Ched Evans (1 Viewer)

[Otis]

Ched Evans: PFA chief Gordon Taylor backs player's return


Ched Evans should be allowed to play football again when he is released from prison, says Professional Footballers' Association chief Gordon Taylor.

The Wales striker, 25, was jailed for five years for rape in April 2012 but is due to be released early this month.

More than 90,000 people have signed a petition calling on Evans' former club Sheffield United not to re-employ him.
"I didn't know there was a law that said once you come out of prison you still can't do anything," Taylor said.

The PFA chief, speaking to the BBC's Sport Wales programme, added: "As a trade union we believe in the rule of law... besides that, he still wants to contribute to society.

"If he earns money he'll pay taxes, those taxes will go to help people who maybe can't get a job."

Sheffield United signed Evans for £3m in 2009, but released him along with 10 other players the month after his conviction for raping a 19-year-old woman at a hotel near Rhyl, Denbighshire.

The South Yorkshire club has refused to comment on a possible return for Evans, who was capped 13 times for Wales before his conviction.








Thoughts?

 

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[Senior Vick from Alicante]

So basically what people are saying by signing the petition is that if you commit a crime and are found guilty you should not do the job you are trained for. To me it does not make sense that you have to be ostracised because you blew it, if he was a doctor or lawyer or professional person then you sign up to a code of practice and accept the consequences of your actions. He kicks a ball for a living, its code of practice is different to those I have mentioned, let him back but make him be active in raising money for Rape crisis centres and the like. Just out of interest I wonder what the mix is of people who have signed the petition, any way I would rather he were paying his way in society than may hard paid taxes supporting him on the dole.

 

[Otis]

So basically what people are saying by signing the petition is that if you commit a crime and are found guilty you should not do the job you are trained for. To me it does not make sense that you have to be ostracised because you blew it, if he was a doctor or lawyer or professional person then you sign up to a code of practice and accept the consequences of your actions. He kicks a ball for a living, its code of practice is different to those I have mentioned, let him back but make him be active in raising money for Rape crisis centres and the like. Just out of interest I wonder what the mix is of people who have signed the petition, any way I would rather he were paying his way in society than may hard paid taxes supporting him on the dole.

It's a difficult one. Football is not like most normal professions. Players are put on pedestals and to many, they are role models.

If he's been done for rape would you really want your 12 year old daughter having his name emblazoned on her shirt and her chanting his name in the ground?

As i say, it's tricky. If anytime someone has served their time and is back in our society they can take up any profession, then Gary Glitter should not only be allowed to make records, but also make public appearances and appear on TV.

Doesn't it depend on the crime and the profession? Not a law against people reintegrating into society, but shouldn't all professional football teams shun Evans and not sign him up?

Playing Devil's advocate here. Like I say, it's not just plain black and white.

I didn't particularly want Marlon King here, but he had served his time. I didn't cheer him or boo him, I just let him play.

Football and celebrity is a different world from the everyday one we see out there and football players can become heroes.

 

[Senior Vick from Alicante]

I see your point but I think Evans has learnt a hard lesson. The victim in this didn't cover herself in glory either, young footballers should be taught what to do and not what to do when their in those kind of situations. Young women loose all control of themselves when their is fame and money involved but it does not make it right in what he has done to her. In the eyes of the law he has a right to work in his chosen profession and to exclude him would be against his civil rights, maybe a move abroad would be a good thing but then some countrys would not take him because of his conviction. He's been a silly lad and the sentence he has served is the easy part.

 

[TrueSkyBlueLiam]

He's served his time. Let him get on with his life. I don't agree with what he did, but everyone deserved a 2nd chance. I can think of plenty of footballers who served time in prison and came back, some even better than before. So why should Evans be an exception?

 

[Otis]

He's served his time. Let him get on with his life. I don't agree with what he did, but everyone deserved a 2nd chance. I can think of plenty of footballers who served time in prison and came back, some even better than before. So why should Evans be an exception?

Think he fought this though didn't he? Don't think he has ever come out and showed any remorse or apologised.

Next question then, would you be happy to have a rapist here playing for the City?

 

[TrueSkyBlueLiam]

Like I said, I don't agree with what he did. I don't think anyone can condone his actions, but he has served his time and should be free to do his job

 

[Sick Boy]

Next question then, would you be happy to have a rapist here playing for the City?

No, never.
It's one of the lowest crimes imaginable that a man can commit. The conviction rate for rape is shocking and sentences should be on on par with murder, imo.

 

[Otis]

No, never.
It's one of the lowest crimes imaginable that a man can commit. The conviction rate for rape is shocking and sentences should be on on par with murder, imo.

Think there has to be a limit to what is acceptable in terms of allowing an offender back into a profession, especially one such as football. which is so high profile and where there is a lot of hero worshipping going on.

Raps is a heinous crime and I just cannot see it ever sitting comfortably with me having him play for my team.

King's crimes were bad enough, but rape is a step further down the depravity line.

 

[Senior Vick from Alicante]

No, never.
It's one of the lowest crimes imaginable that a man can commit. The conviction rate for rape is shocking and sentences should be on on par with murder, imo.

Agree with the sentence but the conviction rate is low because of the amount of false and erroneous complaints made against men by women being mischievous, also the evidence presented at later dates is too far in the past to be admissible. If more women were convicted of wasting police time when making false claims it would discourage the ones that are just trying to get ex partners and men they have a grudge against in trouble. If you have a genuine case then report it with out fear of it being thrown out, and the conviction rates will go up.

 

[WillieStanley]

Agree with the sentence but the conviction rate is low because of the amount of false and erroneous complaints made against men by women being mischievous, also the evidence presented at later dates is too far in the past to be admissible. If more women were convicted of wasting police time when making false claims it would discourage the ones that are just trying to get ex partners and men they have a grudge against in trouble. If you have a genuine case then report it with out fear of it being thrown out, and the conviction rates will go up.

I'm sorry, Vic but that simply isn't true. The low conviction rate is down to the lack of sensitivity and empathy shown by the police upon reporting it. A culture of victim blaming (in the case of sex workers and intoxicated especially), hideous interview processes and a complete discount of evidence. There needs to be a complete reform of how rape is handled and how society protects victims, despite gender.

 

[Evo1883]

absolute scumbag , but very lethal in front of goal in league 1 , is actually the player that would probably hget sheff utd out of this division these days

 

[skybluedan]

Evans got a club yet?

 

[wingy]

Evans got a club yet?

No .

think he was linked to Hartlepool In some way last week and then they distanced themselves .

May have only been to train but I can't recollect.

 

[skybluedan]

I would take him now

 

[Covstu]

everyone is waiting for the outcome of his cases before making any moves. Suicidal to do it before!

 

[Sick Boy]

I would take him now

Bet you would do, mate.

 

[skybluedan]

Bet you would do, mate.

Walked straight into that. Haha

 

[turlykerd]

i hear he's a (lady) killer, infront of goal..

works real hard to get the finish..

wont stop until he's scored

a real predictor

doesn't lack confidence no matter how many times he misses

always in the right place at the right time.

gets the defence spinning before he makes his move

he adds penetration to the attack(even if they dont want it)

that being said, i hear he's got another trial lined up,,.... well it was new years eve last night

he's also best mates with santa ... as they both come when you sleep

being serious though, i think we could do with a few more up front and one CB...im hoping for ched, marlon and lee hughs, with titus bramble filling in at the back..
the team might suck but the christmas parties would be a fuckin blast !!!

 

[Jack Griffin]

David Conn ‏@david_conn 28m28 minutes ago

Ched Evans rape victim: has changed identity 5 times, didn't vist family at Xmas due to being identified by trolls http://mirr.im/147GZCy

 

[wingy]

That's sad ...........

 

[stupot07]

That's sad ...........

Agreed, very sad. It doesn't help when you've got a load of football fans who don't know the girl, don't know evans, who weren't there when it happened, we're not in court hearing and seeing every bit of evidence acting as judge and jury against her, the victim in all of this.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - so please excuse any spelling or grammar errors

 

[wingy]

Is It Me or are these No mark clubs associating themselves along the way here In It for free publicity?

 

[Jack Griffin]

David Conn article http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/jan/05/ched-evans-victim-website?CMP=share_btn_tw

The debates about whether the convicted rapist Ched Evans should resume a professional football career so soon after his release from prison, re-heated now by reports that Oldham Athletic are to sign him, often mention his victim last, with a faint reminder that she should not be forgotten. Putting the victim first lends a different orientation to this unprecedented legal and moral maze for football, which circles around whether Evans has a right to earn his living as a footballer, having served his time for a despicable crime about which he maintains his innocence.

His victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons but has been repeatedly identified by internet hounds, was found by a jury to have been raped aged 19 by Evans, after she bumped into Evans’s friend, Clayton McDonald, also a footballer, at 4am in a kebab shop in Rhyl.

In the taxi to the Premier Inn, which Evans had booked for his and McDonald’s night out, McDonald texted him: “I’ve got a bird.” Once inside the hotel room, McDonald was having sex with the girl when Evans arrived. The court heard that the girl was asked if Evans could “join in”. He claimed that she consented, but the jury verdict rejected that. Evans did “join in”.

His brother and friend were outside the room laughing, trying to film what was happening on their phones. While Evans was having sex with the girl, McDonald left the room. Evans left later, by the fire escape.

They then walked back to Evans’ family home in Rhyl. The teenage girl woke up at 11am, on her own in the room.

She said she did not know what had happened, even how she had ended up there, and went to the police that night. The two men were prosecuted for rape, on the grounds that the victim was too drunk to have been capable of consenting to sex.

The jury which heard the evidence acquitted McDonald but convicted Evans, who served half of a five-year sentence for rape before being released in October. He might reflect that a website, set up and funded by his supporters to maintain his innocence, does not achieve a greatly improved perception of him. It offers a £10,000 reward for information leading to his conviction being overturned, apparently inviting the victim’s friends to come forward with information about her.

There is a section headlined “Key and undisputed facts”, yet it describes McDonald’s text from the taxi like this: “On the way to the Premier Inn Clayton sent a message to Ched saying words to the effect of: ‘I am with a girl.’”

The girl, about whom McDonald had in fact texted “I’ve got a bird,” faced the trauma of what happened, then the police investigation, giving evidence in court, and, according to her father, is still suffering.

The argument for Evans, including from Gordon Taylor, the Professional Footballers’ Association’s chief executive, is that Evans has a legal right to play again, having served his time. That is true. Football has no rules of its own against employing convicted rapists as players, who could be paid handsomely and claim the adulation of fans.

It is an anomaly that the game does not seem to be addressing that sex offenders are deemed not “fit and proper” people under the Football League and Premier League owners and directors test, so Evans could not be a director of any club.

While the debate rages, including another petition against him being re-employed rapidly gaining thousands of signatories, the young woman has been unable to proceed with her life. The most recent reports are that she has had to change her identity five times to avoid the internet haters.

Her father told the Daily Mirror that she did not go to her family home for Christmas and she is “living her life on the run”. He said he has complained to the attorney general about aspects of the Evans website which he argues further victimise her.

Evans has the legal right to take his arguments that the trial was unfair – the website pleads repeatedly that footballers are victimised by the media – to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which he has.

The website, though, is unrelentingly hostile to the girl who is established in law to have been his victim. It sullies her in several different, pernicious and manipulative ways.

You wonder how many people at clubs have read it, when weighing Evans’ desirability with their core priorities: goals and points. They should, because it lends a different perspective to the arguments about whether he is a fit and proper person to run out for a heritage, community club, to be a role model – which his own supporters’ website holds him up to be, complete with homely pictures of him with babies and a dog.This website is still up; his review is not concluded and his victim is living life on the run.

All this makes it seem not the right time yet for Ched Evans to be featuring in team pictures of beloved clubs which will decorate the bedrooms of children.

What a lovely fellah..

 

[turlykerd]

so....Oldham said no

but thats never stopped ched before !!

after watching them for a while, he noticed they had got a bit sloppy, and slipped in round the back unnoticed