The Western Bulldogs have been ordered to pay a child sex abuse victim $5.9 million in damages after the Supreme Court found the club was negligent in protecting him from harm.
Adam Kneale sought damages from the abuse he received from former fundraising committee member Graeme Hobbs, from age 11, occurring in the club’s offices, board room, staff toilets, change rooms and club stand, as well as on a cheer squad bus travelling to and from Sydney.
Kneale reported Hobbs to police in 1993, when he was 21, and both Hobbs and another man were jailed.
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While the Bulldogs denied knowing about the abuse, a jury found the club was liable, awarding $5,943,151 in damages including $3.35m for pain and suffering, $2.6m for lost earnings, plus medical expenses.
It is the largest sum awarded to an abuse survivor in Australia and the first successful case against an AFL club.
Kneale’s lawyer Michael Magazanik said the club ignored warnings about Hobbs.
“Junior players described him as ‘sleazy’, ‘a dirty old man’ and a ‘weird unit’ yet he was allowed to access the change rooms where there were naked junior players, nobody stopped him pointing his camera at naked or semi-naked players, and he was given free licence to groom child spectators,” he said.
“And then somehow, he was able to rape this child over and over during the third quarter on match days.”
Magazanik predicted Kneale would be the first of many to sue an AFL team over childhood abuse with a number of allegations at multiple clubs emerging in recent years.
During the court hearing former club president Peter Gordon denied knowing a club volunteer had been jailed for sexually abusing a boy at the club, and said he only became aware of Hobbs’ crimes in April 2022 when a journalist contacted the club.
