Val McDermid calls for regulator to check footballers

Val McDermid withdrew her support from Raith Rovers after the club signed David Goodwillie

Val McDermid has called for an independent regulator to make checks on professional footballers, after the club she sponsored signed a rapist.

David Goodwillie - who a judge ruled had raped a woman - joined Raith Rovers from Clyde, prompting an outcry from fans and a series of resignations.

The best-selling crime writer said an independent body could regulate who was able to play for clubs.

Fans wanted players on the pitch they could look up to, she added.

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"I think that there needs to be some kind of independent body that regulates the whole game generally, particularly what players can play, who can be on the books, if you like, to play for clubs," she said.

"At the moment there is no real regulation over that. There is the supposed 'fit and proper person' regulation that comes to ownership but there is nothing about who is actually on the pitch.

"I think, to be honest, fans are saying now we want people on the pitch that we can respect and look up to."

However, Dr Nick McKerrell, a senior law lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University, cast doubt on the prospect of a new independent regulator.

He said the Scottish government was unlikely to have the appetite to pass an act of parliament required because it would "involve quite a major intervention in the essentially private sector".

David Goodwillie was signed by Raith Rovers after five years at Clyde

Last Wednesday, Ms McDermid - a lifelong supporter of the Fife side - withdrew her support and sponsorship of Raith Rovers Football Club in protest at the signing.

She was the Scottish Championship team's main shirt sponsor but said the deal would end as a result of the signing.

The name of the author, who was also a director, was worn on the clubs' home shirt and was on the South Stand at Stark's Park.

Two of the Kirkcaldy club's directors, the captain of its women's team, staff and volunteers also left in protest.

The club later admitted it had "got it wrong" by signing the rapist and that it "bitterly regretted" signing Goodwillie - despite initially defending the decision because he was "a proven goal scorer".

The author watched a match between McDermid Ladies and Livingston at the weekend

The Raith Rovers women's team severed ties with the main club, are now named McDermid and are sponsored by the author.

Ms McDermid said: "It makes a very strong statement about our attitude to violence against women. And that's one of the things that's also upset me most about the club's attitude.

"At no point have they said anything about David Goodwillie's victim, at no point have they said anything in support of the women who attend the club regularly who take part in club activities, who come to games.

"This is as much about all the women victims out there as it is about what Raith Rovers have done."

'Safe sport for women'

Aileen Campbell, chief executive of Scottish Women's Football, said there was a lot of "trust to be rebuilt" but the reaction to the Raith Rovers signing could be used to "drive forward positive change".

"I've been reaching out to colleagues in the SPFL and the SFA to work out what collectively can we do to make sure that football is seen to be a safe sport for women going forward."

The woman Goodwillie raped told the Sunday Post newspaper it was "shameful" that Goodwillie was allowed to continue playing football after the civil case in 2017, the first rape case of its kind in Scotland.

Denise Clair, who waived her anonymity, hit out at the footballing authorities, accusing them of being "complicit" with their "silence".