Ex-Adamstown Rosebud president 'sorry' for not 'doing more' about Ryan Campbell

CRAIG Fisher was seething.

Minutes earlier, the Adamstown Rosebud Junior Football Club president was happily cooking the barbecue and chatting to another dad in November 2021, when his then 14-year-old daughter, Jasmin, ran to him, looking stricken.

Tears pouring down her face, she was inconsolable.

It took Fisher a minute to calm her down, to get Jasmin to breathe enough for him to understand what had happened.

Now Fisher was scanning Adamstown Oval, furious, looking for then Rosebud coach Ryan Campbell, who has been at the centre of an ongoing Newcastle Herald investigation into allegations of emotional and verbal abuse of female players dating back to 2013, some as young as 11.

"She was bawling, saying that Ryan had just abused her in front of everyone," Fisher said.

"He tore strips off her. Basically making out she was lazy and told her that she should be embarrassed of herself, and that she was no longer allowed to train with the seniors as he had promised her. She was just a kid, and he humiliated her in front of everyone."

It wasn't the first time Campbell, who is now the technical director of the Newcastle Jets girls' academy, had allegedly singled out Jasmin for criticism in front of others. According to Fisher's wife, Jenny, who was Jasmin's team manager, it happened a year before, too, and she spoke to Campbell about it at the time.

In response, Campbell said he did not abuse Jasmin, or any other players, at half-time. Instead, he recalls speaking to the team to "encourage them to lift" in the second half. He also could not recall the first alleged incident, and said it was not raised with him.

"If anything I said on that day in 2021 caused upset, that was never my intention, and I apologise for it," he said. "I have always tried to support young players to improve."

During his short stint as president at Adamstown, where Campbell's mother, Kerry Conquest, has volunteered for almost 20 years and is widely regarded as the backbone of the club, Fisher said he was aware of concerns about Campbell's behaviour.

"I'd had enough. He's just not a nice guy when it comes to football, and it's just completely unnecessary, especially when you are dealing with kids playing the sport they love," he said.

"I wanted to walk over to him and kick the chair out from under him."

Instead, Fisher and his family, who had devoted three years of their lives to the club they "loved", walked away.

Fisher, who lives with complex PTSD, quit as president, citing his mental health.

Partly because it was easier, and partly because, like many parents who have spoken to the Herald, he worried about affecting Jasmin's future football aspirations, since he knew Campbell had a lot of influence in the game.

"The long and short of it was that my daughter got a bit unfit during COVID and she'd put on a little bit of weight," he said.

"It was her first game back, and we were playing the Jets academy team in a trial, and Jasmin didn't have a great first half, so Ryan saw fit to blast her in front of everyone. Belittle her and make her feel terrible about herself."

While he would like to forget the incident ever happened and erase it from Jasmin's memory, Fisher said he decided to go public now because he needed to say sorry.

"I feel like I have let a lot of people down by not saying anything, or making an official complaint, or standing up, but it was just easier at the time to walk away," he said.

"You turn a blind eye because it can directly affect your child.

"I feel bad that I walked away from it, and potentially other girls have experienced a similar fate to our Jasmin. It's affected her. She was only 14 years old, and to this day it affects her confidence, and she's 19 now."

Fisher said speaking publicly was the only way he could "make up" for not "doing more".

"I'm sorry," he said. "I say this to everyone I talk to about it. I'm sorry. I should have done more."

Football Australia's safeguarding and conduct policies, designed to protect the almost 2 million Australians including 860,000 children who play the sport, prohibit "derogatory, belittling or negative" language and singling out.

Fisher said he was deeply embarrassed to admit that during his time at Adamstown, he defended Campbell when concerns were raised about his behaviour.

The 48-year-old recalled a time when a member of Maitland Football Club's executive met with him about putting safeguards in place for an upcoming match because the club feared Campbell might abuse the referee.

"Maitland wanted assurances of what systems, or what procedures, we had in place to handle Ryan," he said.

"And I defended him, I defended him to Maitland, and I shouldn't have."

Although Jasmin said she initially tried to shrug off Campbell's alleged tirade, she quickly realised she couldn't.

She went to training a few days later and said her anxiety "was through the roof". At the time, she was being coached by Campbell's brother, Daniel, who she described as a "great coach".

"I saw Ryan on the field, and I genuinely walked the long way around to my team so I didn't have to face him," she said.

"Then I saw one of my friends, and I just started crying again. I was so scared to see him after that."

Despite desperately not wanting to leave the club or her friends, she tried out for the Central Coast Mariners the next week and quit Adamstown.

"About a year later I had to play against his team," Jasmin said. "And I was so genuinely terrified of seeing him. He was always telling us, ' When a player leaves, you make them regret it', and I was scared of getting hurt."

Jasmin said her sisters cried when they found out she wasn't going back to Adamstown because the club was such a big part of the family's life, and they "all loved it".

Her father has encouraged her to see a sports psychologist because she now sets her bar "so low". She said last year when she made a new team she cried because it was "so shocking" to her.

The nursing student didn't play last season because of injury, but said she struggles with an internal negative dialogue that she is desperate to kick.

"Since it happened, I just haven't really had great confidence," she said. "I go into games, like, with this mindset of 'Don't embarrass yourself'. I feel like I'm going to let everyone down."

Campbell said he would be "genuinely sorry" to hear that any young person felt less confident because of his coaching.

"Supporting and encouraging junior players has always been my priority," he said. "I understand that the person concerned went on to have a successful career."

Do you know more? 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.