Court hears Whitten Oval ‘effectively became the ground zero of sexual abuse inflicted on Adam Kneale at the hands of Graeme Hobbs’

Peter Gordon and Derryn Hinch will give evidence in the case of a “Jack of all trades” at Footscray Football Club who sexually abused Adam Kneale (pictured) as a young boy and exposed him to a pedophile ring.

Derryn Hinch, who previously reported on pedophiles as a journalist in Melbourne, is one of the witnesses in the case. Picture: Supplied

Ex-Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon and former Senator Derryn Hinch will give evidence at a Supreme Court trial that heard pedophile Graeme Hobbs used Whitten Oval as “ground zero” to prey on boys.

Child abuse survivor Adam Kneale, 51, is suing the former Footscray Football Club over years of abuse he suffered from the ages of 11 to 17 at the hands of the volunteer and convicted pedophile, better known as ‘Chops’.

A “Jack of all trades” at the club, a jury on Tuesday heard that Hobbs, now dead, was a star fundraising volunteer for the cash-strapped team in the 1980s and an “integral part of the fabric of this football club”.

Adam Kneale is suing the former Footscray Football Club over years of abuse he suffered in the 1980s. Picture: David Crosling

He was also a predator who abused a young Mr Kneale and exposed him to a pedophile ring, from 1984 and 1989.

“Hobbs made money in his role for the Footscray Football Club but it was Adam Kneale who has paid the price,” Mr Kneale’s barrister, Tim Hammond SC said.

Fearing Hobbs could prey on other children, Mr Kneale reported Hobbs to police in 1993 about the abuse that occurred in the Footscray Football Club offices, boardroom, staff toilets, change rooms and club stand, as well as on a bus travelling with the cheer squad to and from Sydney.

“Quite simply … Footscray Football Club and Western Oval … effectively became the ground zero of sexual abuse inflicted on Adam Kneale at the hands of Graeme Hobbs,” Mr Hammond said.

Ex-Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon is set to give evidence. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

The pedophile confessed to repeatedly abusing Mr Kneale at Whitten Oval, previously called Western Oval, and was jailed and later died in 2009.

The court heard another boy, also a victim of Hobbs, would also take the stand.

Other witnesses include Mr Hinch, who previously reported on pedophiles as a journalist, former Bulldogs president and lawyer Mr Gordon and former chief executive Dennis Galimberti, who would give evidence that the club “didn’t know” the pedophile was abusing Mr Kneale.

Bulldogs chief executive Ameet Bains sat in the court’s public gallery for the first day of the trial on Tuesday.

Western Bulldogs chief executive Ameet Bains. Picture: David Crosling

Mr Hammond said, “Footscray Football Club knew or certainly ought to have known” about the abuse, noting that Hobbs hung around despite not being a past player, sportsman or even parent.

“What he was was a strange oddball, an older bloke who lived with his dad and hung around with kids on the premises and gravitated to the Under 19s,” he said.

He said the club was vicariously liable for Mr Kneale’s abuse because Hobbs’ position at Whitten Oval was so “special” he was effectively an employee, and called the jury to award Mr Kneale exemplary damages because the club “can afford it”.

“Footscray Football Club did nothing, and because they did nothing it allowed a pedophile like Graeme Hobbs to prey upon victims like Adam Kneale for years and years and years,” Mr Hammond said.

Mr Hammond said Hobbs was “openly parading” his victim around the club, with “no one taking a single step to protect Adam Kneale”.

But Jack Rush KC, for Footscray Football Club, said “this is not a straightforward case” and that the club did not know about the abuse.

He told the jury that at the time, “there was not one complaint put forward to the administration of the club about Hobbs”.

“Not one complaint to anyone in authority at the club,” he said.

He said the club did not hold ‘loco parentis’ – taking the place of a parent over a child – unlike a school or a church, and that Hobbs was a pedophile who was rightly arrested and jailed.

“He is responsible for the abuse,” Mr Rush said.

Mr Kneale, who is expected to take the stand on Wednesday, has suffered PTSD, depression and anxiety, and worked a life in manual factory labour despite having family members skilled in web design and computer technology.

His barrister said the sexual abuse “irrevocably damaged Adam Kneale”, whose future looked “very, very grim” as he would need counselling and medication “maybe forever”.

The trial, before Justice Melinda Richards, is expected to run over three weeks.

*Mr Kneale has given permission to be identified