The Scottish football authorities have been urged to consider introducing a “fit and proper person” test for players in the aftermath of the controversial signing of a footballer found by a court to be a rapist.
Raith Rovers were the subject of widespread criticism after the club signed David Goodwillie, 32, a former Scotland international and Dundee United striker, in the January transfer window.
In 2017, a civil court ruled that Goodwillie and his team-mate David Robertson had raped a woman in 2011 and ordered the pair to pay her £100,000.
In a letter to the Scottish Football Association (SFA), Hannah Bardell, an SNP MP asked the body to consider a fit and proper person test for professional footballers in the aftermath of events that she claimed sent a message that “men’s careers are more important than women’s safety”.
“Footballers, particularly male footballers, are paid significant sums of money and hold a particular status that often makes them role models,” Bardell, who spent four years working at Livingston FC, said in the letter, which was seen by The Guardian. “It’s only right that our footballing authorities have a fit-for-purpose system of deciding who can hold that position.”
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Such tests are used to prevent corrupt or untrustworthy people from serving on the board of organisations.
Bardell has also asked for a meeting between the SFA, Val McDermid, the bestselling author who led the backlash against Goodwillie’s signing, and Sandy Brindley, chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland.
In February, Nicola Sturgeon said a fit and proper person test for footballers “merits further consideration”.
McDermid, a life-long Raith Rovers fan who once sponsored the team, urged clubs to take much more responsibility for the behaviour of players. “Culture change is not something you can easily legislate for,” she said.
Rachel Adamson, co-director of Zero Tolerance, a campaign group working to end violence against women and girls, said: “We support the call for the SFA to take responsibility in deciding whether a footballer is fit to play. Footballers are role models in our society and must represent our values. But this needs to be supported by further action in order to create real cultural change.”
Goodwillie remains at Clyde because of a ‘no break’ clause in contract
Andy Smith, chairman of the Scottish Football Supporters Association, supported the call for a test. He said: “There is no policy at the governmental [level], there’s certainly no policy at the football clubs and they’re both kind of staring saying ‘I’m not sure if it’s me that should do this or someone else’. The SFA have to be a part of this but they shouldn’t be the ones who are calling what the rules are. It should be done by a mix of society from the government, the game and experts.”
A spokesman for the SFA said that the organisation had published an “equality vision” stating that “everybody should have the opportunity to participate in football at all levels, and that no individual should be discriminated against for any reason”.
