Australian rules football great Barry Cable allegedly sexually abused a girl in his home and at his clubrooms more than 50 years ago.

February 9, 2023

Legendary Australian Rules footballer Barry Cable sexually abused a Perth girl at his family home as his wife and children slept, a court has been told.

The alleged assault was one of multiple incidents during years of “degrading” sexual abuse that left his victim suffering lifelong trauma.

The now 79-year-old, who denies the claims and is not facing criminal charges, is being sued for damages over the alleged abuse that started in the late 1960s when Cable was at the height of his playing career.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she was often at the Cable’s family home and the abuse started with the footballer exposing himself to her and asking questions about her sexual experience when she was about 13.

The footballer also allegedly groped the teen under her hot pink pyjamas that the Cable family had bought her as she lay watching television and his family were in bed.

“I hated it and it felt so bad but he never took any notice of me saying no, saying stop,” the woman told the Western Australian District Court civil trial on Wednesday.

“Eventually he got me to touch his penis. He used to call it his totem pole.”

Cable’s alleged abuse later escalated to masturbation, oral sex and sexual intercourse.

It allegedly continued for about five years with almost weekly assaults, described as “Barry doing his usual thing”.

Cable – who was not in the court and was never charged – also allegedly sexually assaulted the then-teen at a public pool and in the Perth Football Club’s change room in 1971.

After the incident at the club, Cable allegedly hit the girl in the face causing her lip to bleed when she told him he should “stick to grown-up, real women”.

“Barry would tell me nobody would believe me if I told them what he was doing to me,” she said.

“I was really afraid of Barry. Afraid he would hurt me if I did not comply.”

The woman said the abuse caused her to hate herself and start binge-eating and using laxatives, leading to a lifelong medical condition.

She also told the court the abuse continued when she became an adult and got married, with Cable allegedly stalking her and coercing her to have sex on numerous occasions at her home and in hotel rooms.

“It was about him getting what he wanted,” she said.

“I felt I was programmed by Barry, that I was nothing, that I was an object for his pleasure.”

Lawyer Tim Hammond said the abuse was constant and unwelcome.

“It was degrading (and) it was in a circumstance of complete power imbalance,” he said.

He said it left the woman with lifelong mental health challenges, including chronic stress disorder caused by the abuse.

Mr Hammond also said he intended to call evidence from another woman who also claimed she was abused by the footballer.

The trial continues on Thursday.