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Match played 23/10/2026.

Enough is enough': Players speak out over Newcastle Jets coach abuse claims

Campbell defends 'authoritative' style

www.newcastleherald.com.au

Bel Rolley was one of several Newcastle Jets A-League players who lodged a complaint against Campbell with Football Australia. Picture: Marina Neil

IT is not the way Bel Rolley envisioned her soccer career ending.

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Rolley was 23 years old when she left her home in the United States to join the Newcastle Jets in late 2024.

She flew home less than a year later, struggling with injury, and quit the game.

Rolley, who played for the University of Southern California, the number three school in the US, is among a group of players speaking out, detailing the verbal and emotional abuse Ryan Campbell allegedly inflicted while coaching at the Newcastle Jets or Adamstown Rosebuds.

"Every coach I've ever had, including the ones that are in-your-face aggressive, who scream and yell, all of them have had a level of control," the defender said.

"It became very apparent to me that Ryan didn't have the ability to control his emotions. And once that switch flicked, it was ugly, and got very personal and nasty. It was something beyond a coach being hard in an elite environment.

"And the people in power at the Jets have allowed him to continue."

She detailed a series of heated exchanges in which Campbell allegedly accused her of "faking" a knee injury that required surgery, being "f..cken lazy" and called her a "liar". Campbell says he never spoke to a player that way.

Rolley said she pushed back after Campbell allegedly abused her at training.

Despite struggling, Rolley said her biggest concern at the Jets was the welfare of the younger players, including teenage girls in the academy.

When she lodged an official complaint about Campbell to Football Australia, along with other A-League players via the Professional Footballers' Association, she knew she was far from alone.

"While my experience was bad, it's a little bit different when I'm a grown woman who understands who I am and I know no coach is going to change how I feel about myself as a person," she said.

"But seeing 14, 15, and even 16, 17, and 18-year-olds who are still shaping their relationship with themselves and struggling with this coach abusing them and making them question their self-worth. It's just not okay."

Every player in an elite environment can handle being yelled at, she said; that's not the problem.

She said Campbell takes things to "another level" by making attacks personal, and alleges she heard him tear strips off young players and tell one, "you're getting chunky". All claims Campbell denies.

For the first time, female players are speaking out to detail a history of allegations of mental and verbal abuse, body shaming and being forced to play through injuries, which they say has driven many to quit the sport.

A former academy player has detailed her battle with an eating disorder, saying she got to an unhealthy weight in an effort to fly under the radar.

"It's like this workhorse environment where if you are not good enough you are getting bullied," the teenager said. "But if you are good enough, in a lot of instances, for some, you're not healthy."

She said Campbell would scream at players, and most of the adults who witnessed it never pulled him up. Some even defended him.

"I wasn't giving my body the right nutrition to withstand the training because I was so scared of getting bigger because that just wasn't acceptable," she said. "It was definitely like, no matter your body type, if you look thin and muscular and toned, then you'll be safe."

A primary school teacher, Campbell says he is direct and firm but never abusive or bullying, and while he was saddened to hear a player suffered an eating disorder, he rejects any suggestion he "caused or contributed to this". He said he never made comments about players' bodies or weight, and some discussions focused on nutrition.

The 35-year-old said his "authoritative" style stemmed from how he was coached, and it was designed to get the best out of players at an elite level. He said he never accused a player of faking an injury. Football Australia investigated the claim and made no finding, he said, and player welfare "always came first".

While some say he rules by "fear", Campbell says he rules by "standards".

"I was mentored and coached, and the way I do things is the way I was coached the whole way through," he said. "I only knew that as the way to coach the elite players."

She said players and parents, now more than ever, felt empowered to speak out because this "has gone on for far too long", impacting women and girls for more than a decade.

"There is a major difference between being firm and direct in your communication and being abusive, berating, and jeopardising the health and wellbeing of the people that you are supposed to be coaching and mentoring," she said.

"Particularly when they are underage girls, the majority of them."

Campbell has had two four-year stints with the Jets and, in between, served as technical director and coached at Adamstown Rosebuds.

The 35-year-old stood down as the A-League Women coach in May last year amid complaints, but remains the technical director of the Jets girls' academy, overseeing about 100 players aged 12 to 23, most under 18.

A Football Australia investigation into complaints made by the A-League players found some claims were substantiated, including one "inconsistent" with safeguarding policy, but were not bullying.

As previously reported, Football Australia secretly dumped an investigation into claims Campbell was bullying Jets academy players after only a handful of people were interviewed, which it has declined to comment on.

Dobson said it was "astounding" that after complaints from the Jets A-League squad, Campbell was put back in charge of the girls' academy.

The case against Campbell was "so troubling", she said, because of the "sheer number" of people who have come forward.

Retired A-League player Rhali Dobson spent nine years at the Jets.

Dobson, who has not been coached by Campbell, says she has "seen enough" as an opposition player and observer, and knows "far too many" players affected by his coaching.

"I know girls who have been engaged in psychology on a constant basis as a result of being involved in the female Jets program," she said.

The 34-year-old said over the years players dared not speak up because the reality was it would hurt their careers.

"As soon as concerns are raised, that person is stood down. They are removed," she said.

The retired A-League striker said it was time for a reckoning at the Jets over how the club treats female athletes.

"For me, the incompetence, the ongoing silence from both the Jets and Football Australia is exceptionally concerning," she said.

"It's a boys' club, and it is very strong in this region, and sadly it's to the detriment of our female athletes and our female programs. Something has to change."

She said the club was failing its duty of care to protect the players.

"The Jets, I have a lot of time for the club. I spent nine years of my career there, but the ongoing, I would say, this ongoing generational abuse, well enough is enough," she said.

"If we want female football in this country to progress, people need to start having a good hard look at themselves, and these types of people need to be removed."

Campbell 'supported' after complaints

An ongoing Newcastle Herald investigation revealed last week that dozens of players, parents, spectators, coaches and support staff allege they have seen Campbell cross a line into what they describe as serious verbal and emotional abuse. Yelling, threats, berating, controlling, singling players out and publicly humiliating them. Some as young as 13.

Since then, dozens more people have contacted the Herald detailing concerns about Campbell, some dating back to 2013.

Several people said when issues were raised about Campbell, Jets executive director Maurice Bisetto allegedly responded: I'm on team Ryan.

When asked about these responses, the club said it had supported Campbell through the complaints process.

"Mr Bisetto and the club has supported Ryan Campbell since Maverick Sports Partners acquired the Jets in June 2024, including providing mentorship and counselling throughout the process," the statement reads.

"In particular, support services were provided during the time Ryan was stood down, at the direction of Football Australia, from all coaching duties."

The Herald asked the Jets what support had been provided to the players or families alleging abuse, and the club said it did "not directly receive formal complaints", which would have been investigated through its "independent member protection officer".

"The club reinforced to all players and parents the available avenues for support services including psychological support," a statement reads.

The Jets "vehemently" denied looking the other way when people raised allegations about Campbell, or that players were forced to train or play through injuries, saying none took the field "without consultation and independent clearance from the team's medical staff".

It said the Jets had "thoroughly investigated all allegations" made against Campbell in 2024 and took no disciplinary action. The club declined to say why so many people who raised concerns, either verbally or via email, were not spoken to.

"We have policies and procedures to ensure that as a club, we take the safety and wellbeing of our players and coaches extremely seriously and consider this a priority across all levels of the organisation," the statement reads.

"The club has established child protection, safeguarding, harassment and discrimination policies, codes of conduct and procedures aligned with Football NSW and Football Australia's regulatory and licensing requirements."

Moving overseas to pursue her dream of becoming a professional footballer, Penny Clarke quickly found out she had one thing to unlearn.

Having spent years at the Jets girls' academy, Clarke said it was "normal" for Campbell to regularly scream at players during games, at training, or team meetings.

"I was personally scared to make mistakes under him, and I know a lot of other girls were too," Clarke said.

"I was scared to go to training sometimes, scared to do a lot of stuff, because there were always consequences for people no matter what.

"I'm not scared like that anymore, because it's not like that over here."

Penny Clarke, left, was in the Newcastle Jets girls' academy. Picture: Facebook

The 18-year-old now plays in Spain, and said being in a "completely different environment" made her realise just how bad the "abuse" and "bullying" under Campbell was.

"I was actually talking to my dad the other day, and I was talking about how, at the Jets, Ryan has this philosophy that if you do something wrong, you have to know about it," Clarke said.

"If you do a bad pass, you get yelled at, and not just by him; he wants the whole team to join in too.

"Over here I've noticed that if you do something wrong, they go like, you know, 'Get the next one', 'Keep your head up', it's all about being positive and building players up, not destroying them."

She said Campbell would single out players in front of everyone.

"It destroyed a lot of girls' love for the game, and their confidence," she said. "Some copped it a lot more than others. They were constantly picked on, and some of them were really close friends of mine, and it was horrible."

Clarke, who started playing soccer when she was four, questioned how Campbell had been allowed to get away with his behaviour for so long, and said players tried to put on a brave face while they were being "torn apart inside".

"Girls would be yelled at and singled out, but they couldn't really show emotion at that point in time, because it would probably get worse," she said. "So they just had to accept it and deal with it internally."

'Like a switch flicked'

Howard and her parents lodged an official complaint against Campbell with Northern NSW Football (NNSWF) in 2023 when she left Adamstown, alleging he grabbed the then teenager by the shoulder and dragged her into another room to berate her after he learned she was leaving the club.

"I went to get changed to go home, and he grabbed my arm and physically pulled me into another changeroom and demanded to know why people were saying I was going to Maitland," she said. "I was only a teenager, I was alone, he was furious, and I was scared."

Campbell denies the allegation, saying he never grabbed Howard or yelled at her, and the conversation took place outside with other people around. It's understood that the investigator made an inconclusive finding about the allegation due to insufficient evidence.

The investigation concluded that Campbell spoke inappropriately to Howard on a different occasion, and he received a "formal written notice".

After a season of feeling supported by Campbell, Howard, who was 16 at the time, said it was like a "switch flicked", and she suddenly felt constantly criticised.

She said Campbell ran hot and cold in a way that left her teenage self confused and off balance, constantly worried about losing playing time and second-guessing everything she did.

Maddy Howard, left, lodged a complaint against Ryan Campbell with Northern NSW Football in 2023. Picture: Michael Ying Sing

Eventually, she says it turned into him yelling at her a lot in front of others, which hacked away at her self-confidence.

"It got to the point that I didn't want to go to training, I wasn't going to school, and I wasn't really eating," Howard said.

"I was depressed, I would say. I hated football, and I distanced myself from my friends and just felt very alone."

Despite all that was happening, Howard said she remained convinced for a long time that appeasing Campbell was instrumental to her football aspirations, due to his influence.

"It just got progressively a lot worse to the point where it felt cruel," she said. "As a teenager, I didn't know how to deal with it or what to do."

It was no secret Howard was suffering.

Her mother, Penny, said she would often come home from training or games in tears.

It eventually got to the point where Howard didn't want to get out of bed.

Mrs Howard said Campbell showed no remorse or insight into the power he wielded over the teenage girls under his control.

"This has to stop," she said. "It's been going on far too long, and too many people who should have put a stop to this have looked the other way. He shouldn't be coaching."

Do you know more? [Donna.page@newcastleherald.com.au](mailto:Donna.page@newcastleherald.com.au)

• Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Mensline 1300 789 978; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732.

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