Channel 4 to show alleged Premiership sex video

Sunday Herald, The, Aug 15, 2004 by Stephen Naysmith

PREVIOUSLY unseen footage claiming to show leading English footballers engaging in group sex and other acts will be screened this week prior to a controversial TV drama about the subject.

Sex, Footballers and Videotape is fictional but the opening credits will be preceded by a sequence taken from a notorious amateur film shot on a handheld camera four years ago, allegedly featuring footballers Rio Ferdinand, Kieron Dyer and Frank Lampard and a number of young girls who they entertained in a hotel room in the Cyprus resort of Ayia Napa.

The existence of the sleazy 30-minute video was revealed last year when it was sold to a tabloid newspaper by one of those involved in filming it. Stills from the tape were printed by the paper but the footage has never been seen.

The film includes scenes of masturbation and group sex and shows the Premiership players mocking the girls and persuading them to take part in various sexual activities.

Less than a minute of footage from the video will be shown prior to the credits of the Channel 4 drama, heavily edited and reduced in size. While the film is fuzzy and badly shot, the dialogue between the players and their female guests is audible.

The TV station has justified the inclusion of the real-life scenes in a drama in order to "remind the viewer that this is based on real life".

Sex, Footballers And Videotape, which started out as a documentary, is intended to examine the murky and sordid world of "roasting" - the phrase describing a craze for group sex among football stars.

A series of scandalous accounts of the leisure pursuits of footballers have surfaced in recent months, some leading to police investigations into alleged rape and sexual assault involving players from a number of top-flight clubs.

Plans for the documentary ran into the sand when former players, agents and others who agreed to talk to researchers refused to do so on camera.

Eventually the anonymous testimony was fictionalised, but the finished drama will include genuine tabloid headlines and actors referring to genuine incidents to avoid viewers thinking it is an over-the-top fantasy.

Rob Fraser, who wrote the script, described the pre-credit sequence as a "shock tactic". he said: "It serves to get people's attention and get them to watch the drama. This [the Ayia Napa incident] happened four years ago, and in the intervening period the behaviour has become more and more normal.

"Some of the footage was filmed secretly without the girls' knowledge, but in other scenes they know and everyone is kind of laughing and joking about it. There was no sense of menace in the room or anyone being coerced."

Nevertheless, Fraser remains disturbed by the power balance depicted in the video and his drama explores the "untouchable" nature of some top footballers and the compliant, weaker position of women who are drawn to them. Fraser believes he could name players at 10 out of the 20 Premiership clubs who have been involved in similar activities to those depicted in the film.

"Everyone knows the score, and depressingly a lot of the women interviewed as part of the research said players could do exactly what they want and get away with it."

A spokesman for Channel 4 said nothing "too explicit" would be shown but added that the clip from the Ayia Napa tape was being used for legitimate reasons. "The footage is there to demonstrate that this culture really does exist. Mountains of research have gone into this drama which is important and timely."

The TV station accepts it is possible one or more of the players involved may attempt to prevent the screening on Thursday but it is confident it is legally on safe ground.

Kieron Dyer's agent Jonathan Barnett said it was unlikely he would seek an injunction. "I wouldn't think so," he said. "This is just pathetic - it is very poor TV."

Barnett said he "wouldn't know" whether the tape was genuine and added: "This is for morons and is something only someone with the mental age of a three-year-old would be interested in."