Shadow Sports Minister Clive Efford has called for an FA statement on Ched Evans
Thursday 8 January 2015 18:47, UK
Shadow Sports Minister Clive Efford says the FA needs to make a statement setting out that footballers who commit certain offences are barred from returning to the professional game.
Efford was speaking in the wake of the announcement that Oldham have decided not to sign Ched Evans, who has been released from prison after serving two-and-a-half years of a five-year sentence for rape.
Evans’ former club Sheffield United also decided against re-signing the forward following a public outcry and Efford says that clubs need guidance from their governing body.
Asked for his view on the situation, he told Sky Sports News HQ: “I think what this leaves is a vacuum.
“Leaving aside personal comments about Ched Evans, this is about the principle of somebody returning to football who has committed a crime like rape.
“I think there is a vacuum at the top of the game, where the FA have said nothing on this issue.
“This scenario, we have been through it with Sheffield United and we could go through it again with another club, now that Oldham have made it clear that they are not going to sign him, unless the governing body steps in.
“I think this is an issue for the governing body to set a set of criteria where, if players overstep a mark, committing certain crimes, they can’t expect to return to professional football.
“They have got to get on and do that job. They set up the advisory board for inclusion last year, and I think this is something that that should be doing.”
The Professional Footballers’ Association has released a statement in which it said: “The PFA's position remains the same, as we have expressed previously, that any club which decides to sign him (Evans) would receive our support.
"We fully recognise that this is a delicate and emotive case and entirely respect that there are opposing views."
But Efford added: “I differ completely with the PFA on this.
“I understand that they are a trade union and they have to represent their members, and I would not dispute their role in this whatsoever.
“But my view is completely different, I feel that football needs to set standards.
“Whether we support football or not, the fact is it has a lot of influence on impressionable young people in our communities, particularly young men.
“The message that this sends out to young men about footballers and the crime of rape, I think is a negative one, and one that football should not be associated with. “
