Tyrendarra Football Netball Club Cuts Ties with Convicted Player
The Tyrendarra Football Netball Club has cut ties with convicted sex offender James Williams and publicly admitted it was wrong to let him return, as the small south-west Victorian club grapples with the fallout from a decision that has shaken its community.
Williams, who sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl during a post-season football trip in 2022 and served jail time, was allowed back into the club last year. That decision exploded into public view after an ABC investigation, triggering intense scrutiny, anger from locals, and a rapid loss of sponsors.
On Wednesday, the club tried to draw a line.
“We are sorry,” the club committee said in a statement, without naming Williams but clearly referring to the case. The ABC understands Williams has now been kicked out of the club in direct response to the media reporting and the community’s reaction.
The committee’s message was blunt by community-club standards.
“We accept we did not give enough weight to what our community rightly expects of a Club built around children, and those we let down deserve a straightforward apology,” the statement read.
The club also acknowledged the voices that had spoken out against how the matter was handled, conceding the trust damage was real and significant.
“We also acknowledge those who have spoken about how this was handled, and the trust we have lost with them,” the committee said.
The apology went live on social media on Wednesday afternoon, just hours before a planned face-to-face meeting with members. An earlier meeting, set down for Tuesday, had to be abandoned after the venue details were circulated online, raising safety and security concerns.
At the centre of the storm is a teenager whose life was upended long before the club’s reputational crisis began.
The statement specifically recognised the harm done to Williams’s victim, a then 15-year-old girl he sexually assaulted at a concert in Adelaide in 2022. The club, which had initially opened its doors again to the player after his release, now says it understands the depth of that damage and the broader message its earlier decision sent.
“To anyone in our community affected by this episode and its coverage, we are sorry for the distress it has caused,” the committee said, extending the apology beyond the victim to the wider region.
The backlash has not been confined to social media or the outer fence. Sponsors have walked. Among them is south-west Victorian MP Roma Britnell, who withdrew her support as the controversy intensified, a clear sign that the issue had moved beyond club politics into the public and political arena.
Under pressure, the club has defended the process it used when it first allowed Williams to return. It said it followed a “careful process”, sought expert advice and consulted widely across the club before making the call to bring him back.
Questions remain over what that process actually involved. During its investigation, the ABC asked Tyrendarra what specific steps it took before approving Williams’ return. The club did not respond.
Now, the committee is promising structural change.
It has committed to introducing a binding code of conduct covering players, coaches, officials and volunteers, with clear grounds for removal for breaches both on and off the field. The aim is to create hard rules where previously there was discretion – and where, in this case, that discretion led to a decision the club now openly regrets.
“We do not expect these commitments to be taken on trust alone. We intend to be judged on what we do from here,” the statement concluded.
For a community club built around families and kids, what it does next will define far more than a season.
