That's the defining factor me. Someone above said "a woman under the influence of alcohol or drugs isn't capable of consenting to sex" Now, thats not strictly true is it, I met my partner and had sex the first night while she was drunk, does that mean I raped her? No it doesn't. There's a difference between being under the influence and being so ****ed you hardly know where you are. That's why there's always such a thin line in these cases and why they're so hard to judge in a court of law. I don't think anyone here can actually know if he was guilty or not unless they saw the girl in question prior to the incident. EDIT: Before anyone jumps down my throat I am not defending as he's already been trialled for it. But as dtlw says, he is also entitled to a review.
Clayton McDonald (another professional footballer and friend of Ched Evans) also admitted to having sex with the girl during the same session, but was acquitted of rape. McDonald has had a relatively decent Football League career ever since. This is probably why Evans and his lawyers have been seeking a re-trial.
Seems a bit sad to me that a convicted rapist or murderer can hope to get a footballers wage but a gay man with an unblemished record would be too scared to even try
Fairly certain gay men have been footballers and paid competitive wages. If you meant too scared to let it be known then yeah. Who wants to leave themselves open to any limitations in their career if they don't have to? There will be managers and team mates who won't want to work with ched as a result of his conviction but there will be enough who do and some who believe his side regardless of the conviction.
They are all vastly rich and have access to a world we have no part in. They can buy sex, buy secrets, buy top lawyers and agents. I am not saying they do, but let's not pretend the rich live in our world.
You can not deny that you made a sweeping statement that footballers live in a world of money and sex. Not all footballers are the same. They have money but are not all dick heads.
A group of men filming a trashed woman having sex is way beyond a consensual sex argument. The mob mentality does not excuse individual errors and, worse, someone in the group must have been sober enough to query their decision to do it. These men saw her as trash and treated her as such. There is no defence. I have met enough twats playing football to know how badly "lads" act as a group. Too much money. Not enough brains.
Oh come on. You are telling me that every player plays the "big man sex thing"... you are just making assumptions unfairly.
You are just reading too strongly into what I said. Footballers live in a world disconnected from our reality where sex and debauchery are readily available if they want it. That is not the same as saying all players partake.
To be fair, you'd have to be a pretty strong willed 20-25 year old not to take advantage of fame and money, given the chance. I think I'd have been a right arsehole in similar circumstances, but I'm pretty sure I would have stopped well short of rape.
Especially when you consider how many girls will happily have consensual sex with a nice looking footballer. To prefer gang sex with someone unconscious suggests to me that he (and the others) wanted to humiliate a woman. Rape is less to do with sex than with power.
group sex is another matter. there are fewer women who will have group sex with footballers. there is strong evidence that her being unconscious was the intention, i take it. edit: apparently according to her she didn't drink an unusual quantity of alcohol.
Ok, but your original post pretty much inferred it. For the record, sex and debauchery is available to anyone if they so choose, so I still think your point is fairly moot.