Former footy star Rod Owen refused compensation by St Kilda after alleged Little League sexual abuse
Former St Kilda star Rod Owen bravely revealed he suffered “soul destroying” alleged sexual abuse as a boy in Little League — now, he’s determined to get justice, but the club “want nothing to do with it”.
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Former St Kilda star Rod Owen says he is disappointed but not surprised the club has refused to settle a compensation claim over alleged historic sexual abuse.
Mr Owen, who played 60 games for the Saints, was allegedly molested as a child by two men, Darrell Ray and Albert Briggs, who ran the club’s Little League team in the 1970s.
St Kilda issued an apology to Mr Owen, 57, after he went public with the allegations to the ABC in 2021, but has now declined a request for an informal settlement conference related to his compensation claim.
In a letter to Mr Owen’s lawyers seen by the Herald Sun, the club said it had “every sympathy” for the former player but there was no evidence it organised the Little League, which was a precursor to Auskick, or that it had knowledge of the alleged abuse.
It also denied it employed Ray, who was convicted of abusing Little League players and died last year, as a coach of the team or had any involvement or oversight of training sessions.
Even if Mr Owen did prove St Kilda owed him a duty of care, the club said he would not be able to establish a breach because Ray was employed as a school teacher and it was “therefore entirely reasonable to assume he was a suitable person to coach a Little League team”.
“In the event your client proceeds to issue proceedings against STKFC, for the reasons outlined above, such proceedings will be defended,” the letter states.
Mr Owen questioned how St Kilda could have no knowledge or responsibility for the alleged abuse, which took place in showers and change rooms at the MCG and Moorabbin Oval while he played or trained for the club.
“This was life changing and soul destroying and the trauma I copped from nine years of age through my whole life can be attributed to the abuse,” he told the Herald Sun.
“I’m just after justice and to keep the club accountable and they want nothing to do with it.
“It’s disappointing but not surprising.”
Mr Owen battled drug and alcohol addiction issues for decades in the wake of the abuse, which he said was a way of dealing with his trauma, but has been sober for six years.
He was a rising star at St Kilda, debuting for the senior team as a 16-year-old in 1983.
But his career was plagued by injury and came to an end at the age of 25, having played 78 games and kicked 143 goals for three teams.
Mr Owen said he was seeking recognition for “the ones who suicided or are that drug and alcohol affected they haven’t got a voice due to shame, guilt and embarrassment”.
In 2001, Ray pleaded guilty to 27 counts of indecently assaulting 19 boys at Beaumaris Primary School where he worked from 1971 and 1976.
He coached St Kilda’s Little League team from 1967 to 1977, while Mr Owen’s other alleged abuser, Albert Briggs, managed the team from 1967 to 1980 and was employed by the club.
Briggs left St Kilda with a life membership until it was stripped from him in response to Mr Owen’s allegations.
Ray, who changed his name to Ray Cosgriff, was facing 26 further indecent assault charges when he died last year aged 82.
St Kilda did not reply to a request for comment.
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