If he’s unable to show any remorse, there is no place for him in football

DAVID GOODWILLIE is off. Raith Rovers have admitted they ‘got it wrong’. A mistake has been rectified. Yet, that it even got to this stage is damning. Call it terrible naivety, call it misjudgment: the fact is nobody really comes out of this a winner. Some fans will take comfort from the fact that the Championship club have finally made a stand. Their women’s team may now renege on any decisions they’d made to break away. Many will feel a sense of relief that a man ruled to have raped a woman by a civil court won’t be allowed to be seen as an ‘idol’ by those watching him play. Whichever way this now plays out remains to be seen, but there are bigger questions around this sorry story which, surely, we should be asking. Most pertinently, is it ever right to employ someone who has been deemed to be a rapist? This is not clear cut. I believe in contrition and the right to be rehabilitated. But I wonder whether crimes of a sexual nature — and rape in particular — can ever be forgiven or forgotten about. It feels like a step too far. Much of the angst shown towards Goodwillie has arisen because of his silence and lack of remorse. He cannot show that he has been rehabilitated. I don’t think rapists should be employed in positions of high regard or where people are looked up to as role models. In any industry. Be it football or not. Which raises the other question here — should footballers be held to higher standards of moral conduct? Goodwillie escaped criminal prosecution alongside then Dundee United team-mate David Robertson after they were accused of raping Denise Clair at a house in West Lothian in 2011. But she successfully claimed £100,000 from them in a civil action at the Court of Session in 2017 after Lord Armstrong ruled they had raped her. Ms Clair spoke at the time of the devastation she felt that the case had never reached the criminal courts. Just two months later, Goodwillie became a footballer for Clyde. Faced with a backlash from fans for bringing him on board, the incoming chairman, Norrie Innes, defended the move by declaring the club was ‘seeking to help someone when others want to punish him’.

He added that there was ‘no positive purpose or societal gain whatsoever to wish ill on him and allow his talents to stagnate and waste’.

Goodwillie went on to become a significant player for the Broadwood club. At the PFA Scotland awards, he was shortlisted for Player of the Year and named in the Team of the Year for League Two in the 2018-19 season. He was subsequently named captain and became one of the club’s all-time leading goalscorers.

And, let’s not forget, Raith Rovers were not the only club interested in Goodwillie. Falkirk were also reportedly keen to bring the striker in.

Wading in to the debate, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that it would be ‘appropriate’ for the Scottish Professional Football League to intervene. At present, no such jurisdiction exists to allow them to do this. Similarly, there are no such laws within the Scottish FA. Remember, Goodwillie has not been convicted in a criminal court.

Had he been so, his career would be subject to strict rehabilitation rules which are already enforced in law. Ironically, this may have offered the player — and interested clubs — much greater protection in continuing his career.

It’s the route followed by David Martindale, for instance, who did time in prison for drugs crimes. The Livingston boss has since been lauded by the media and fans alike. He served four years in jail and has undoubtedly turned his life around for the better.

And he’s not the only former convict to have done so: Aberdeen player, Declan Gallagher, was imprisoned for assault. He’s now happily ensconced at Pittodrie.

But, for Goodwillie, that is not a road open to him, or one he is expected to go down.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a Raith Rovers supporter, said earlier this week that football authorities ‘need to consider how we deal with cases of footballers where there has been rape and violence against women’.

Hannah Bardell, MP for Livingston, added her voice to the campaign in the Commons, calling for a debate to be held on ‘barring rapists from football’. This, however, is part of the problem.

At present, football is simply not equipped to deal with such matters. And so the can is kicked down the road and all Ms Clair can look forward to is the potential of her ordeal being dragged up again when another club looks to sign Goodwillie.

For everyone’s sake, the game’s custodians must come together — and find a way to avoid another such damaging and unedifying mess.