Football great Barry Cable is alleged to have told a teenager she was lucky and would eventually thank him when sexually abusing her more than 50 years ago.

February 9, 2023

Legendary Australian Rules footballer Barry Cable allegedly told a girl he is accused of sexually abusing for years that she would eventually thank him for the assaults.

The now 79-year-old, who denies the claims and is not facing criminal charges, also allegedly said his victim would beg for more and he was “training” her to be a hit with men.

Cable’s accuser says she has a vivid recollection of the mental and physical abuse from more than 50 years ago when Cable was at the height of his playing career.

“My body was the crime scene and I’ll never forget that,” she told the Western Australian District Court civil trial on Thursday while sobbing.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is suing the triple Sandover Medal winner for damages over the abuse that allegedly started in the late 1960s when she was about 13.

She has told the court the former North Melbourne player regularly abused her through her teenage years when he was living and playing in Perth.

It allegedly started with sexualised conversations and unwanted touching, and escalated to sexual violence and forceful intercourse.

“At those times he was saying regularly ‘look at what you do to me’,” she said in reference to Cable allegedly showing his erect penis.

“‘You will beg me for this one day. You will thank me one day’, as part of the training sessions.

“He would verbally impress upon me how lucky I was and say I would be a great hit with men and how his penis loved me.”

Cable’s alleged abuse also included sexually assaulting the teen at his family home while his wife and children were asleep in bed.

“Mrs Cable had gone to bed … and he would start fondling my breasts and vagina … sometimes he would get my hand and make me fondle him and tell me how good I was at doing that,” she said.

“If I was staying over I don’t remember it not occurring.”

The former All-Australian player also allegedly “relentlessly” assaulted her in his garden shed, his car and at a public swimming pool, said the woman, who has used diary entries from the time to trigger detailed memories.

Cable – who was not in the court and was never charged – also allegedly forcibly sexually assaulted the then-teen at the Perth Football Club’s change room in 1971, where he was both captain and coach.

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”.

The woman said Cable said no one would believe her if she told anyone about the abuse and that she was afraid he would hurt her if she didn’t do as he said.

The court heard the abuse triggered suicidal thoughts and caused her to start binge-eating and using laxatives, leading to a lifelong medical condition.

“After any contact with him and even the thought of him coming around … I would be so anxious or sick feeling, like really wanting to vomit, and just want to harm and purge myself,” she said.

The famous rover’s assaults allegedly continued even when the woman became an adult and got married, with Cable accused of stalking her and coercing her to have sex on numerous occasions at her home and in hotel rooms.

She said Cable would telephone her and ask if sex with her husband was as good as sex with him.

“He used to mock and humiliate me … and laugh and say no one would be as good as him,” she said.

“I would just freeze and feel like a 13-year-old child again … just regress back into feeling like a child totally powerless and at his mercy.”

The court has heard the woman has also suffered lifelong mental health challenges, marriage breakdown and multiple physical ailments linked to the alleged abuse.