To ask you all to sign petition regarding Oldham and Ched Evans

[floatyflo]

Actually I don't believe I am being unreasonable. But wanted to bring it to attention.

MN seems to be a quiet on this today but I think the fight should still go on. I can't link to it as I am so not tech savvy enough but it is on change.org. (Same person whk set up the Sheffield Weds one so of you sogned that one it is pretty easy to locate).Already has over 9000 signatures so please please please continue to sign and share!

helluva post from the front line lulu!

Good article.

Here's an article about another entertainer sacked for "just" joking about rape:

news.sky.com/story/1130695/coronation-street-star-fired-over-rape-rap

I think the issue is he is being treated differently, but not in the way he/his camp seem to think he is.

A lad in my town was convicted of sexual assault. He was pretty drunk, girl was really drunk and he crossed a line. He admitted it when sober, served his time, didn't place any blame on his victim, didn't allow his family and friends to hound his victim, tried to kill himself, left his hometown because it wasn't right for her to see him around at any point and over a year later he is working a nmw job in a factory found for him by the job centre because no employer in his previous field would look at him (despite his qualifications/skills).

Evans isn't being treated differently because people are objecting to him getting another privileged job, he's actually being treated differently to other rapists because clubs and chairmen with no morals are lining up to offer him a job.

Lulu's post is SN interesting insight but there is another element involved - parents. Why didn't the parents of those boys intervene?

I have a relative who was offered a contract by a premier league club at the age of 15. His parents didn't let him sign, they told him to finish school and keep playing at the youth level he was already playing at and if the club still wanted him after school was complete then he could sign. It might seem that they were not allowing him to reach his full football potential but in reality they were aware that most boys sign don't actually make the 1st teams and are released before the age of 18 by which time their academic education has been screwed. That young man is one of the most polite and considerate young men I know and he got a good academic degree and still plays football but only at semi pro level.
Parents are the main influence and when football clubs have as much influence over boys as those in Lulu's post the parents are to blame.

lurkernowposter

Other rapist do not set up a campaign to hound and bully the victim, have their mother, brother, sister and girlfriend tweet lies and insults to and about the victim, have their cousin reveal her name on twitter, have fans making death and rape threats to her and anyone who supports her, have a website set up with the sole purpose of discrediting her, have their fans hound her out of her home 5 times in 2.5 years and sit back and either say nothing or tweet thanks to all their fans for 'supporting' him through 'everything he has been through'.

That is why evans attracts the campaign.

And the number of times I've been told on twitter that other footballers have killed, well 1) that's not relevant and 2) they have blamed noone but themselves for their own actions.

Can i just ask - what exactly is the point of the Ched Evans website? Surely the only body with any power to decide whether he is innocent or guilty is the courts, and obviously any evidence has to be presented to them separate to any website. The general public/those reading the website have zero power to decide if he is innocent, ultimately in legal terms it doesn't actually matter a shite what they think.

So what is the point of it apart from to humiliate/discredit his victim? Its sick.

www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/jan/05/oldham-athletic-ched-evans-money-morals

Agree totally Inthedark - but that is the power we have given professional football. In the area I work, as many others, football is huge. Having a son with any chance of being a professional footballer is a huge status symbol. Our parents have their heads turned by it as much as the boys do. The mother who saw her son assault his girlfriend didn't speak up because he threatened her. Part of that threat was about if she destroyed his chances. She told us that- 'He made a mistake and I'd never forgive myself if I took this chance away from him'.
It's the same as the Gordon Taylor - 'he wants to play professional football' - as if that in itself comes above anything else at all.

Hmmm according g to BBC news Oldham FC are still discussing the issue......

As a parent of a possible proto-footballer (say 2 or 3 in 100 at his current level go on to play professionally) it's intoxicating though. I'm not into football, barely even watched it but now we are into the grind of pre-development/development/academy with a big club it's hard not to be sucked in by it. I don't want my son to be a footballer, he's bright and sporty and the world could be his ouster BUT I find myself thinking 'can't miss training, must disrupt family to go to away matches, careful don't twist your ankle, can't waste your opportunity' because if you tread water you are out. From the age of 6 they are at trials, if they make the squad they could be cut every 6 weeks. Over the years I have seen hundreds of families hungrily watching their child's every move on the pitch checking to see if the big name coaches are watching. It's like brain washing, you end up believing it's the be all and end all. And that is with a child who has a lot of other opportunities in his life. I can't imagine how hard it is to not treat your child like the goose who laid the golden egg if you have tougher circumstances. So we HAVE to keep pushing this, chip away at the putrid attitude to women in football. Do you remember the football pundit (who rightly, eventually, lost his job) for that 'always hanging out the back of a Spice Girl' quip? Grim.

Lalyra you have expressed that far better than I could have

I would also say that the petitions, media reports and pleas to sponsors are only necessary because of the entitled, misogynist way that the footballing world works. They simply wouldn't listen otherwise.

Lulu I think you're thinking of the Oyston family at Blackpool FC.

yonic it is important to add that Chris Fountain has not worked in shoebox since. It seems he has few rights even than poor RCE. Perhaps he should appoint Gordon Taylor as his agent?

house what are the lies on the RCE website? There is innuendo and a one-sided portrayal of the facts (some of which were inadmissible in court) and I don't think it should be allowed to stand, but are there any lies on it that your are aware of?

Thanks, House. All fair points. No agenda - was just asking!

www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2898151/The-football-rapist-vile-courts-hand-justice-not-Twitter-mob-writes-MELISSA-KITE.html

DM link apology etc…and I know better than to expect anything else but this makes me very angry!!! He is NOT being prevented from entering into gainful employment – just from stepping back into a privileged position where he is a role model to tens of thousands of young people.

Furthermore House and Eggman, the CCTV that they report 'proves she wasn't that drunk' has been edited, at least twice. There are two timestamped jumps of missing video. Why edit CCTV coverage unless it shows something you don't want to be seen - like proof she was wasted rather than 'a bit drunk'

Yes house I guess it's more about gettin him back ito football and having people think he is 'an innocent man' than actually proving his innocence?

iamtheeggman if you read the 'key and undisputed facts' parts of the website and then the account of the case on the 'crime line' (is that what it is called?) website, then you will see that the website is 'very sanitised' at best. They re word things (eg. The 'got a bird text) and they leave out key piece of info (eg. It says that CM told the night porter to keep an eye on the girl, but they don't mention the word 'sick' - for me this is fairly key actually, because how can a girl who is 'sick' also be an enthusiastic sexual partner?)

It also only shows selected CCTV which suits the Chedgenda, and in the CCTV section it says: At 3am in the morning, Ched was throwing chips to the seagulls, hardly a predator on the prowl. The complete and utter glaringly obvious irrelevance of this statement means that the truth of it just doesn't matter.

As house says, in this context of a court case where wording and relevance is key and bias has no place, all thisnshit is absolutely the equivalent of lying.