Ex-Fulham Ladies captain 'groped' by Al Fayed

Former Fulham Ladies captain Ronnie Gibbons alleges she was "groped" on two occasions by the football club's late owner Mohamed Al Fayed.

The former Harrods boss tried to “forcefully” kiss her at his department store in 2000, when she was 20, she told The Athletic website.

"Speaking my truth and finally telling my story will hopefully help me heal and be rid of the shame, embarrassment and pain I have carried for years," she said.

Lawyers from the Justice for Harrods Survivors group said they were representing four former players of the club.

Fulham FC told the BBC it was trying to establish whether anyone at the club "had been impacted" by Al Fayed.

"The club is profoundly troubled to learn of the experiences told today by former Women’s Team captain, Ronnie Gibbons," Fulham said.

"She has our deepest empathy and support."

Al Fayed owned Fulham between 1997 and 2013.

In 2000, Fulham’s women's team - known at the time as Fulham Ladies - became the first female football team in Europe to turn professional.

Gibbons, who was captain at the time, said she was driven to Harrods by club staff. Once at the luxury department store, she said she was left alone with Al Fayed, who was then in his 70s.

"He pulled me in close and tried to kiss me on the mouth," she said of their first meeting.

"He had his arms holding my arms, like at my side, so I couldn’t push him away or anything like that. It was a real kind of control stance, like ‘I’m dominating you’.

"I was just like, ‘What do I do here?’ I just felt like a huge responsibility on my shoulders at that point because we’d just turned professional."

Gibbons said that Al Fayed tried to forcefully kiss her again: "He even may have stuck his tongue on me or something. I just remember feeling sick, just really physically feeling sick, when I left there."

Later that summer, she said a member of staff told her she had been summoned to Harrods again by Al Fayed.

In the interview with The Athletic, she recalled: "This time he groped me. As he was saying goodbye, he was sort of grabbing me, trying to sort of hold on to me and kiss me. He was like, 'You’re not scared are you? You don’t need to be scared, I’m not going to do anything like that, you’re very precious, you’re a very special girl'."

Fulham FC told the BBC: "We unequivocally condemn all forms of abuse. We remain in the process of establishing whether anyone at the Club is or would have been impacted by Mohamed Al Fayed in any manner as described in recent reports."

Last week, the Metropolitan Police said it had received 40 new allegations from people that included sexual assault and rape against Al Fayed.

The allegations follow a BBC documentary and podcast, containing testimony from former Harrods employees who said the billionaire sexually assaulted or raped them.

Since the documentary first aired in September, a further 65 women have contacted the BBC saying they were abused by Al Fayed, with allegations stretching beyond Harrods and as far back as 1977.

Last month, the former manager of Fulham's women's team Gaute Haugenes told the BBC that extra precautions had been put in place to protect female players from Al Fayed.

Haugenes, who managed the team from 2001 to 2003, said members of staff became aware that the late billionaire "liked young, blonde girls".

Gibbons was reported to be angered by these comments.

Speaking to the BBC on Friday, Haugenes, who is Norwegian, said he could completely understand her frustration.

"All I can say is I am really sorry for saying something that could have put more wood on the fire. I honestly thought we protected the players," he said.

"I knew that he liked Ronnie because all the girls, they joked about it. But I thought he was an old man, she was a young woman. I was 30 at the time, I didn’t think people his age were thinking about sex.

"I might have been naive, it might have been some of the language barriers that I didn’t pick up details in their joking."

He added that he had not been aware she had been told to go to Harrods.

Asked whether club staff could have done more, he said it was difficult to know what could have been done differently.

"But you should have had a system that picked up things like that," he said. "It was before I was a manager that she went there."

He added: “It is sad to hear she had those kind of experiences as a professional player."

The CEO of Women in Football (WIF) told the BBC there are "significant challenges" in the female football environment.

"It brings to the fore the prevalence of power in balances and the risk towards women in the industry working both on and off the pitch," Yvonne Harrison said.

"For players it is really important that they are protected, they are safeguarded and that their voices are first and foremost listened to - and that is the same off the pitch as well."

The Justice for Harrods Survivors group said the abuse Gibbons had endured from Al Fayed was "yet another horrible example of the monstrous abuse aided and abetted by the businesses he owned".

They added: "We salute our client’s bravery and are proud to advocate for Ronnie and others at Fulham who are searching for justice. We will do whatever we can to lift the lid on abuse, no matter where it was perpetrated, or who it was perpetrated by, including any enablers of Al-Fayed's abhorrent behaviour."

A spokesperson for Harrods said it was "utterly appalled" by the allegations of abuse perpetrated by Al Fayed.

It said: “These were the actions of an individual who was intent on abusing his power wherever he operated and we condemn them in the strongest terms.

"We also acknowledge that during this time his victims were failed and for this we sincerely apologise."