Sexual consent course offered to clubs condemned over link to Ched Evans

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/29/sexual-consent-course-football-clubs-ched-evans

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A widely publicised course educating young footballers on issues around sexual consent has been condemned by groups working with rape victims after it emerged one of its co-founders is also making the case for Ched Evans’ right to overturn his rape conviction.

Rape Crisis South London said that the promotional material for it was “absurd” and “offensive”, while Women’s Aid said it was “shocked” to discover that the course, offered by Brighton & Hove Albion and under consideration by other clubs, was being facilitated by a private detective who also works on behalf of Evans.

Earlier this month there was widespread praise of Brighton’s decision to offer the course to its young players, both male and female. However, the involvement of Russ Whitfield, a former police chief superintendent with 30 years’ experience who is now the senior director of Liberton Investigations, has provoked a backlash from groups working in the area.

Whitfield had earlier been engaged by Karl Massey, the father of Evans’ fiancee, to make the case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission for the former Sheffield United striker’s rape conviction to be overturned.

The Women’s Aid chief executive, Polly Neate, said it was working with clubs to provide training on healthy relationships and consent as part of its Football United Against Domestic Violence campaign.

“We were heartened to hear that Brighton & Hove Albion were providing players with training around sexual consent but were shocked to find out that the course has been co-designed and is facilitated by a private detective who has worked on behalf of convicted rapist Ched Evans,” she said.

Neate said the blurb for the Prevent Inform Protect training by Liberton Investigations, which has been employed by Brighton to offer the course to their academy members, also appeared to be guilty of “victim blaming”.

“The course content refers to footballers as having ‘unique vulnerability to allegations of unwanted sexual activity’ and refers to ‘the dream of some young females to be romantically linked to sportsmen and in particular footballers’, which is victim-blaming. Sexual assault and rape are criminal acts regardless of careers of the people involved, and regardless of their relationship to each other,” she said.

“Football has enormous power and influence to make positive change in society, which is why it is vital that we get it right and do not send out dangerous mixed messages about consent.”

Neate added: “In our experience one of the biggest barriers women face in disclosing sexual abuse is the worry that they won’t be believed or that they will be blamed for what has happened. This course appears to present the accused as the victim rather than the woman reporting an assault.”

Once alerted to the criticism, Liberton said it would take down the material from its website and reword it.

The course is billed on the Liberton website as being “designed and presented” by Whitfield and the psychosexual therapist Maggie Ellis. Dr Fiona Vera-Gray, of Rape Crisis South London, said it was “absurd that such a training package would be created”.

“It is offensive to survivors of rape, their partners, families and friends and also to football fans who could be having some of their membership fees used to pay for such a ridiculous programme,” said Vera-Gray. “The most recent CPS figures show that false allegations of rape account for less than 1% of all rape allegations.

“The overwhelming majority of male footballers have never and will never have an allegation of rape made against them because they are good men who respect women. We are deeply alarmed by the advertising of the training, which seems to suggest women are vengeful liars and can only see this as sending the absolute wrong message out to anyone, let alone to young men.”

In a statement, Liberton apologised for the wording of the material on its website and promised to rewrite it.

“Liberton are sorry if the wording on our website has not properly explained the total prevention aspect of this training,” it said. “We have taken the wording down and we’ll rewrite it.

“Certainly 78 students from Brighton & Hove Albion FC, both male and female, felt its prevention message and learning was very positive in preventing anyone becoming a victim of this horrendous crime,” it continued.

“The PIP programme provides consent education to cause people to take responsibility to ensure they always have full and true consent. We will happily work with the objective of prevention with any groups in a constructive dialogue should they wish to contact us. The whole objective of PIP is prevention.”

Brighton, praised by commentators, including the Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, for taking a lead on grappling with a difficult and sensitive issue, declined to comment on whether it knew of Whitfield’s link with Evans before engaging Liberton to give the course or whether it would continue after the current block of training had been completed.

According to reports in December, Reading have also the course a trial and several other clubs are considering whether to introduce it. In the wake of the debate that surrounded Evans’ release from prison, many called on football to take a lead in educating young players about their responsibilities.

Evans served half of a five-year sentence after being found guilty of raping a 19-year-old woman following a night out in Rhyl, north Wales. He was refused leave to appeal but has always maintained that the sex was consensual and is waiting to hear if the Criminal Cases Review Commission will reopen the case.

In a testimonial on the Liberton website, Massey pays tribute to Whitfield’s work. “Having got to know Russ and his team over the past nine months, I am convinced that had Liberton acted in conjunction with the defence pre-trial, there would not have been a conviction,” he said.

“Had they been involved in the appeal there would have been a greater chance of success. I now believe that in time they will find evidence sufficient for a return to the court of appeal and the overturning of this wrongful conviction.”

On his release on licence last year, first Sheffield United and then Oldham Athletic abandoned plans to sign Evans in the face of a public backlash.

A website set up by his supporters said that further written submissions and two witness statements had this week been lodged with the CCRC. “This further strengthens Ched’s application to the CCRC, which we hope will lead to a referral to the court of appeal,” it said.

The Crown Prosecution Service is also set to make public its decision on whether to initiate contempt of court proceedings over a website produced by supporters of the 26-year-old, which featured closed-circuit television footage of the victim.