Melb Band The Football Club Cans All Gigs After Sexual Assault Allegations

CONTENT WARNING: The following article discusses accusations of sexual assault.

Popular and up-and-coming Melbourne folk-punk band The Football Club has announced they have withdrawn from all future planned gigs and have put future plans for the band “on hold,” in the wake of accusations of sexual assault and abuse being levelled at singer Ruby Markwell.
In recent weeks, several posts on Facebook from numerous people have accused Markwell of issues ranging from serial emotional abuse to outright rape. These claims have been steadfastly denied by Markwell and the band, who labelled the accusations as “defamatory” in a statement on their Facebook page over the weekend.

“Certain parties have published untrue and defamatory statements relating to the conduct of members of The Football Club.
These statements are without any foundation, designed to cause harm to the reputation of The Football Club and its members, and The Football Club absolutely deny them.”


However despite this, calls for the band to be booted off the lineup of Splendour in the Grass, which the band were invited to participate in as a winner of a Triple J Unearthed competition, continued to escalate.

Initially, Triple J Unearthed maintained their decision to book the band on the Byron Bay festival, citing in a now-deleted Facebook comment that the band was “still our competition winners.”
That decision seems to have been reversed, as this morning Triple J Unearthed confirmed that the band would not be appearing at Splendour, and would be withdrawing from all their future shows. They also addressed accusations of comment deleting, explaining (rightly) that the situation is complex and involves criminal accusations.

Following allegations made against the band online over the last few days, The Football Club will be withdrawing from all future shows, including their appearance at Splendour in the Grass. triple J Unearthed believes this is the right course of action at this time.

This page has required moderation over the past few days to remove potentially defamatory posts, including criminal accusations. It has not been moderated with the intention of silencing commentary: this issue is incredibly complex, and we have heard and listened to the complaints made.”

Triple J’s announcement this morning follows on from Adelaide band The Hard Aches decision to remove The Football Club from the lineup of the final two shows of their national tour with UK act Muncie Girls, citing it as the best course of action until the issues are resolved.

In light of recent events, The Football Club will not be performing at tonight’s show at Adelaide Unibar or at any of the remaining shows.

We as a band feel strongly about issues surrounding domestic violence, abuse, and sexual assault, and until these issues are resolved we feel this is the best course of action.”

Despite today’s developments, Markwell, and the Football Club, continue to steadfastly deny all allegations made against her, but confirmed the band will be shutting down for the foreseeable future while the issues are dealt with through appropriate channels.

Hi, it’s Ruby here.

In light of recent events, for the time being, all future Football Club plans are put on hold. We won’t be performing at Splendour in the Grass. We were absolutely thrilled to be invited and would like to thank Splendour, and Triple J Unearthed for the opportunity.

I strongly deny these allegations, and will be dealing with them through the appropriate channels.”

Photo: The Football Club/Facebook.


If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, call 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732 to speak to a counsellor.

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