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Sky Sports fires Eric Bristow after he claimed football sexual abuse victims were 'wimps'

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By Tony Connelly, Sports Marketing Reporter

November 29, 2016 | 3 min read

Sky Sports has dropped darts pundit Eric Bristow following his comments about football child sex abuse victims.

Eric Bristow

Eric Bristow has worked as a pundit for Sky Sports since 1993

The former darts world champion weighed in on the ongoing scandal of historical sexual abuse in football at the hands of youth staff in a series of tweets.

Bristow initially questioned why the former players did not "sort out" their abusers "when they got older and fitter" and used the term “poof” when referring to the paedophiles.

a

The 59 year-old, who has an MBE and is known as The Crafty Cockney, went on to call the victims “wimps” and said they were not “proper men”.

b
c

When comments followed calling for him to be sacked Bristow replied:

d
e

Sky Sports, which Bristow has worked for since 1993, has been quick to respond to his comments and have fired him.

A spokesman for the broadcaster told The Drum: "He was a contributor to our darts coverage in the past but we will not be using him in the future."

Several former footballers have recently come forward in order to go public and raise awareness of alleged historical abuse in football, a step which has won praise from politicians, sport administrators and abuse charities.

As more and more cases come to light the Football Association has launched an independent investigation into the escalating scandal. The governing body recruited an independent QC to oversee an internal review after former players came forward to claim they were abused by coaches and trainers.

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