vetkin because the amount of the substance in his system was far below the threshold accepted by WADA in an updated notice on the drug published in June. There remain

LONDON -- Former English soccer players who were subjected to years of sexual abuse by youth team coaches entrusted with their care are breaking cover to expose the games dark secrets.Harrowing stories of assaults on young players by men they relied on to turn them into professionals are forcing authorities and clubs to finally address how child abusers were able to exploit their positions of power and why the behavior wasnt confronted earlier.The abuses were first uncovered two decades ago with the conviction of English coach Barry Bennell in the United States and his homeland. Bennell worked in academies across northwest England including Manchester City, Stoke and Crewe Alexandra, which was renowned as a center for turning raw talent into the complete footballer.The torment suffered by players is only now receiving more widespread attention along with a determination to discover how far reaching sexual exploitation of youngsters has been in English soccer.Four police forces across England, including London, have opened investigations after being contacted about Bennell and other unnamed people. Leading clubs Manchester City and Newcastle said they are assisting authorities and the players union has been guiding the players who revealed their identities.They have been very courageous in coming forward after suffering in silence for years, Michael Bennett, head of player welfare at the Professional Footballers Association, told The Associated Press on Friday.I think the dam has just been busted, the guys who have come forward have been a catalyst, Bennett said, disclosing that eight more players have contacted him in the last day about going public.Andy Woodward, who went on to play for Sheffield United, testified in Bennells 1998 court case and was the first player to go public recently a year after contacting Bennett.Since then, other retired players have been emerging to tell their stories of abuse at the hands of other coaches. The prospect of boys being turned into well-paid soccer stars meant that parents often handed over control of their children to football clubs and their coaches.My life has been ruined until the age of 43, but how many others are there? Woodward said. Im talking about hundreds of children who Barry Bennell cherry-picked for various football teams and who now, as adults, might still be living with that awful fear.Woodwards story gave other victims of Bennell and unnamed coaches the courage to come forward and compel authorities to end the inertia that surrounded the 1990s revelations.Were victims of a horrible, horrendous thing that happened in the early 80s and 90s, Woodward said after leaving a meeting with the English Football Association on Thursday. Ex-players are suffering so much and suffered in silence for so many years. We went through hell.Manchester City launched an investigation after David White and Paul Stewart, who played for the club across the 1980s and 1990s and went on to feature for England, came forward with their stories.The club is aware of allegations that Barry Bennell had an association with Manchester City Football Club in the 1980s, City said in a statement. As a result the club is undertaking a thorough investigation of any past links he might have had with the organization.Citys response came 21 years after Bennell was first convicted in the United States. In Jacksonville, Florida, the Englishman pleaded guilty to six counts of custodial sexual battery in exchange for four years in prison. He had been charged with raping a boy and repeatedly sexually assaulting a player from a youth team he had escorted to the U.S.After serving his sentence in the U.S., Bennell was convicted again in Britain -- receiving a six-year sentence for 23 offences. The case received little publicity at the time. But Bennell was jailed for a third time in 2015 when he pleaded guilty to abusing a boy at a football camp in northern England in 1980, prompting a fresh examination of his crimes and potential abuses by other coaches. Bennell is not currently in prison.I believe there was a conspiracy and pedophile ring, Jason Dunford, a youth team player with Manchester City, told the BBC on Friday. There were people at those clubs who had a duty to look after boys coming through their system.A police force based near Crewe and Manchester said 11 people had contacted them already this week and that the allegations were made against more than one person.A childrens charity has received a flood of calls since setting up a dedicated helpline for footballers in conjunction with the Football Association.These are heinous crimes and they need to be investigated by the police and they will get our support, FA chairman Greg Clarke said.There are echoes of the child molestation scandal that erupted in U.S. college sports involving Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State University. He was convicted in 2012 of 45 counts of child sexual abuse and is serving 30 to 60 years in prison.---Rob Harris is at www.twitter.com/RobHarris and www.facebook.com/RobHarrisReportsYeezy Boost China Wholesale . Mitch Holmberg added a goal and three assists. 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Scott Kazmir allowed four hits in seven shutout innings, Michael Brantley hit a two-run homer in a three-run first inning and the Indians maintained their hold on an AL wild-card spot with a 4-1 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday night.Former heavyweight world titleholder Bermane Stiverne failed a random drug test for a banned substance ahead of his vacant interim title fight against Alexander Povetkin but will still be allowed to fight, the WBC announced Monday.With titleholder Deontay Wilder out of action following hand and biceps surgery, Povetkin and Stiverne were ordered to fight for the interim belt, with Wilder obligated to face the winner.Stiverne, born in Haiti and based in Las Vegas, and Russias Povetkin are scheduled to fight Dec. 17 in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Povetkin promoter Andrey Ryabinsky of World of Boxing won promotional rights to the fight at a purse bid last month with an offer of $3.165 million to easily defeat the second-place bid of $2.1 million made by Don King, Stivernes promoter.On Monday, the WBC disclosed that Stiverne had failed a drug test as part of its mandatory Clean Boxing Program, which is administered by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.The WBC said Stiverne provided the sample Nov. 4 and was informed of the failed test for the banned substance methylhexaneamine, a stimulant also known as dimethyamylamine or DMAA, on Nov. 11. DMAA has been on the World Anti-Doping Agency prohibited substances list since 2010 and has been linked to life-threatening side effects.Throughout the investigative process, Stiverne has been extremely cooperative and 100 percent forthcoming, the WBC said. Stiverne informed the WBC that on the day of the test, in order to facilitate urination, he took a dietary supplement called Superharm in front of the sample collector. He reported the ingestion of that supplement in the declaration of medication use section of the doping control form he filled in connection with the test.Stiverne also reported that he ingested the supplement twice the same day and that he took it because the supplement staff at EOS Gym in Henderson, Nevada, recommended it to him. He was looking for a product that would help him with post-workout fatigue. Stiverne is fully aware of the gravity of the mistake he made by taking an off-the-shelf supplement without investigating its ingredients in detail. Stiverne also realizes that he is ultimately responsible for anything that he ingests. In short, he now realizes that he was very na?ve by following a stores recommendation of an off-the-shelf supplement while being ignorant of its contents.The WBC said in its report that it will still sanction the bout for the interim title because Stiverne has never had a positive test in the past and there is no evidence that Stiverne intentionally or even knowingly ingested a banned substtance with the purpose of enhancing his performance in any fashion.ddddddddddddStivernes ingestion of DMAA was purely accidental.In its ruling, the WBC said it would fine Stiverne $75,000 but it will not withdraw its sanction of the bout at this point in light of the fact that there is sufficient time to put in place preventative and remedial measures to protect the health and safety of the bouts participants.VADA will design a specific testing protocol for Stiverne at his expense, and it will begin as soon as possible and continue for six months after the fight.If Stiverne has another failed test, the WBC said he would be suspended from participating in WBC-sanctioned fights indefinitely and would be stripped of the title if he beats Povetkin, a former titleholder. The WBC said it will also ask Stiverne to perform 40 hours of community service to help educate young athletes about the dangers of doping.He ingested an energy drink, King told ESPN. Ive had him for 15 years and never hes never had any kind of drug dispute or banned substance issues. The day he was tested, he drank it. You got to be able to deal with it. It could have been great jeopardy for him. VADA does a terrific job. I have nothing but the highest respect for [VADA president] Dr. Margaret Goodman.Im very happy he still has the opportunity for this fight. He knows not to take it. I told him dont take nothin from nobody. Everything is good.Povetkin has his own history of drug issues. He was supposed to fight Wilder (37-0, 36 KOs), who won the belt by lopsided decision from Stiverne in January 2015, in a mandatory bout May 21 in Moscow. The fight was canceled nine days beforehand, when Povetkin failed a VADA test for the banned substance meldonium, which he claimed he ingested before the drug was added to the WADA banned list in January.The WBC ultimately elected to not punish Povetkin because the amount of the substance in his system was far below the threshold accepted by WADA in an updated notice on the drug published in June. There remain questions, however, about how Povetkin could have tested negative in random VADA doping tests conducted April 7, 8 and 11 while his April 27 sample -- the A and the B -- was positive for meldonium.Based on Ryabinskys winning purse bid, Povetkin (30-1, 22 KOs), 37, and Stiverne (25-2-1, 21 KOs), 38, are each entitled to $1,424,250 apiece, with the remaining 10 percent of the winning bid, $316,500, going to the winner of the fight as a bonus. ' ' '