So the row about Ched Evans rages on whilst Sheffield United have thus far refused to comment or issue a statement about the footballer’s future. No doubt they are hoping that after a while focus will shift elsewhere, the furore will die down and they can sneak him back into the team.
So just why shouldn’t Ched Evans be allowed to return to his career? Surely he served his time in prison? Aren’t prisoners allowed the right to rehabilitation or are they condemned to be forever labelled as criminals?
The PFA Chief Gordon Taylor thinks Ched Evans should be allowed to return to football stating: “I didn’t know there was a law that said once you come out of prison you still can’t do anything.” This is a view that former Man City coach, Jim Cassell, agrees with adding; “My opinion is that one serves their time in prison, where they are supposed to be rehabilitated in order to return to normal life, regardless of who they are or what they do.”
Well yes, you can see their point – part of rehabilitation is that the ex-criminal is given a second chance – an opportunity to lead a normal life. But here’s the point they are all missing: REMORSE IS A HUGE PART OF REHABILITATION and so far Ched Evans has shown NONE – that is why he should not be allowed to return to a very profitable, high profile career as a footballer and role-model to young aspiring boys.
Let me repeat that as it’s worth stating again: CHED EVANS HAS SHOWN NO REMORSE.
In fact, he doesn’t even believe he has done anything wrong. His website states that he was wrongly convicted. The implication of that is that Ched Evans thinks that his actions that night were perfectly normal. Ok, he cheated on his girlfriend and he probably regrets that, but as for the 19 year old girl he raped – well she deserved it right?
Ched Evans does not think it was wrong to sneak into that hotel room. He does not think it was wrong to have sex with a 19 year old girl who was too intoxicated to be aware of what was happening. He does not think it was wrong that his pals filmed it from the window. What message does that send out to young boys?
In fact Ched Evans thinks that he was the victim all along. His website has deleted tweets purportedly from the girl’s account, telling her friends what she would do with the money she got as compensation. This is supposed to be proof of his innocence – that he was fitted up. No. The girl did not and could not have planned for Ched Evans to get a key card for that room and to sneak in. She might be a dislikeable person. She may well be a money-grabber. But that does not mean that Ched Evans is innocent of rape for nasty things don’t just happen to nice people. She didn’t deserve to be raped just because she’s not very likeable. She was a 19 year old girl, still just a teenager who had drunk too much and who was not capable of making rational decisions.
The other argument is that she was sober enough to give consent to having sex, not just with the footballer who booked the room, but Ched Evans who sneaked in the room, and that she consented to it being filmed from outside the window. This despite several witnesses testifying to how drunk she was – despite the girl herself having wet the bed – despite the night porter being sufficiently concerned to stand outside the room – despite the acquitted footballer asking the night porter to make sure she was ok, because he knew how pissed she was.
I’m sorry but as much as I support rehabilitation, I would like to know how the hell you are supposed to rehabilitate someone who not only has zero remorse for what he did but who thinks that he – and not the raped girl – is the victim.
It is right that there should be so much outrage about this case, for the implications are far-reaching. Ched Evans will never be rehabilitated until he can understand that what he did that night was wrong – until he is man enough to say sorry. Until then, he deserves all the criticism he gets, as do Sheffield United.
It's also very telling that out of the people who have stood down from the club