and informed us of the alerts. They should have informed us and asked us to take care of ourselves. I think you should expect that, he says.

– Sad if you live it like this

NFF Hordaland first informed the appropriate judge in early July 2019 when they received another warning on the table, and this time of a more serious nature than the one that emerged in August 2018.

The person who received the notice in 2018 was Knut Berge, general manager of NFF Hordaland.

He says the following to Nettavisen when he learns that Takle and Kalandseid were waiting to be informed.

– It is sad if he lives it like this, and we must have understanding and respect if someone around us thinks that we should be informed and act differently. If the club is disappointed with this, we must take note. When, where and with whom we should contact and whether this matter was considered on an ongoing basis. We experience these assessments as demanding when we feel a responsibility to balance the need for information and security with, among other things, legal certainty, Berge told Nettavisen.

– We have read the indictment. There are several points there that address issues that happened after the warning in 2018. What do you think about it today?

– We have not read the accusation, but from what has appeared in the media it is very worrying, disappointing and regrettable. If the charges concern matters that should have happened after August 2018, it is something that, of course, we should not have happened, Berge says.

PS: In the next few days, you can read a more extensive interview with circuit leader Knut Berge about the handling of this case by NFF Hordaland.

Not understanding Berge’s statement

Arild Dyngeland was the chairman of the Kalandseid board when the case was broken. He tells Nettavisen that he was and is still disappointed that they were not informed that such a warning had come.

– It is absolutely necessary to ensure the safety of sports teams that information like this is shared with teams where the person in question has positions of trust that can put him in contact with minors, says Dyngeland.

– Knut Berge insists that the case was handled as best he could based on the information they had on the table at all times. Do you understand that point of view?

– No, I can’t say yes. I guess the circuit has emphasized privacy considerations. In cases where these considerations must be weighed against the child’s interest in being safe during training, the latter shall prevail. With the solution that was chosen, we were not given the opportunity to assess the need for investigation or action. It is completely wrong to be sure that unacceptable behavior has occurred before sharing such information, Dyngeland believes.

– That day I will never forget

Svein Kåre Takle will never forget what he was like when the case was broken.

He immediately had a knot in his stomach and began to investigate whether he or the club should have understood what was going on.

– The police called me and asked if I could ask for an interrogation. Then I did not understand the things of the world. But as I learned more, I realized what had happened. What finally calmed me down was that I went through all the correspondence we had with the person, and then I found no obvious signs or clues in any way that would make us understand what was going on, he says. .

He is proud of the way the club responded when it appeared out of nowhere on July 8, 2019.

– I will never forget that day. Shortly after I was in that interrogation, I sent a message to Arild Dyngeland. I couldn’t put my cell phone down until he called again, Takle recalls.

In just over an hour and a half he brought the entire main board together for an urgent meeting, distributed roles and tasks, proposed and made a decision. The decision to suspend the person in question was made less than two hours after I informed Dyngeland of the seriousness of the case. Then my heart stopped pounding. The gluing went up a bit here when the case broke down, the environment was pretty chaotic, but we quickly calmed down and got order and system about what we were going to do.

Roses Safe in the training course

Much of the reason the club managed to handle the case in a good way, Takle believes, is due to the fact that shortly before they had completed the “Safe Training” course, which is a collaboration between Vestland Idrettskrets, SMISO (Center against incest and sexual abuse). Hordaland and Save the Children.

Among other things, sports teams are teased about how to behave when warnings of sexual harassment or abuse appear.

– We had a contingency plan and I advise all clubs to have it. He helped us a lot when the case came up. We had that contingency plan because we had only completed that course a few months before. It was extremely helpful when we ended up in the situation we had, you think.

– When you understood what the judge had done, what then went through your mind?

– They were very mixed feelings. I never felt aggression and anger, I was sadder. It was an incredible sadness. So many destinations, so unnecessary.

He acknowledged most of the charges.

The 29-year-old sports referee has admitted almost all the circumstances specified in the indictment and five days have been set aside for the main hearing in Bergen District Court from September 28 to October 2.

Defender Bertil Rønnestad says the sports referee is bothered by what he has done.

– The defendant has admitted criminal guilt in most of the circumstances for which he is charged, which means that the case can be completed in significantly less time than without his confessions. The defendant wants to compensate him, expresses remorse and would like the actions towards those offended in the case to be undone, Rønnestad writes in an SMS to Nettavisen.

The most serious charges carry a maximum penalty of 6 years.

Do you need to report sexual abuse of yourself or others? Contact the police here.

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