Alison Rowat: Raith Rovers fans are lions being led by prize asses

If there is a book dealing with great public relations disasters of our time, Raith Rovers has earned a spot in it. Place their oily words somewhere between jeweller Gerald Ratner calling his own products “crap” and the Trump campaign’s Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference.

Unsurprisingly, the question of the day was how on Earth the football club thought it was going to sign a rapist without all hell breaking loose.

To recap: in 2017 a Court of Session judge ruled that Goodwillie and another footballer, David Robertson, had raped a woman, Denise Clair. They were ordered to pay her £100,000 damages. An appeal was rejected.

Ms Clair, who waived her right to anonymity, said at the time of the 2017 ruling: “Those players believed themselves to be untouchable”.

As of yesterday, and in the absence of the deal being cancelled, the remaining board members at Raith Rovers must fancy themselves made of similar stuff.

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Despite a raft of resignations, including the captain of the women’s team, plus Val McDermid withdrawing her shirt sponsorship; plus outrage across the media; plus the protests of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the board stood by its decision.

Now, unless you believe the remaining directors to be uniquely cretinous their reasoning seems unfathomable. Except it is not. Raith Rovers thought it could get away with it for several reasons, starting with the fact that Goodwillie had shown the way.

The former Scotland player did not appear in a puff of smoke just this week. He was already out there in plain view, playing for Clyde. When he first signed in 2017 there was some backlash, but nothing on the scale of this week’s protests. The club’s defence at the time was remarkably similar to Raith Rovers’. Clyde said: “On a purely footballing assessment the decision was easily made, however we did not ignore the wider societal message that the signing might send.”

But in the end they did ignore it because they were getting an absolute bargain who could score goals. Raith Rovers did the same, for the same reasons. It was telling that when stories appeared about Goodwillie possibly making a move from Clyde, the manager Danny Lennon said there was “always” speculation over the player whenever the transfer window was about to open. He called Goodwillie “a golden asset”. So Raith was not alone in its daring raid. Which other clubs have made approaches? Will they now be emboldened for next time?

Having seen that Clyde had not been penalised for its choice, and indeed had done well out of Goodwillie, other clubs would have good reason to think they could enjoy the same outcome. Goodwillie himself could have come to the conclusion that his period out in the cold was over.

There are some, in common with Raith Rovers and Clyde, who believe that on balance it is right that Goodwillie should be allowed to get on with his career. Their argument goes like this: he was not prosecuted for rape, the Crown Office having decided against it; he has a right to earn a living for himself and his family; and in any case almost everyone deserves a second chance.

We shall leave aside that the percentage of rapes prosecuted is historically and notoriously low. As for the right to earn a living, Goodwillie might be thought to be on stronger ground there. He is a footballer by trade and he is good at it. You would not deny a bricklayer, or a journalist for that matter, the chance of going back to work, so why penalise him?

Yet not everyone can resume their lives as before. The civil case ruling is not the only mark against Goodwillie’s name. He has two convictions for assault. If he had been a teacher, a taxi driver, a member of any number of professions, he would not have been accepted back.

As for his right to be rehabilitated, that starts with an acceptance of what happened and a clear, unequivocal apology, neither of which has been forthcoming. Goodwillie still somehow sees himself as a victim in this case; why else, apart from the money, would he brazen it out, creeping back into the higher reaches of football one spineless club at a time?

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Many have been heartened at the extent of the backlash against Raith Rovers, seeing it as evidence of how football, and Scotland, has changed. Wouldn’t have happened years ago is the consensus. That is one positive that can be taken from this mess. On the downside, the club still went ahead with the signing.

Raith Rovers will try to argue that they have done what is in the best interests of the club, that their actions make sense, both in football and business terms. Yet they have made a fundamental error here. They have ignored the fact that football’s greatest asset, what has kept the game in business around the world, is the emotional attachment that supporters have for their clubs. Fans see themselves, their values, in the team they support. The best clubs return that sentiment.

That’s why the past few years have seen clubs getting out into their communities. It is a movement that did not start with the pandemic but it flourished during it, with clubs distributing food parcels, picking up prescriptions, and the like.

True supporters know there is no such thing as a solely football-related decision, that the game is as much, if not more, about the heart rather than the head. To take a side is to say this is me, this is us, here is where we plant our flag. We may be strangers to each other but there are some things we have in common, and zero tolerance of violence against woman is one of them.

Raith Rovers are presumably hoping supporters will forget about Goodwillie’s past. Attendance was way down on Tuesday, but how much of that was due to revulsion at the decision, and how long the rebellion might last, we shall see.

Football supporters are not the first lions to be led by donkeys, but in the case of Raith Rovers it is prize asses leading the way. Shame on them and all who follow.