No Role Model
I'm sure the Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland (PFAI) has had some fine and worthy people representing its interests in the past, but if you ask me Stuart Gilhooly is is a clown and one who is bringing the organisation into disrepute.
Because his attempt to link the case of convicted rapist Ched Evans with the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six is not just inappropriate, it's downright offensive into the bargain since the facts of the case are largely agreed.
A jury has convicted the former Sheffield United footballer of plotting to have sex with a young woman who was drunk and vulnerable, whom he had never met before and arranging to record the incident.
Unlike the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six who were fitted up from start to finish and who had the complete support of the Irish community who knew they were innocent from the outset.
A jury has decided Ched Evans was guilty of rape because of the circumstances surrounding his behaviour and while he is seeking a review of that decision, his general behaviour (as opposed to fine legal argument about the nature of consent) was vile and shameful, and deserves to be condemned in the strongest possible terms.
The bottom line is that Ched Evans is no role model for young men, and he has been realised early from a 5 year prison sentence without expressing any remorse for his actions, while his supporters continue to threaten other people who have spoken up in support of his victim.
And on that basis if I were Ched Evans employer, there is no way he would be walking back into his old job.
And on that basis if I were Ched Evans employer, there is no way he would be walking back into his old job.
Ched Evans: Rape row footballer likened to Guildford Four
Ched Evans played for Sheffield United before he was jailed in April 2012 and was permitted to train with the club on his release
The Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland has come to the defence of convicted rapist and former Sheffield United footballer Ched Evans.
Evans was jailed in April 2012 for raping a 19-year-old woman in a hotel room in May 2011. He was released last month.
The association's solicitor, Stuart Gilhooly, said Evans could be innocent.
He said that while a jury convicted him of the crime, the same applied to the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six.
The Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six were initially convicted of involvement in an IRA bombing campaign that claimed several lives.
The verdicts in both cases were overturned after the ten accused spent many years in prison.
Mr Gilhooly wrote an article on the Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland website referring to Evans' crime as "alleged", despite the fact the footballer was found guilty of raping the woman in a hotel room in Rhyl, North Wales, and sentenced to five years.
The article has since been removed from the website.
The solicitor said he believed that whether Evans was guilty or innocent, the footballer deserved another chance.
'No violence'
Sheffield United allowed Evans to resume training at the club following his release from prison last month.
In his online article, Mr Gilhooly wrote: "This crime, as alleged, was at the bottom end. There was no violence and thankfully the victim has no recollection of it.
"This, I hasten to add, does not make it right, or anything close to it, but it is nonetheless a mitigating factor."
Mr Gilhooly said it was "not easy to muster up too much sympathy for Evans".
"But there is surely nothing worse than being accused of a crime which you genuinely believe you didn't commit," he said.
"The argument against that is that a jury convicted him of the crime. The same applied to the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six. They got no public sympathy either.
"Maybe he is guilty or perhaps he's innocent, none of us knows for sure. Surely, either way, he deserves a chance at redemption. Don't we all?"
His comments come in the wake of musician Paul Heaton's resignation as a patron of Sheffield United's Community Foundation over the club's decision to allow Evans to train with the club.
TV presenter Charlie Webster, sixties pop star Dave Berry and Sheffield businesswoman Lindsay Graham have all resigned as patrons of the club since Evans returned to training.
Olympic athlete Jessica Ennis-Hill asked for her name to removed from a stand at the club's Bramall Lane ground if Evans returns full-time.
More than 160,000 people have signed a petition demanding the club refuse to sign Evans.
The Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland has come to the defence of convicted rapist and former Sheffield United footballer Ched Evans.
Evans was jailed in April 2012 for raping a 19-year-old woman in a hotel room in May 2011. He was released last month.
The association's solicitor, Stuart Gilhooly, said Evans could be innocent.
He said that while a jury convicted him of the crime, the same applied to the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six.
The Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six were initially convicted of involvement in an IRA bombing campaign that claimed several lives.
The verdicts in both cases were overturned after the ten accused spent many years in prison.
Mr Gilhooly wrote an article on the Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland website referring to Evans' crime as "alleged", despite the fact the footballer was found guilty of raping the woman in a hotel room in Rhyl, North Wales, and sentenced to five years.
The article has since been removed from the website.
The solicitor said he believed that whether Evans was guilty or innocent, the footballer deserved another chance.
'No violence'
Sheffield United allowed Evans to resume training at the club following his release from prison last month.
In his online article, Mr Gilhooly wrote: "This crime, as alleged, was at the bottom end. There was no violence and thankfully the victim has no recollection of it.
"This, I hasten to add, does not make it right, or anything close to it, but it is nonetheless a mitigating factor."
Mr Gilhooly said it was "not easy to muster up too much sympathy for Evans".
"But there is surely nothing worse than being accused of a crime which you genuinely believe you didn't commit," he said.
"The argument against that is that a jury convicted him of the crime. The same applied to the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six. They got no public sympathy either.
"Maybe he is guilty or perhaps he's innocent, none of us knows for sure. Surely, either way, he deserves a chance at redemption. Don't we all?"
His comments come in the wake of musician Paul Heaton's resignation as a patron of Sheffield United's Community Foundation over the club's decision to allow Evans to train with the club.
TV presenter Charlie Webster, sixties pop star Dave Berry and Sheffield businesswoman Lindsay Graham have all resigned as patrons of the club since Evans returned to training.
Olympic athlete Jessica Ennis-Hill asked for her name to removed from a stand at the club's Bramall Lane ground if Evans returns full-time.
More than 160,000 people have signed a petition demanding the club refuse to sign Evans.
