http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30727380 So Oldham are not signing Evans and when you consider the reasons the club has given for pulling out of a deal, it's hard to imagine that any club ever will. Club staff received threats including a threat to "rape" a family member Whatever view you take about whether it is appropriate that Evans play professional football whilst on licence for rape (and there are valid arguments on both sides, but it's a choice for the clubs concerned in the end), it can't be right that a club is forced to bow to mob rule. These people aren't our moral guardians; they're ignorant morons who think that if they shout loud enough, they get what they want. The problem with social media is that it gives them a platform to be heard. And most of the time it's an OTT reaction and an outpouring of emotion to something that doesn't concern them - the most common being the fake grief for the death of somebody in the public eye they've never met. If they want to protest about young men having sex with young women too drunk to be able to consent, why don't they f*** off to Magaluf in the summer? What's that? They do already?
My thoughts exactly! These "holier than thou" morons are the modern day equivalent of the "burn the witch" mob of a few centuries ago.
Good post. What is the point in serving a sentence in prison if you are forced to continue serving another form of sentence dictated by people who probably know sod all about the actual case afterwards. From what i've read the case seems very suspect and i wasn't surprised that he's challenging it (he is right?). Football is a job, its a well paid job but still a job. Should this guy not be able to earn a living for the rest of his life? I think this chaps only chance now is to, if he's legally allowed, go and play abroad in a smaller league. Maybe somewhere like Greece or something.
He's not allowed to go abroad under the conditions of his release, Spurm. I'm quite stumped as to why Evans is different to someone like Lee Hughes, Luke McCormick or Marlon King, to be honest. Perhaps it's just the word rape that understandably upsets a lot of people or perhaps it's his perceived lack of remorse? The behaviour of his supporters probably hasn't helped. Clayton McDonald hasn't had the same publicity, despite being involved in the same incident. He was found not guilty, though I've no idea how the jury reached that decision and found Evans guilty. Very odd.
The part that gets me is the petition telling Oldham not to sign him (which, at the last check, had just over 70,000 signatures) is how it's I severely doubtful that Oldham fans were signing that - partly because the biggest attendance they've had this season was 5,832 people, but mostly because the number of signatures has shot up significantly since the petition was in the media spotlight on Monday (and, suffice to say, a cursory glance at the messages from those who have signed it shows a distinct lack of Y-chromosomes)
Well said. There are legitimate arguments pro and con. But if there’s one thing in this world that should be viewed with a jaundiced eye, it’s anyone leading a fight against anything everyone seems to be against. Terrorism, rape, communism, racism, witchcraft, you name it, anyone leading the charge against them is picking a nice, safe scapegoat to beat up on. And scapegoating is humanity at its worst. It's a kind of bullying. Sadly it's also the way to get people to join together: by creating an evil other they all want to oppose. I don't like group hates and I never will.
Martin Samuel has written (for once) a number of excellent articles in the DM on the subject. Evans has committed a despicable crime, but he has now apologised for the effect it has had on the victim and her family (although he still denies his innocence, as he would when the case is under appeal still) and distanced himself from the people who have outed his victim and threatened her on social media. Regardless of whether or not he raped the poor woman in question, his attitude towards women still stinks. However, I think the issue of him being a footballer going forward (regarding the idea of him being a role model - I challenge a Spurs fan on here to name for me now a single Oldham or Hartlepool player off the top of your head. Are Hartlepool and Oldham players well known and considered role models? The minority of Sheffield United fans who supported him after his conviction were doubtless motivated by a blind loyalty to a player who had been a success for the club in his last season there and it would be different at a new club) is purely down to people objecting to a convicted (as it stands) rapist having such a high profile (its only high profile if you publicise his life...) and lucrative job. Its hard to say this and not to appear a supporter of Evans, which I'm not because regardless of his rape conviction he appears to be a highly unlikable person, but there is a danger of people rewriting the rules of the justice system for one high profile person here. Sex offenders are released daily in the UK and most aren't blinked at in the grand scheme of things, whereas Ched Evans is being hounded to the ends of the earth. I'm not saying we shouldn't condemn him for his lack of remorse, although that lack is somewhat understandable as the case is still under review, but all this hating on him runs the risk of turning him into the victim here, when he is emphatically not.
As I think has been said, what will the witchunters have to say if his appeal is successful and the verdict is overturned? So called Social media is responsible for luring ever more of these morons to join the hate campaign. As Luke said, if you want to protest about young men having sex with girls who have had far too much alcohol, go to Majorca, Faliraki, or some such place any summer.
It's good to come on here and see so much common sense on this subject - unlike the BBC trying to whip up a storm by challenging all the League clubs to say whether they would sign him or not
Testy subject. The rapist comes out of prison and gets back to work and not worried.The recipient of the rape will have it on her mind until she dies,probably. So the rapist has won(?). Should rapists be castrated?
I think they are protesting about him getting back into pro football,if he was to get a "normal" job,there would be nothing said
The ancient justice system gets a bad rap, understandably. But what it did was move on. The punishments were beating, fine, exile and execution. In every case, everyone was done with it in minutes. Here we are years later still unwilling as a group to put a crime behind us. Wouldn't capital punishment have been more sensible? The modern so-called justice system is nuttier than a fruitcake, really. Putting bad people in cages with other bad people to improve them? Really? The craziest person in an insane asylum wouldn't be bonkers enough to try that. Justice is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. What a legal system can do is provide a way for everyone involved to move past a traumatic event, and ours can't seem to manage that, either.
There is something to be said for the'old way' rwaeb. The problem arises when you have a case such as this - if we'd castrated or killed Evans, and his appeal was then successful, the punishments are somewhat irreversible. Old cases are often solved again with the outcome changed because new investigation techniques come to life etc. That sort of irreversible punishment system is fine as long as you have a completely infallible justice system, but nobody will ever have that.
I agree. If any of these draconian punishments could be shown to be an effective deterrent, I may adopt a different view. But, almost unfailingly, they never are. The USA still has capital punishment in most states, not only has it never been shown to be a deterrent, there are numerous extremely dubious cases of people ( usually poor and black ) being executed on very little, or virtually no credible evidence. It may, at least, be more honest if they just called it what it is - revenge! That, of course, brings up the question of drawing the line between justice and revenge, which can be highly subjective.
You think someone out on licence having served half his sentence for rape is going to get any sort of job?
The League One footballers earn that much in the grand scheme of things? What are their wages? A brief google seems to suggest £1400/week and £73k/year, but that seems to be 2011 ish. Adjust for inflation, lets call it £100-120k. Would Evans get the top wage of the division? His ability would probably dictate so but with his baggage and the lack of suitors i doubt it. If he went into business or a regular job and worked up to a £100k salary nobody would bat an eyelid like you say. League One footballers are hardly role models.
I say again: can you easily get any sort of job while out of prison on licence for a violent offence?
