At the end of April Sheffield United surprised many people by re-signing Ched Evans, who, following a retrial, has now been found not guilty of the rape charge for which he spent two-and-a-half years in prison.
At the beginning of the season, before his acquittal, Chesterfield were criticised for giving the former Wales striker a contract. In doing so, they could be seen as helping to normalise what had been considered taboo: signing a footballer convicted of a serious sexual offence. At the end of March Clyde, struggling in Scottish League Two, offered ex-Scotland striker David Goodwillie a deal until the end of this season. While the legal judgements involved were different to Evans’ case, Goodwillie’s return to football came only three months after he was judged by a civil court to have committed rape.
Goodwillie’s position is very unusual as he and former Dundee United team-mate David Robertson are the only men who have received such a judgement in a civil rather than criminal court in Scotland. Both were fined £100,000 for an offence dating back to 2011, the Crown having been advised that a criminal trial would not lead to a conviction. Robertson immediately retired from playing, while Goodwillie left his then club, Plymouth, initially to launch an appeal before returning to football.
This story is from the June 2017 edition of When Saturday Comes.
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This story is from the June 2017 edition of When Saturday Comes.
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