This is not a subject that I have blogged about before, but anyone familiar with my personal twitter account (@aspitweets) will already be familiar with my position on this subject. I have been provoked into producing a blog post about this by the behaviour of Oldham Athletic FC, allegedly supported by the PFA.
First up, to deal with the most tiresomely repeated objection made by the pro-Evans faction to those on my side of the debate: He has not served his sentence – he has been released under licence half way through his sentence and if he fails to meet his probation conditions he can be sent straight back to jail.
Secondly, having a conviction for a crime this serious debars Evans automatically from many jobs. Being a professional sportsperson should be one of those. Whether or not it should happen, we all know that children make heroes of sport stars, and that on its own is sufficient for there to be a child protection issue here. Evans should, as others in his position he were not former professional footballers would have to, go through whatever programme is deemed appropriate for ex-offenders looking to find jobs.
While i bitterly regret the presence of people so unprincipled as to make this necessary, the governing bodies (FA, UEFA, FIFA) need to take action in situations like this. In theory, since Evans’ probation conditions ban him for going abroad a lifetime ban from the FA would be sufficient to make sure that whether they want to or not no club can sign Evans. In practice, I would like as insurance to see UEFA and FIFA match that life ban, to make sure that there is no getting around it.
I have a message to all who currently support Oldham Athletic: turn your back on this club because it no longer merits your sujpport. If your are a season ticket holder, return that ticket and demand your money back. And this last applies to supporters of Oldham’s opponents as well: do not turn out for the games – make Oldham play in empty grounds for so long as they keep Evans on their books.
I never like to put up a blog post without pictures, so here are some from yesterday at work…
aspiblog 