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The chief executive of one of Victoria’s largest community sports clubs, with more than 3000 junior players, remained in the senior role for almost 18 months despite being charged with the online grooming of a 14-year-old girl for sex.
The failure to suspend Eltham Wildcats Basketball Club chief executive Richard Irving – or disclose he was the subject of serious criminal charges involving a minor – has prompted outrage from politicians and parents while raising grave concerns about Victoria’s working with children checks and the safety of junior athletes across the state.
Judge Daniel Holding sentenced Irving to jail for 10 months, but ordered he be released on a good behaviour bond after serving only two months.
Experts say Irving’s case is riddled with the same monumental failures that the government’s overhaul last year, prompted by the arrest of accused childcare paedophile Joshua Brown, promised to fix.
Irving was arrested by Victoria Police detectives in March 2024 and charged with using a carriage device to groom a child for a sexual act in January 2025 – just days after starting as chief executive at Eltham Wildcats.
Even after Irving was found guilty by a jury on May 26, he remained in the role until June 11 when the club announced to its 7000 members on social media that the 51-year-old had “resigned for personal reasons with immediate effect”.
The club told The Age that although it became aware that a Richard Irving had been charged with these offences on May 21, “it was unclear whether the individual facing those charges was the club’s CEO or another person with the same name”.
Irving was jailed on Friday for sexually exploiting the purported child online, whom he instructed to masturbate and told he had engaged in sexual acts with girls her age. Unknown to Irving, the 14-year-old girl he thought he was messaging was actually an undercover officer based in Queensland.
On November 13, 2023, Irving matched with “Lily”, the undercover officer posing as a 14-year-old girl who lived on the Gold Coast.
Lily told Irving she was in year 9 and that she was 14. Irving responded: “Is it bad that girls your age really turn me on?”
Irving asked Lily if she was into older guys, and told her he was a “naughty guy”. He went on to ask Lily if she ever masturbated or watched pornography.
The undercover officer and Irving then moved to messaging on Google Chat, where Irving sent a photo of himself in his bed.
Irving asked to “pretty please” send a photo of herself and the officer responded with an AI-generated image of a girl with the appearance of a 14-year-old child. After receiving the image, Irving responded: “OMG you are beautiful” and “is it bad that my cock twitched”.
He offered to send photos of his penis to Lily and asked if she wanted to “play a game where I tell you things to do to yourself”. The conversation continued to become more sexualised, as Irving suggested Lily masturbate and touch parts of her body.
Irving, a father of two adult daughters, sent several other disturbing sexual messages over the two-week period they spoke.
Irving’s 17-month tenure as chief executive is expected to cause considerable embarrassment for the 60-year-old basketball club, which said it had a “zero tolerance for child abuse,” according to its annual report in 2025.
“At our club, everyone must operate within our accepted ethical framework, including Basketball Victoria’s Codes of Conduct, Basketball Victoria’s Member Protection Declaration, Victorian Working with Children Checks and our Clubs Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy and Code of Conduct,” says the report.
A 2023 memo sent out to families said all staff, including its executive, required valid working with children clearances.
“Irving’s application was subjected to a national police check for prospective CEOs,” the Wildcats told The Age. “The police check included criminal history and convictions. Irving provided the club with a valid working with children card certificate when he was recruited on October 22, 2024. Irving commenced work as the Club’s CEO on January 6, 2025.”
The club’s handling of the crisis has incensed several parents of junior players, who only learned of Irving’s conviction when contacted by The Age.
“I’m not sure whose fault this is, but it’s a shocking look for the club. To not tell members what had really happened and say he’d left for personal reasons is just so ordinary … They obviously thought they could just bury the whole thing,” said the father of two junior players at the club.
Another parent, whose child played representative basketball at the club, said she was incredulous that Irving had managed to stay in the senior role without any intervention by police or government authorities.
“I don’t know if the club knew, but how could this happen? What a shit show. And what was he [Irving] thinking? Did he think he’d get off the charges and just carry on?” the mother said.
The club said it was concerned about the legal ramifications of telling parents details of the charges.
“We advised our members that Irving had resigned for personal reasons,” a spokesperson said. “The club was also advised of its legal obligations regarding privacy matters and the legal restrictions applying to the disclosure of information concerning an individual, especially given the matter was still before the court.”
The case also raises wider concerns about the state’s newly reformed child safety mechanisms.
Under the government’s several regulatory schemes – including the child safety standards, reportable conduct code, and working with children requirements – Irving should have been suspended from any work with children after his arrest back in 2024.
Greens MP Anasina Gray-Barberio, who chaired the state’s inquiry into childcare failures, demanded the government explain the failing.
“It’s seriously distressing that a person not just charged but convicted of grooming was still leading one of the state’s biggest junior sporting clubs.”
A government source who works in child safety, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were unauthorised to speak publicly, said it was “incredibly disturbing” that authorities failed to stop Irving from working with kids.
“But it’s not surprising,” the source said.
“Some of the changes made [last year] were the right step forward … but there’s still so many problems we face internally [with information sharing and delays].
“It’s simply not good enough when kids are at risk.”
A Victoria Police spokeswoman did not respond to questions from The Age, stating the force could not comment while Irving still had 28 days to appeal his sentence.
The Department of Government Services, responsible for the state’s working with children checks and reportable conduct scheme, has been contacted for comment.
There have been years of warnings that state authorities are failing to protect children from harm, by missing glaring red flags and neglecting to investigate compliance failures or follow up on complaints.
But Premier Jacinta Allan only vowed to act after Brown’s arrest – which put thousands of children at risk of STDs and allegedly subjected babies and toddlers to sexual abuse – shone a light on the dire state of Victoria’s child safety systems.
One disturbing case included a daycare worker whose husband repeatedly raped a seven-year-old girl while under her care. Despite frequently leaving the little girl alone with the predator, the worker did not lose her working with children check, and was able to open up an NDIS-approved care service.
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Carla Jaeger is a journalist for The Age. Got a tip? Email carla.jaeger@theage.com.au or message carlajaeger.62 on Signal.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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