Judging Ched Evans

I want to start by saying I am not going to comment on my opinions on the case. I was not there. I have not seen the evidence. I don't know Ched Evans. I don't know the girl. This blog is about the reactions of certain individuals.

If you search 'Ched Evans' on Twitter, you find Tweets like these;

"Lets keep this support going 4 ched Evans an innocent man"
"We know Ched Evana is innocent"
"That boy Ched Evans, he'll shag who he wants he'll shag who he waaants that boy Ched Evans he'll shag who he wants!!!"
"BBC say Ched Evans "attacked" a woman. A bit of strong. I thought she was a cheap drunken bird who was too pissed to consent."
"Ched Evans is a horrible rapist who deserves to be dead"

Obviously the sheer flippancy here is truly disgusting, but it is not what I'm here to discuss. If you do search Ched Evans related Tweets, see if you can spot the running trend;
A majority of those who support Ched's innocence are Sheffield United fans, the team he played for.
A majority of those making horrible comments about him are Sheffield Wednesday fans, their rival team.

These people are basing their opinion on whether or not a man raped a woman on the team he played for. And not simply 'I support United therefore I support Ched', but 'I support United therefore I support Ched and think the girl who claims he raped her is a vile liar' and 'I support Wednesday therefore I think Ched is a horrible rapist who deserves the death penalty'.

Had he played for Wednesday rather than United, who knows what their stance would be. These are people with no concept of morality, not desire to know what is right and what is wrong; these are people who are enjoying getting involved in a fight they know nothing about simply to upset or disgust another group of people.

There cannot be many worse experiences than waking up to discover you've been raped. There cannot be many worse situations than having your brother/son sent to jail for 5 years for a crime he did not commit. It is a horrible situation; some girls do falsely accuse people of rape while some men do take advantage of girls and then try to make the girls look like liars. It must be one of the hardest trials to judge because you tend to have very little evidence.

We cannot know what really happened. Nobody truly knows that apart from the three people involved. But we sure as shit should not base our opinions of something so serious, so devastating, so truly horrifying, on which colour football strip we wear on a Saturday.