New blow for Raith Rovers as women’s team quits in rape row
Club faces growing backlash over decision to sign player
THE Raith Rovers women’s team has walked away from the club in protest at the signing of rapist footballer David Goodwillie.
The players said yesterday they will formally leave, rebrand themselves and play at a different ground.
Crime writer and lifelong Raith Rovers fan Val McDermid has offered to help them in their efforts to start afresh.
It comes after the Fife side was slammed by politicians, supporters and sponsors for bringing Goodwillie in during the January transfer window.
The 32-year-old escaped criminal prosecution alongside former Dundee United team mate David Robertson after they were accused of rape in 2011.
But their victim Denise Clair – who waived her right to anonymity – successfully sued for £100,000 in a Court of Session civil action in 2017, after a judge ruled they had both raped her.
Miss McDermid described the recruitment of the former Clyde striker as ‘disgusting and despicable’.
She has committed herself to helping a new women’s team, which is planning to play without the current club crest and to change its name.
Miss McDermid, 66, told the BBC: ‘It sets a terrible example to what is supposed to be a community club. There’s a very strong sense of the Rovers being rooted in the community in Kirkcaldy and the surrounding area.
‘We have, for example, women and girls’ teams from age under tens right up to the women’s teams who are appalled and horrified at the signing. It’s just a wrong thing to do for the club. I think it sends all the wrong messages.’
Miss McDermid also said that Goodwillie should apologise for his actions, saying: ‘He could start by apologising to Denise Clair, he could start by acknowledging the damage he did to her.
‘He could start by acknowledging the wrongness of his behaviour, and how he is prepared to work hard in the future to support work against violence against women.
‘People are leaving the club and rightly so. This is heartbreaking for me. I love Raith Rovers. I love the club, this to me is just a devastating time.
‘I’ve pivoted towards the women and girls’ teams and my position now is to support them into rebuilding their confidence and their trust in themselves. They are, as we speak, having new shirts printed that don’t have the Raith Rovers crest on them. They are committed to playing their fixture on Sunday not at Stark’s Park, but at another ground.
‘They are talking about changing the name of the club, they are adamant they will no longer be associated with Raith Rovers.’
Aileen Campbell, the chief executive of Scottish Women’s Football, said that Goodwillie’s appointment had ‘tarnished’ the club’s reputation and could have ‘devastating consequences’ for women in the sport.
Miss Campbell, a former communities secretary in the Scottish Government, told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland show the move ‘sends the wrong signal, message, to society and particularly to women’.
Miss Campbell said of Raith Rovers: ‘It is a badly misjudged decision by the club and we, as an organisation, are particularly concerned about losing more women from the game, a game we have worked so hard to try to build up and to encourage more girls and women to try to take part in.’
She added: ‘Raith Rovers now need to really think and reflect on the fact that... they have tarnished their reputation.’
On Tuesday, club announcer Johnny MacDonald said: ‘Sadly I have decided to walk away from the announcing duties at the Rovers. Never felt this way about my club in over 40 years.’
Meanwhile, a petition to have Goodwillie removed from the Raith Rovers squad has gathered more than 4,000 signatures from supporters since it was launched on Tuesday by local newspaper the Fife Free Press.