Ronnie Gibbons, Captain of the first professional women’s team in England, Fulham FC, has told The Athletic about her abuse by Mohamed Al Fayed at the age of just 20.
In 2000-2001, Ronnie was leading the Fulham Ladies, playing the game she loved. However, The Athletic reports that she was twice trapped in a room above Harrods in Knightsbridge by Al Fayed, owner of the club and Chairman of the luxury department store.
David Ormstein and Laura Williamson, writing for the influential sports publication, include Ronnie’s description of being ‘forcefully’ kissed, made to sit on Al Fayed’s knee and groped. On these occasions, she remembers the door clicking shut behind her.
Ronnie explained to The Athletic: “I was used. I just felt a huge responsibility on my shoulders because we’d just turned professional. Everything internally was screaming at me ‘Ronnie, you need to leave’, but I couldn’t because I would be to blame for all these women losing their jobs and Fulham Ladies going down the pan.”
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The full article can be read here.