18-10-2014, 11:54
So a convicted rapist comes out of jail. He's kept himself fit. He's young enough to play again. When he was a player he was his team's star man. Who does what, and whose problem is it?
If Ched Evans had never committed a crime and he could line up not just for the Blades, but any side Championship downwards, their fans would be more than expectant. Put him at Chesterfield alongside 15 goal Doyle and we'd be thinking promotion here we come. Put him at Huddersfield alongside Nakhi Wells and people would be thinking goals goals goals.
Rumour has it Sheff Utd will offer him a deal, but they had their chance. They could have said when he was convicted, "We won't sack him. When he is released we'll make sure he's offered counselling, psychiatry or whatever is needed. If he wants to play again we'll work towards that, if he wants to leave football we'll help him re-train ..... He's our responsibility, what he did appalled us, but it would be hypocrisy simply to walk away." What they did was sack him. That means he's a free agent, so he's a problem for the whole game.
If his profession were doctor, dentist, nurse or teacher he'd be gone forever, but what if he were a builder? A rapist who'd served his time could be a builder, but how about about a plumber or electrician? How keen would a woman alone be to open her door to Ched the Sparkie on a house call? So where do we draw our demarcation lines?
Then we raise the question of his lack of remorse. But he says he's innocent. If he were (and proving that for a convicted man is going to be as difficult as it always has been for a woman even to contemplate the extra trauma the law imposes on top of the rape she's suffered) why should he have to admit guilt and show contrition to continue with his life?
Equally what if Ched thinks he can't face going back to football, but he perhaps loved athletics at school, give that a real go. What if he were really talented? What if by 2016 he came up with 43.8 in the flat 400? Would we say Great Britain can't be represented by a convicted rapist who has served his time?
My only conclusion is that the one club that didn't ought to consider signing Ched Evans is the Blades, because they chose to disown him. I would hope my own club don't sign him, but someone will. It's too much to hope that a British club would think it important to help him confront his daemons, because even if he didn't start with any, the last few years will sure as hell have left him with some. And does anyone ask how all this makes the victim feel? She had to move, re-start her life and now we treat her to constant replays ...... and she'll have spent the last couple of years knowing this would be how it could turn out.
Sometimes you write something and it just makes you blue as hell. You look around and it fills you with despair.
If Ched Evans had never committed a crime and he could line up not just for the Blades, but any side Championship downwards, their fans would be more than expectant. Put him at Chesterfield alongside 15 goal Doyle and we'd be thinking promotion here we come. Put him at Huddersfield alongside Nakhi Wells and people would be thinking goals goals goals.
Rumour has it Sheff Utd will offer him a deal, but they had their chance. They could have said when he was convicted, "We won't sack him. When he is released we'll make sure he's offered counselling, psychiatry or whatever is needed. If he wants to play again we'll work towards that, if he wants to leave football we'll help him re-train ..... He's our responsibility, what he did appalled us, but it would be hypocrisy simply to walk away." What they did was sack him. That means he's a free agent, so he's a problem for the whole game.
If his profession were doctor, dentist, nurse or teacher he'd be gone forever, but what if he were a builder? A rapist who'd served his time could be a builder, but how about about a plumber or electrician? How keen would a woman alone be to open her door to Ched the Sparkie on a house call? So where do we draw our demarcation lines?
Then we raise the question of his lack of remorse. But he says he's innocent. If he were (and proving that for a convicted man is going to be as difficult as it always has been for a woman even to contemplate the extra trauma the law imposes on top of the rape she's suffered) why should he have to admit guilt and show contrition to continue with his life?
Equally what if Ched thinks he can't face going back to football, but he perhaps loved athletics at school, give that a real go. What if he were really talented? What if by 2016 he came up with 43.8 in the flat 400? Would we say Great Britain can't be represented by a convicted rapist who has served his time?
My only conclusion is that the one club that didn't ought to consider signing Ched Evans is the Blades, because they chose to disown him. I would hope my own club don't sign him, but someone will. It's too much to hope that a British club would think it important to help him confront his daemons, because even if he didn't start with any, the last few years will sure as hell have left him with some. And does anyone ask how all this makes the victim feel? She had to move, re-start her life and now we treat her to constant replays ...... and she'll have spent the last couple of years knowing this would be how it could turn out.
Sometimes you write something and it just makes you blue as hell. You look around and it fills you with despair.
![[Image: 2ZJuVRk.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/2ZJuVRk.gif)
