The Dark Side of Sport

'The Dark Side of Sport' is an on-going research on sexual violence in the world of French sport. I started to work on this topic in November 2019 in collaboration with the NGO Disclose. My assignment was to photograph the most emblematic victims: I asked them to share with me their stories and to pose in their apartments, during their trainings or where the assaults occurred. The challenge was to hide their faces to protect their identity, while showing at the same time their resilience.

The investigation by Disclose looks at 77 cases of sexual violence in France which were either covered up or which could have been avoided. Beginning in the 1970s and up to the present day, the cases involve 276 victims and 28 different fields of sport. Disclose shows major failings by clubs, federations, public authorities and the justice system. These include the lack of monitoring of sexual delinquents and the inaction of officials and sports bodies. The extent of sexual abuse and the recurrent nature of the problem calls for urgent preventive action.

With the help of the PHmuseum Photography Grant, I plan to realise a new series of interviews and portraits of young athletes who complain of being victims of sexual violence, following the map reported by Disclose throughout France. I intend to document a broader variety of cases – ranging from small town inhabitants to metropolitan residents – among different sports fields such as basketball, gymnastics, athletics, tennis, diving, chess, figure skating and martial arts among others. I finally aim to collect archive material (newspapers, documents, notes) along with photos of places and objects connected to the abuses. The testimonies will be recorded to be used as audio installations. I hope to participate in the scholarship to see how 'The Dark Side of Sport' can evolve towards a finalisation as an exhibition. The grant would support me financially while I focus on completing the project.

© Martina Cirese - Image from the The Dark Side of Sport photography project
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The last sports club in Pleubian (Côtes d’Armor), France, where the former coach Roland F., now 73, taught archery, is seen on November 6, 2019. His story illustrates perfectly the administrative and judicial failings that allow repeat offending to occur. According to the Disclose investigation, the trainer had already been convicted in 2000 for sexual assaults on minors in his own family. In 2007, Roland F. joined the archery club at Paimpol (Côtes-d’Armor) without anyone checking on his criminal record. He established himself as a respected club member until he was forced out in 2016. Then, Roland F. created his club in Pleubian where he committed sexual violences again. As reported by Disclose on August 19th 2019 he was given an eight-year jail sentence for sexual assault on minors. This time the courts banned him definitively from ever working with children again.

© Martina Cirese - Image from the The Dark Side of Sport photography project
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The father of an alleged sexual violence victim is seen in his apartment in Lorient, France, on November 5, 2019. His daughter, now 18, is a triathlon athlete from Brittany, who claims to have been raped by her coach in his car in January 2018, when she was still a minor. According to the investigation by Disclose, the alleged victim waited almost a year before she opened up about her abuse to her parents. They immediately filled a complaint and reported the fact to the club. «When she told us what happened, I had a terrible night. The next morning I called the police to lodge a complaint and I reported the fact to the president of the club (…) we were waiting for psychological and juridical support. Nothing happened» – he told Disclose. The investigation by the police is still ongoing. The father of the triathlete must remain anonymous. I asked him to pose in his living room, hiding his face behind the shadows.

© Martina Cirese - Image from the The Dark Side of Sport photography project
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A tennis court is seen in a sports club in France on November 21, 2019. The location can not be revealed in order to preserve its anonymity. The photo is a symbolic representation of a french sports playground not directly connected to the specific events described in the investigation. Over a period of eight months, Disclose has investigated the issue of sexual violence in the world of French sport. This foray into the closed world of amateur and professional clubs reveals the ineptitude of a whole system to deal with the problem, from sports associations, federations and even the public authorities.

© Martina Cirese - Image from the The Dark Side of Sport photography project
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A sexual assault victim, 10, is seen during her archery training in Pleubian, Côtes d'Armor, France, on November 6, 2019. According to the investigation by Disclose, her former coach (Roland F., now 73) has molested her along with her sister – an archery athlete aged 11 – touching their buttocks and putting his hands in their pants. The night it happened, he had received permission from the girls' parents to host them at his home in Lanmodez. As reported by Disclose, after the denunciation of their mother Solène Guyomard, on the 2nd of April 2019 he has been accused of sexual violence against minors. «In the beginning, Roland was nice. Afterwards he started asking for kisses, cuddles. He insisted that we sleep at his place after competitions. He was very insistent» - said the younger sister to Disclose. I asked the victim to pose in the new club where she moved after the assaults. Her face is hidden to protect her identity.

© Martina Cirese - Image from the The Dark Side of Sport photography project
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The last sports club in Pleubian (Côtes d'armor) where the recidivist sexual offender Roland F. – accused of sexual violences over minors on April 2nd, 2019 – taught archery, is seen from the outside on November 6, 2019. There are hundreds of cases in France of young female athletes who complain of being victims of sexual violence, who find themselves powerless in face of the omertà, denial and ignorance of sports bodies. One of the first of the alarming statistics to emerge from the investigation by Disclose calls into question the justice system’s monitoring of sexual delinquents. In the data compiled, almost one in every two cases of sexual crime in the context of sports activities involved repeat offending. These cases include both remunerated and voluntary sports instructors.

© Martina Cirese - Image from the The Dark Side of Sport photography project
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A Breton triathlete, 15, is seen in her apartment in Lorient, France, on November 5, 2019. She accuses her former coach of raping her in his car during a competition in January 2018. After almost a year, she filed a complaint in a police station in Lorient. According to the investigation by Disclose, her alleged harasser kept his triathlete license and worked as a coach in Brittany until September 2020. While the investigation by the police is currently ongoing, he has been taken into custody in Lorient for 48 hours in November 2020. «I entered the back of the car very casually – I must have felt stuck, with no escape. But once inside, there, I have never said so many times the word "no". I think it was pretty expressive everything I did in such a short time and space. Then we went home and he dropped me off at my parents' place, as if we had gone to training» – she told Disclose. I asked her to pose in her bedroom hiding her face behind a curtain to protect her identity.

© Martina Cirese - Image from the The Dark Side of Sport photography project
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An archery training is taking place in a gym in Pleubian (Côtes d'Armor), France, on November 6, 2019. According to the investigation by Disclose, this is the new sport club where a 10 years old girl moved after the harassment by her former coach Roland F., accused of sexual violence against minors in 2019. An alarming statistic revealed by the Disclose inquiry is that in 78% of the sexual assault cases identified, either the alleged perpetrator was kept in their job despite an ongoing investigation, or a convicted perpetrator regained a post. It is a situation that increases the danger of a repeat offence. Yet under the law, according to Article 212-9 of the sport code – the laws and decrees that regulated sports activities – a person who has been convicted of an offence of a sexual nature cannot be allowed to train athletes or have a role of responsibility in a sports activity. It is legislation that sports managers seem all too often little aware of.

© Martina Cirese - Image from the The Dark Side of Sport photography project
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A pool is seen before the trainings in Saint-Étienne, France, on November 22, 2019. According to the investigation by Disclose, this is the new sport club where an alleged sexual assault victim moved after the alleged harassment. The pool is anonymous to protect her identity. As reported by Disclose, in 2017 a French swimmer champion aged 19 reported to the police that when she was aged 14 she had been the victim of inappropriate behaviour by her instructor Mathieu D. As documented by Disclose, the judicial investigation is still ongoing, and by law he is given the presumption of innocence. There are hundreds of cases in France of female athletes who find themselves powerless in face of the omertà of sports bodies. One of the alarming statistics to emerge from the inquiry by Disclose calls into question the justice system’s monitoring of sexual delinquents. In the data compiled, almost one in every two cases of sexual crime in the context of sports activities involved repeat offending.

© Martina Cirese - Image from the The Dark Side of Sport photography project
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A French swimming champion, 21, is seen during her training in Saint-Étienne, France, on November 22, 2019. According to the investigation by DiscIose, in 2017 the French swimmer reported to the police that when she was aged 14 she had been the victim of inappropriate behaviour by her swimming instructor Mathieu D. «He asked me to take off my underwear» – she, now aged 22 and a student in the south-east city of Lyon, told Disclose – «He massaged me at the spot of the adductor and the groin. His hand went very far, right up to my private parts, even if it only lasted a few seconds». According to information received by Disclose, police found photos of the buttocks of female adolescents on Mathieu D’s computer. The investigation by the police is ongoing, and by law he is given the presumption of innocence. Disclose was unable to contact him. She has taken up swimming lessons again, but in a new pool far from Clamart, where I asked her to pose in the dressing rooms hiding her face.

© Martina Cirese - Image from the The Dark Side of Sport photography project
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Amelie and her mother Muriel Le Gallou at the Pleubian archery club (Côtes d'Armor), France. According to them, the former archery coach Roland F., convicted of sexual assault over minors, tried to assault Amelie too. «This is where he tried with Amélie. She shouted at him, she managed to get away from him» – Muriel said to Disclose as she stood in the parking lot. On April 2nd 2019 Roland F. was arrested by gendarmes, accused of sexual assault on minors. During the investigation the gendarmes found child porn images on his computer hard drive. But they discovered something else, too. For when they examined criminal records, officers found out that the coach had already been convicted in 2000 and given a four-year jail term, two of which were suspended, for sexual assault on minors in his own family. Roland F. was a repeat child sex offender. I asked Amelie to hide her face behind her mother, posing in the sport club where she moved after the alleged assault.

© Martina Cirese - Image from the The Dark Side of Sport photography project
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The Favre boarding school in Lyon, France – specialised in looking after youngsters from difficult family backgrounds – is seen from the outside on November 21, 2019. According to the investigation by Disclose, the former ping-pong coach Yves R., 53, committed here several sexual abuses over minors, while being the school supervisor. In 2006 the table tennis trainer was convicted of multiple rapes and given a five-year jail term, with three of those suspended. When he came out of prison, Yves R. went to Brest where he found a position as a manager at the TTC Brest Recouvrance table tennis club where many children train. Thus, despite his criminal record as a paedophile, Yves R. has for nearly ten years continued to work in contact with young people. In response to Disclose's questions, the federation decided to act on December 7 and 8, 2019: «Yves R.'s license has been suspended as a precautionary measure. He can no longer participate in any competition» said the General Manager.

© Martina Cirese - Image from the The Dark Side of Sport photography project
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Two sisters, 10 and 11 years old, pose in their garden in Pleubian, Côtes d'Armor, France, on November 6, 2019. Their former archery coach (Roland F., 73) has both molested them by touching their buttocks and putting their hands in their pants. «In the beginning, Roland was nice. Afterwards he started asking for kisses, cuddles. He insisted that we sleep at his place after competitions. He was very insistent» - said the younger sister to Disclose. After the denunciation of their mother Solène Guyomard, on April 2nd 2019 Roland F. was accused of sexual violence against minors. I asked the girls to pose holding their hands and hiding their faces.

© Martina Cirese - Image from the The Dark Side of Sport photography project
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Archery medals in the bedroom of the two sisters – both victims of sexual assaults by their former archery coach Roland F– are seen in Pleubian, France, on November 6, 2019. «He had taken them under his wing and had quickly sent them to competitions» recalled Solène Guyomard, the girls' mother, during the interview by Disclose. «They started to return home with earrings, sweets, presents». For months Roland F. succeeded in getting the parents to drop their guard. That was until the day that the sisters told their parents that the archery coach had touched their bottoms, sliding his hands under their clothes. Solène Guyomard immediately made an official complaint. On April 2nd 2019 Roland F. was arrested by gendarmes, accused of sexual assault on minors. According to the investigation by Disclose, during questioning he was evasive. His hand might «inadvertently» have slipped into one of the children's trousers.

© Martina Cirese - Image from the The Dark Side of Sport photography project
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The alleged sexual violence victim Amélie Queguiner is seen in her stables at La Roche Chalais, France, on February 26, 2020. Amélie, now 52, accuses her former riding coach – ex partner of her own mother – of sexual assaults and rapes. To her memory, the abuses lasted 10 years (since her 13teen years old to her twenties). Amélie claims to have been victim of sexual aggressions by two other men, involved in the world of the horses riding sport in Dordogne in the 80’s. Her first complaint against her stepfather, made in 2018, has been dismissed. The second one, against the two other alleged aggressors, is dated February 6 2020. I asked her to pose hiding her face during her horse training.

© Martina Cirese - Image from the The Dark Side of Sport photography project
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The wood 'Bois du commandeur', Bordères-sur-l’Echez, France, is seen on February 27, 2020. According to the investigation by Disclose, in 2014, Gérard G., a coach and manager of football clubs in the Hautes-Pyrénées, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for pedophile acts over 8 minor victims. Until his indictment, he remained vice-president of the Hautes-Pyrénées district. A few weeks before his trial, no preventive measures had been taken by the sports authorities, as L’Equipe reported in a documentary broadcasted in 2013. Kevin Massé, today aged 33, claims to have been one of his victim. Conforming to Kevin’s memory, he was subjected to inappropriate touching, fellatio, acts of anal sex and intimidations for over ten years (1998-2008). «I rebelled against him in the car after training. He tied me to a tree in a wood. Pants down. He left me alone in the dark to scare me» – Kevin told me, bringing me back to photograph the same location where he reported the intimidation.

© Martina Cirese - Image from the The Dark Side of Sport photography project
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A photo of the alleged sexual violence victim Amélie Queguiner after a horse riding competition is photographed in her stables at La Roche Chalais, France, on February 26, 2020. «The first time he touched me? We were in a hotel with one bed. I did not feel good about it. We went to sleep. He started to take me in his arms. Then the hand got down to my intime parts, below my slips. The only thing that saved me was my period. I was 13 » she told the me during the shooting.

© Martina Cirese - Image from the The Dark Side of Sport photography project
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The gym Gymnase Maurice-Sceve in Lyon, France, is seen from outside on November 21, 2019. According to the information collected by Disclose, here in the late 80's the former coach Yves R. – convicted in 2006 of several rapes over minors – taught ping-pong to the victim who sentenced him. The victim, today aged 44, spoke out as an adult, with a letter to his brother dated January 17th 2000, where he wrote: «Yves R., the so nice, supposed 'great coach' is in fact a paedophile and I was, from the age of 11 to 14, one of I think many victims». He reported the coach immediately afterwards. The inquiry by Disclose has revealed that several dozen sports coaches, such as Yves R., stay still in post despite either having been convicted or facing an ongoing investigation. It shows how legal orders banning individuals from working with minors are being repeatedly flouted to a very large extent.

© Martina Cirese - Image from the The Dark Side of Sport photography project
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A tennis-table athlete is seen during a training in a sports club in France on November 21, 2019. The location and the subject can not be revealed in order to preserve their anonymity. The photo is a symbolic representation of a french sports playground not directly connected to the specific events described in the investigation. According to the data collected by Disclose, the sports leagues and federations in France have neither adequate training nor the means to respond properly to sexual assaults on their members, who are often young. The result is that the victims and their families who had the courage to report such events are frequently abandoned. An independent body must be created, which would support sports clubs in their management of cases of sexual abuse. A functioning example of this is the United States Center for SafeSport (created amid a scandal of sex abuse by a doctor with the USA Gymnastics team), which investigates and records cases of sexual abuse, collects statements from parties involved, and identifies the organisational failings behind the cases.

© Martina Cirese - Image from the The Dark Side of Sport photography project
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A sexual violence victim, 43, is seen in front of the sport club Maurice-Scève in Lyon, France, on November 22, 2019. As reported by Disclose, here he met his former tennis-table coach Yves R., condemned in 2006 for sexual abuses over minors. He was a talented player qualified for national finals when the nightmare began. According to the investigation by Disclose, he was subjected to inappropriate touching on about 150 occasions, with or without fellatio, and around 20 acts of anal sex, from the age of 11 to 14. The sexual assaults took place in the Croix-Rousse district of Lyon, in the Favre boarding school, where Yves R. is supervisor, but also during the holidays in Brittany, where the educator was director of the summer camps. After a six-year investigation, Yves R. was convicted of multiple rapes and given a five-year jail term, with three of those suspended. I have returned with the victim to the place where it all started. His identity must remain anonymous.

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