OLDHAM DIRECTOR BARRY OWEN has said he’s ‘ashamed to be British’ after the club’s proposed signing of convicted rapist Ched Evans fell through last month.
Speaking to Johnny Lyons on 98FM’s ‘Now That’s What I Call Sport’, Owen said that a social media frenzy coupled with sponsors’ anxieties ensured the 26 year-old former Sheffield United striker didn’t move to Boundary Park.
But Owen is adamant Evans shouldn’t be shunned by the football community and that he’s served his punishment.
“He should be allowed to go back to that work that he was trained to do. The cry from a lot of people in positions who should know better is that he do other types of work and should show willingness to enter into some sort of community activity and while I’m not against that, I can’t find anything in the act that suggests that path must be followed.”
Evans was found guilty of raping a 19 year-old woman at a hotel in Rhyl, Wales in May 2011. He served half of a five-year prison sentence and was paroled on licence conditions in October of last year.
Since his release, there has been much speculation linking him with various clubs, including his previous employers Sheffield United. But in late November, over 150,000 people signed a petition urging the Blades not to sign the former Manchester City player. After initially allowing Evans train at their facilities, United bowed to pressure from club patrons, sponsors and fans and retracted the offer.
In January though, Evans seemed certain to sign with Oldham but the club pulled the plug on the move when threats were made to staff. Writing on his personal website later, Evans blamed ‘mob rule’ for the collapsed deal.
Earlier this morning, Owen admitted to understanding some of the issues surrounding any club’s potential involvement with Evans but added that treatment of the striker is bringing ‘the whole system into disrepute’.
“I fully understand people’s emotions on this and try to understand the very strong lobby from the ladies groups and I do listen to that and I understand the fears that if some sort of people don’t make a stand on this then it seems to minimise the effect of rape on ladies and I don’t think it does. I think with Ched Evans we are bringing the whole system into disrepute and we are looking at a society that doesn’t protect everybody. The victims of rape should be protected properly and were protected properly in this case.”
In fact, Evans’ victim – her identity protected for legal reasons – has repeatedly been named online by his supporters, has subsequently been forced to change her name five times and has had to relocate on numerous occasions. Her father has said she is basically living ‘on the run’.
Meanwhile, Owen referenced ‘the abuse and vile content and reaction’ that followed Oldham’s attempts to sign Evans and condemned the offenders.
“Dare I go as far as to say that I’m ashamed to be British really, I cannot believe that people in senior positions were prepared to sit on the fence and say that anybody wanting to sign Ched Evans should think very carefully before doing so, and that’s exactly what we did. Of course we thought carefully, we had to think of our fans and the effects on people and why he could or he couldn’t show any sort of remorse towards his actions to this stage and we had to speak to his legal people and do a lot of other things that would satisfy us that we could employ him and then when you look at the abuse and vile content and reaction that helped to stop this going through, it’s quite deplorable. “
“I don’t pretend to excuse Ched Evans for his activities, I deplore what he allegedly (due to the appeal process at the moment) did”, said Owen.
“We have to accept that he is a convicted man at this stage but the full weight of the law applied to him when he was convicted and the full weight of the law should apply now that he is out of prison and he should be allowed to return to work.”
