Ched Evans and Sheffield United

There is a great deal of talk about whether the footballer Ched Evans, recently released from his five year jail sentence for raping a 19-year-old woman, should be allowed to return to his job playing football for Sheffield United, who are being subjected to a great deal of pressure not to do so.

I don’t condone rape, or any other criminal act come to that, and whatever the rights and wrongs of the Evans case he has been to prison and punished for his actions and should by all reasonable standards be now allowed to pick up his life as best he can. The punishment handed down by the court was five years in prison, not a life-time ban from continuing his career, any other sanction smacks to me of the lynch-mob mentality.

It’s said that he is a role model for young people and for that reason alone he should be barred from playing football in the future, as if he’s the first and only footballer to fall foul of the law.

On 6 May 1990, Tony Adams, of Arsenal crashed his Ford Sierra into a wall and when breathalysed his blood alcohol level was found to be more than four times the legal drink-drive limit. What sort of role model was he to young people with the sort of behaviour that could easily have resulted in someone being killed? On 19 December that year, at Southend Crown Court, he was imprisoned for four months. Not only did he continue to play for Arsenal after his release, in 2004 he was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame!

And who can forget Eric Cantona, convicted of assault on a fan in 1995 after launching a 'kung-fu' style kick, in the full glare of the TV cameras?
Originally sentenced to two weeks in prison, Cantona’s subsequent appeal resulted in him being given instead 120 hours of community service. Not only was he re-signed by Manchester United, he went on to become their captain and after leaving football became a minor film star!
Now he’s a real role model, I’m just not sure for whom.

How about Manchester United player Mads Timm, in March 2005  sentenced to twelve months in a young offenders' institute for dangerous driving after the car he was racing on a public street hit another vehicle, again an action which might well have resulted in someone being killed.
Was he castigated like Ched Evans? Hardly, after his release Timm was allowed to remain with the club who were not subjected to the same sort of pressure Sheffield United are currently experiencing.

One footballer who did end up killing someone was Lee Hughes. On 23 November 2003, Hughes lost control of his high-powered Mercedes and, on the wrong side of the road, hit another car killing a passenger and severely injuring the driver and another passenger. Hughes fled the scene of the accident and didn’t turn himself in to the police until 36 hours later, too late to be breathalysed.
He pleaded not guilty and during his trial was accused of driving too fast in wet conditions and was described as driving "like a madman".
He was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving and on 9 August 2004 was sentenced to six years imprisonment.
Hughes continued to play first class football after his release, and he’d killed someone!

And it’s not just footballers, many other sportsmen have been convicted of various, often serious offences and still been allowed to continue their careers after paying their debt to society. 

No sport is perhaps more in the public spotlight than Formula 1 racing.
Force India driver Adrian Sutil was convicted of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm on 31 January 2012 and received an 18-month suspended prison sentence, along with a €200,000 fine, small change to a F1 driver, and far from being banned from racing as an ‘inappropriate role model for young people’ in February 2013 Force India announced that Sutil would return to the team to complete their driver line up for the coming season.

Is the current hysteria because Ched Evans didn't race a car on a public road, or drive whilst drunk, in both cases putting Innocent lives at risk, but because his crime was rape? Is that offence more serious than causing death by dangerous driving, or are those advocating continued sanctions against Evans themselves guilty of double standards and prejudice?