So football is the new moral yard stick?

[gadgetman]

Does anyone else find the whole Chad Evans pitchfork waving and petitions a little OTT?

I get he's a rapist, but there's been drink drivers killing people and still playing football.

Given a large portion of supporters will have a criminal conviction (including motoring offences) are all crimes now a life sentence?

[Huskoda]

Public figures, who can become role models should be held to a higher standard than normal people so yes, it is right he should disappear from public view given what he has done. The same can be said of the drunk drivers/murderers who only get away with it because they are famous.

[john999boy]

I just wonder what will happen if he's successful in his Appeal.

Will all the people who've publicly gone against him then decide to have a moral duty to support him?

 

It seems that even after he's paid for his crime (by means of his prison sentence) it is still deemed insufficient and he must forever have further hurdles to surmount.

[BJB540]

It's a tough one.

 

Should you be able to do your job again after something he's alleged to have done? There are plenty of rapists who work doing X, Y. Z.

 

However, being a public figure who people look up to (especially kids) then it's a bit more tricky. He's only trying to do the job he's good at (debatable I know), for example work in IT, if I was convicted for something I'd be looking to work to get back into an IT based role as that's what I'm good at.

 

Also you've got to look at other cases i.e. Marlon King...

 

Tough one, I can see it from both sides. However, rape is totally wrong and horrific for anyone and their families. So as far as I am concerned he deserves all he gets, if the charge is true, as it's still "up in the air".

[gadgetman]

There was an Oldham sponsor on the TV who looked very uneasy making his statement they'd pull out if a contract was awarded. More like jumping on the wave of public outcry than what they actually wanted to do.

Unless this has given them an easy exit to their contract with the club?

[jlwah]

Not sure it's fair to say that "a large portion of supporters" will have a criminal conviction, but you make a good point.

 

I think it proves that it's easier to stoke up (mock) public outrage AGAINST something, than it is to support something. I wonder if he went on to score the winning goal against Germany in the next World Cup all this would be forgotten?

 

Personally, I don't really care whether he plays or not, but I feel somehow his "management" haven't handled this as well as they could.

 

As his conviction is being investigated and he still maintains his innocence, maybe the situation will get resolved in due course.

 

Also a pity that Ed Milliband decided to pass comment at his "campaign launch" today - this is definitely an area in which any sensible politician would be wise to steer well clear of, even if asked (after all politicians are good at not answering the question they've just been asked!)

[gadgetman]

What about all the wife beaters, ABH/GBH, those who've wrecked homes through affairs, taking drugs footballers?

Some of the tweets on #ChadEvans are flipping hilarious. Including one football fan who'd have loved to have met him during his prison stint.

[Redboy]

His crime was despicable and he is unrepentant. He has served a prison sentence. Let him get on with his life and try to earn a living. if you don't agree, don't support the team which takes him on. Economics, not righteous indignation will guide employers' decisions. Some of the media leading the campaign are the same ones which also rehabilitate people who have committed other serious crimes, have now found God or are using their former life experiences to counsel our youth not to fall into the same trap. Ronnie Biggs etc. double standards and harassment spring to mind.

[seboni121]

Yep sentenced served let him get on with his day job! Or this lad will become corpse due to all the negativity levelled at him!

[Moist Von Lipwig]

Not sure about the huge uproar around this particular case as I feel the media and probably some specific groups are leading the charge which no one is willing to stand up against. However maybe it will start to install some form of moral compass into these overpaid people so that they understand the public impact that their actions have and what could happen.

[Auric Goldfinger]

He still says he never raped the girl, maybe he did maybe he didn't, either way his life is in tatters, leave the bloke alone and let him get on with his life.

 

Maybe he served a sentence for something he didn't do................and no, I'm not sticking up for him

[Aspman]

Certainly a bit of the media making a story for themselves.

 

If he was returning to work in a factory I don't think we'd have heard anything.

 

He's an ex-con done his time. His trade is football. How do people expect him to earn.

 

If offenders cannot earn legitimately then he'll earn illegally.

 

But football is a public thing, footballers earn big money it's never going to be straightforward.

 

IMHO if he wants to stay in the UK he'll have to find a new trade, if he want s to play football he'll need to look abroad to a country with a less western style morality. i.e. Middle East or Africa.

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

He can't, already been offered a job in Malta for a team but he's not allowed

[Aspman]

He can't, already been offered a job in Malta for a team but he's not allowed

 

I think he'd need to go further than the EU but yeah just having a record might stop him anywhere.

Edited 6 January, 2015 by Aspman

[Titanium_Man]

Yes. He's paid the price, let him get on with his life.

[Huskoda]

Oh boo hoo. He can't go back to earning loads playing football. He can always go scrub toilets for minimum wage, like other people who can't get better jobs. He has no 'right' to play football for a living. How about not raping people in the first place?

[grr666]

Take your pick.

 

'Professional footballer is violent thug' shocker.

 

'Professional footballer in group sex scandal' shocker.

 

'Professional footballer in under age assault' shocker.

 

'Professional footballer caught drink driving' shocker.

 

Essentially earning pro football wages seems to put the idea into the heads of those

earning them that they are somehow demi gods and normal rules don't apply to them.

The smart kids at school didn't go off and be sportsmen, they went and did something

useful. The divs and thugs were pushed toward sport as they are unlikely to achieve 

anything worthwhile in any other area.

And it's the fans fault, you are the ones idolising these muppets, this is why they think

they are special. I honestly couldn't name more than about 4 footballers. 

Whatever it is this one has supposedly done it's almost guaranteed that they did it and 

almost guaranteed they won't have as harsh a punishment as I would if I had done it. 

 

As for the thread title, if it is then we are in a lot of trouble.  

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

He can always go scrub toilets for minimum wage, like other people who can't get better jobs. He has no 'right' to play football for a living. How about not raping people in the first place?

 

That is a pretty valid point tbh, playing football isnt his only method of earning money. If I were to get done for drink driving, get banned then want to return to driving buses I'd very quickly hit a brick wall and have to find another occupation, no different for this guy. I have a responsibility for the safety of passengers he has the same responsibility to his fans (many young ones). 

 

I have very little knowledge of football, like Garry I'm not interested in it really but they do seem to have a higher percentage of violent thugs than in other professions (even ones also in the media eye)

[SkodaTC]

i'm fairly sure if I had committed a crime of this nature my employer wouldn't have me back and I would find it difficult to find work after being released.  He has been found guilty of a particularly nasty, terrible crime and surely any employer has the right to reject an application if they feel his employment would be detrimental to their business (club). 

I don't feel sorry at all for a convicted rapist struggling to find work after being released.

[Coops]

He can't, already been offered a job in Malta for a team but he's not allowed

 

Something to do with his release conditions - he remains on licence for the next two and half years I believe.

[Titanium_Man]

I agree that if nobody will take him on as a footballer he will need to get a different job and he doesn't deserve any specialt treatment, just like others, but to try and stop him in the way the police and others are is a step to far IMO.

[Dr Zoidberg]

I just wonder what will happen if he's successful in his Appeal.

Will all the people who've publicly gone against him then decide to have a moral duty to support him?

 

It seems that even after he's paid for his crime (by means of his prison sentence) it is still deemed insufficient and he must forever have further hurdles to surmount.

 

I actually think there's quite a high chance of him being acquitted here, and a lot of the angry mob don't seem to be aware of the facts of the case.

 

This wasn't a violent rape where he attacked someone - this was a girl who had gone back to a hotel room with one person and had consensual sex with him, then had had sex with Evans.

 

He claimed she consented and the prosecution says she was too drunk to have done this. The video of her getting out of the Taxi seems to support his version of events more than hers so we'll have to wait and see what the appeal turns up.

 

It's certainly entirely plausible that he's been wrongly convicted, and in that case you wouldn't expect him to express remorse (which is what he's getting a lot of criticism for).

[brownfox]

What I don't get guilty or innocent a jury found him guilty,sentence 5yrs he has not served his time,So in the eyes of the law he is still serving his time.ie out on licence .I don't think the vitriol is aimed at him showing no remorse for doing it and admitting guilt,it's that he has not said sorry for anything at all it's as if he was not involved.I believe that some of his friends and family have been arrested for harassing the victims family,this also will bias the public against him.

All he had to do was come out prison keep a low profile with a back room job await result of appeal,if it's positive happy days if not he should wait 5yrs,to play again,if that's harsh then that's how it should be,he is wether he likes it or not a role model who would want a rapist as a role model?Its like giving Saville his job back after serving two and a half years.

Having said all that the rape laws are a complete mess at the moment and if what he says is true the appeal could well be successfull,and in that case he should be offered his job back at the Blades.

[moley]

Girl gets drunk, meets a man, goes to hotel with man (to play scrabble?)man has sex with girl, man's friend goes to hotel and has sex with girl, girl wakes up in the morning and can't remember anything and reports it to the police, man claims she said yes' girl (who can't remember what happened) claims she said no. Man goes to prison.

[brownfox]

Yes but if he had kept it in his pants because woman was to drunk to say yes or no he would be playing football now.Because she said nowt he obviously thought thats ok then pants off.,geronimo.

I honestly believe that a lot of footballers, mp,s and people in powerfull positions either through there financial position or there status,class  in society,think they are above the law. 

i am not suggesting this is the case here,but it does appear to happen often.