On Sunday, Hartlepool FC quashed rumours that they would be signing Ched Evans, the former Sheffield United forward and convicted rapist. In response to the Hartlepool manager Ronnie Moore’s comment that ‘if it could happen, I would want it to happen’, the club released a statement saying that they would not be signing Evans, ‘irrespective of his obvious ability as a football player’.
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Following Sheffield United’s example, Hartlepool have been pressured by the public into administering vigilante justice to a man who has been deemed by our justice system to have served the appropriate amount of time for his crime.
Evans’ opponents have consistently argued that footballers’ status as role-models for young men means that a convicted rapist should never play again. When threatening to remove her name from a Sheffield United stand if the club re-signed Evans in November, Jessica Ennis-Hill said that footballers should ‘respect the role they play in young people’s lives and set a good example’.
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