The reason I researched and developed my blog on this topic was because of an incident that occurred in January 2022 involving my local football club, Raith Rovers. Being born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, I was first introduced to ‘Raith’ at a young age, by my papa, who has been a lifelong fan. I started to attend every home game, with the stadium being a ten-minute walk from my house. It has always been known as a community-based club, with all ages encouraged and welcome. But this inclusivity has been challenged recently, as the club mindlessly secured the loan signature of striker David Goodwillie, a rapist convicted in 2017. This came a week after Manchester United youngster Mason Greenwood was arrested on suspicion of rape and threats to kill, meaning the crime was fresh in mainstream news and everyone’s minds. I was made aware of the incident after hearing a leaked audio I was unwillingly exposed to going viral across social media, which I found very disturbing. Mason Greenwood was then released on bail, which first brought the idea of football corruption and domestic violence to my attention. Many celebrities, not just footballers, think that with fame comes invincibility. This makes them more likely to commit a crime as they believe their wealth can help them evade prosecution, hence the spike in domestic violence from footballers in recent years. This thoughtless signing from The Rovers was met with intense response and repercussion from the public eye, with many lifetime supporters (including my papa and I) returning their season tickets, or even ripping them up. Many of the clubs important staff, such as the media team and woman’s squad all rightfully left their duties at the club that was coming under so much scrutiny from the community and major news outlets, with many people labelling the club ‘Rape Rovers’ The Kirkcaldy club – who play in the second division of Scottish football and had only moved to full time a few years prior – were being hurt financially to an extent simply unsustainable for the club's size and revenue. Matters only worsened when famous crime writer and lifelong fan and shirt sponsor, Val McDermid – who had her services recognised with a stand of the stadium named after her – announced she would be retracting her sponsorship and attendance of most games until the rapist was taken off the payroll and subsequently removed from the club. As a result of this, the board realised they had made a mistake of gigantic magnitude that would result in the demise of the club, founded in 1883, if they didn’t get rid of the ‘parasite’ immediately. They did so on February 8th, with The Rovers beginning to deteriorate from the inside, in hopes to replenish the title of family club. This meant that Goodwillie, who was forced to pay 100 thousand pounds in 2017, was rendered unemployed, unable to take part in games or train with the rest of the squad until March 1st, when his parent club, Clyde F.C, announced they were resigning him in yet another spineless decision filled with controversy. Thankfully this was met with similar reception from the staff and fans of Clyde, who the marksman had previously scored many goals with. This shows that football is all about inclusivity, and it’s for the fans. No club or its decisions are without the backing from the supporters. This personal attachment meant I was inclined and enticed to explore more about the increasing prominence of domestic violence of all kinds amongst football culture, and attempt to raise awareness of issues of corruption that are tarnishing the name of ‘The Beautiful Game’.

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Murray, posted 10th March 2022

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