ontd_football | Irish PFA’s solicitor compares Ched Evans’ treatment to the Guildford Four (Reply)

The Irish PFA's solicitor referred to Ched Evans as an "alleged rapist" despite the striker serving half of his five-year sentence in prison. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA Archive/Press Association Ima

The Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland have launched a defence of the convicted rapist, Ched Evans, saying that he could be innocent and that, even if guilty, he deserves a chance of redemption, comparing the 25-year-old to the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six because “they got no sympathy either”.

The article, which was written by the association’s solicitor, Stuart Gilhooly, and published on the association’s website refers to Evans’s crime as alleged despite the fact he was found guilty in court and served half of a five-year sentence in prison.

“There is little point in trying to dissect the legal niceties of this very complex issue but suffice to say that Ched Evans has a very arguable case that he is the victim of a miscarriage of justice,” Gilhooly wrote.

“If having sex with a drunk woman is rape then thousands of men are guilty of rape every day. The simple point is that degrees of intoxication are a very difficult concept for young men to grapple with when they themselves have had plenty to drink.”

Gilhooly added: “This crime, as alleged, was at the bottom end. There was no violence and thankfully the victim has no recollection of it. This, I hasten to add, does not make it right, or anything close to it, but it is nonetheless a mitigating factor.”

He also suggested that Sheffield United have been “swayed by the verdict of the court of public opinion” and “from Jessica Ennis-Hill to Charlie Webster and pretty much every media commentator who has waded into this mire, the horses most of these pundits have mounted are so high, they’ll need a parachute to get down.”

Sheffield United are yet to indicate whether Evans will be offered a new contract but Ennis-Hill has said she would have her name removed from a stand at Brammall Lane, while Webster resigned as a patron of the club last week. The singer Paul Heaton also quit as a patron on Monday.

Yet Gilhooly added: “How can Evans apologise? He is convinced, and has a good argument, that he is not guilty of rape. If he apologised, then he is admitting a crime he feels he didn’t commit. Who would do that?

“But Ched Evans has served his time, whether he is innocent or guilty. He puts the ball in the net so eventually someone will take a chance on him.”

(Source)

I don't even know what to say to this. It's vile. And I'm disappointed in the Irish PFA for allowing him to publish such an article on their website. Also, here is an article on the Guildford Four, if you are not familiar with what happened.