Neil Barrowcliff is an icon of the sporting world with a prestigious award named after him… Now his depraved secret can be revealed

An Australian international sports star, immortalized with a ‘Golden Glove’ award to his name, has been jailed for three years for child abuse against a teenage girl.

Baseball hero Neil John Barrowcliff, affectionately known in sporting circles as ‘Barrows’, has achieved the country’s highest sporting honors in a career spanning fifty years.

But the glittering career of the 69-year-old decorated player, manager and agent collapsed at Parramatta Crown Court last month.

Daily Mail Australia can reveal Barrowcliff has been admitted to charges of sexually touching another person without consent, indecently assaulting a person under the age of 16 and two counts of producing child abuse material.

The sentencing took into account further charges of filming a person in a private act without consent and assaulting a person under 16.

The crimes were committed between 2011 and 2022 in Sydney’s northwest and west and involved recording material on an Apple iPhone.

Mr Barrowcliff was first arrested in 2022 and charged with two offences, with a further 27 charges laid against him in July last year.

Some of these charges were dropped in February this year.

The ex-sportsman is now appealing against his sentence, which includes a non-parole period of two years.

The former international baseball player’s name was immortalized in the ‘Golden Glove Award’ from the University of Sydney. Above is a photo of Barrowcliff in the NSW Baseball team in 1981

That means he would remain behind bars until February 2026 if his application in the NSW District Court is unsuccessful.

Neil ‘Barrows’ Barrowcliff played for Hunter’s Hill for five years in the 1960s and 1970s and then for the Sydney University baseball team.

He was a national team player in the 1980s and represented NSW in the Claxton Shield for twelve seasons.

Sydney University Baseball Club named him ‘team of the century’ in 2004.

They then immortalized him with the annual Neil Barrowcliff Golden Glove Award to commemorate his career.

The club and its parent organisation, Sydney Uni Sport & Fitness, declined to confirm whether the award will still be presented in Barrowcliff’s name.

But they acknowledged that they had been “made aware of some allegations against one of the Club’s alumni.”

“We would like to advise you that the University of Sydney’s Safer Communities Office is available to anyone from our community, past or present, who needs support or would like to make a disclosure or complaint,” the statement said.

Neil Barrowcliff (top, centre) has been found guilty of producing child abuse material recorded on an iPhone, sexual touching and indecent assault on a person under 16 years of age. Above with a separate award

Neil Barrowcliff has been jailed for up to three years for child abuse after pleading guilty to sexual assault and sexual touching, as well as child abuse material.

Barrowcliff played for Australia three times and was the Baseball NSW manager or coach of School Sport Australia from 1989 to 1997 and served as national secretary from 2003 to 2019.

He was Pennant Hills High School’s head teacher for personal development, health and physical education between 2003 and 2014.

In 2004, the Australian Baseball Federation appointed him tournament director for the national league.

In 2013, the Major League Baseball Australian Academy Program recognized him for his “formidably effective” leadership of the program.

He has worked as a sports teacher for the NSW Department of Education & Training and was tour manager of the Australian Schoolboys Tour in 2016 and sat on the baseball committee of the School Sport Australia Board of Management the following year.

In 2018, Barrowcliff served as executive officer of the Baseball Under 18 Oceana Qualifier Squad.

His appeal has been referred to Judge Ian Bourke at Parramatta District Court.

In 2004, the University of Sydney named Neil Barrowcliff the outfielder in its ‘team of the century’