Ray Rice case shines spotlight on sport’s domestic violence dilemma – The Guardian

The shocking revelations around Ray Rice and his indefinite ban from the NFL have thrown the attitudes of sport towards violence against women into sharp relief this week.

Rice, a running back for the Baltimore Ravens, was given a two‑game suspension for domestic abuse in July, but on Monday a video surfaced of him knocking out his then fiancee in an Atlantic City casino. Rice, playing under a five-year, $40m contract with the Ravens, was subsequently released by the club and banned indefinitely from playing in the NFL by the league’s commissioner, Roger Goodell.

American sport and society has been shocked by the story, but English football could face an uncomfortable test of its own in the coming weeks and months. The cases of two high-profile footballers will play out – one a convicted rapist, the other who denies charges of assaulting his girlfriend and her mother. The question of how soccer should respond to the issue of violence against women leads the way to an ethical minefield.

In the US, the NFL has recently laid down strict new rules invoking sanctions – including a lifetime ban – for players and staff who commit violence or sexual assault against women. Rice has been a high-profile example of this policy. In the UK, however, sport has yet to construct a clear frame of reference for incidents that are not directly related to sport itself.

This lack of direction is excruciating for those tasked with making decisions on how to deal with a convicted rapist such as Ched Evans, the former Sheffield United footballer with 13 Wales caps due to be released from prison next month. When, at a recent press conference, the Wales national coach was asked whether he would have Evans back in his squad, Chris Coleman hesitated, carefully rehearsing the moral arguments for and against.

In the end, as Coleman confessed, there is no straightforward solution. “It’s a horrible position to be in if I’m honest with you,” he said. “He’s been found guilty of a heinous crime – it’s one that, when you say the words, it makes you wince.”

Ultimately, said Coleman, it would come down to whether Evans could find form again after two years out of the game, and whether the Welsh FA would agree to have him.

Ravel Morrison, meanwhile, the former Manchester United player now with West Ham United, denies charges of harassment and assault relating to his former partner and her mother. His trial date is set for early January 2015, but he continues to be available for West Ham while on bail.

Back in the US, there are some distinct voices on the issue of violence against women by sportsmen. Take the response of the San Francisco 49ers coach, Jim Harbaugh. “I can be very clear about that. If someone physically abuses a woman and/or physically or mentally abuses or hurts a child, then there’s no understanding. There’s no tolerance for that. We would not [accept that player in our team]. We can be very clear.”

Moya Dodd, an Australian former football player and now a Fifa executive committee member, told the Guardian that she welcomes the new regulations from the NFL and urged football to step up the fight against sexism.

“It’s encouraging to see administrators acknowledge the profound influence that sport has on what’s considered socially acceptable, and follow up words with actions,” she said. “Sport can bring out the best and the worst. It’s our choice – be a haven where ugliness can fester, or make it a leader in showing the rest of society how we can limit harm and help our best selves flourish.

“Sport is not a magic wand, but it is perhaps the most powerful tool wehave for resetting norms among the playing population and their fan base. Fifa has taken a strong stand on racism. I would say that football everywhere needs to treat sexism just as seriously as racism.”

Currently, sexism or violence against women is more commonly viewed as a legal issue rather than a transgression a sport can act upon. The English FA says it is taking an active interest in the NFL’s policy but, as a spokesperson explained, the governing body makes a point of not duplicating work concerning off-the-field issues that the criminal justice system already covers. A code of conduct for all England players does exist, though unlike with the NFL it is not a policy, rather a set of recommendations; it is also not publicly available.

In contrast, not only will the new NFL policy respond to legal convictions, but it will not rely on a legal conviction to apply sanctions. It does, however, wait for due legal process. Hence why the defensive end Ray McDonald, who was arrested after allegedly beating his pregnant fiancee, played for the 49ers over the weekend while the legal investigation continues.

That stance may hold for now but the McDonald case will undoubtedly provide added scrutiny in testing out the new legislation. McDonald’s appearance also attracted criticism from local media, who thought he should have been put on administrative leave until the legal process was complete.

Understandably, many people will question whether sport should concern itself with these issues at all. If a plumber is convicted of rape he can return to his job, if a player has served a prison sentence why would football consider punishing him twice, withholding the opportunity to return for his club or country? “Because of the high-profile nature of the sport,” says Coleman, “football is different.”

The Women’s Aid CEO, Polly Neate, agrees. “It is really important that those who are role models for young people don’t commit those kind of offences,” says Neate, whose charity has teamed up with the Premier League and the FA this season on the Football United Against Domestic Violence campaign.

“Ched Evans is a role model to thousands of young people. As an individual he may have served his time, but there’s a wider cultural problem here. We don’t want to see a complete brushing under the carpet of this issue. We want the club to acknowledge that this is part of the culture of football and there’s work to be done to challenge that. Rape isn’t something that just goes away when someone serves their sentence.”

Neate underlines the challenge of rehabilitating an individual who denies an offence, making them ineligible for the perpetrator programme. “There’s an enormous problem if [Evans] doesn’t accept the reality of what happened. There’s an even greater problem if the club don’t acknowledge it. He was found guilty. The club need to be absolutely clear that’s the case. It’s quite difficult to be convicted of rape in this country, and he managed it. That’s the starting point.”

Both the NFL and the Australian Football League – the governing body of Australian Rules football – have won Beyond Sport awards for their work on gender equality. The AFL’s respect and responsibility programme actively encourages players and staff to challenge misogyny, from sexist jokes to sexual harassment.

In 2009 the former Carlton club president John Elliott rocked the AFL with accusations that clubs frequently paid “hush money” to women who claimed they had been raped or assaulted by players. Elliott was promptly dismissed.

While allegations of rape and violence against women by footballers in England have surfaced over the years, Evans’ is a rare example of a legal conviction. Research in the US suggests this is not uncommon. Two studies in the late 1990s found that the conviction rate of professional athletes was around 40% lower than a general population sample.

While campaigners in the US maintain that the severity of even the latest policy – a six-game ban on a first offence – pales in comparison to that meted out to the Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon, who was recently banned for 12 months after testing positive for marijuana, the notion that any player would receive sanctions for an off-the-field offence seems revolutionary in the context of English sport.

More than 65,000 people have signed a petition asking Sheffield United not to re-sign Evans; rather than leave the club to navigate a hazardous moral maze, perhaps it is time that the football authorities, along with other sports, offer some clearer guidelines on this issue.

Major sporting leagues’ policy on domestic violence

American football

National Football League Personal Conduct Policy on violence against women: six-game ban for a first offence of violence against women. This increases if the incident takes place in front of a child, or involves a weapon, choking, repeated striking, or is committed against a pregnant woman. A second offence triggers a lifetime ban from the NFL, though this can be appealed after 12 months. Sanctions are not dependent on a legal conviction. The policy encompasses all NFL players, rookies, employees and contractors. An NFL and community-wide education programme is also in place, which includes identifying “at risk” individuals and providing them with confidential help, as well as a domestic violence helpline for the families of NFL personnel.

Cricket

England and Wales Cricket Board The ECB’s personal development and welfare team oversee a wide ranging programme aimed at making all England players “good and responsible citizens”. Players on the England development programme are educated on the pitfalls of celebrity status and the importance of being socially responsible on and off the field, in one-to-one sessions as well as group work. The ECB says it is aware of the NFL’s “progressive approach” to educating young players. In recent years it hase run a two-day “rookie camp” for junior county pros which has been closely modelled on a similar initiative used by American football.

Tennis

Lawn Tennis Association The English LTA says that all players on funding – juniors through to seniors – have to sign up to the LTA Code of Conduct which states that they cannot bring the sport into disrepute. Specific acts, other than a policy on social media, are not covered but a spokesperson said that domestic violence, for example, “would be covered under that code of conduct”. Sanctions are applied on a case by case basis, but funding could be taken away.

Football

Football Association All 24 England representative teams receive a Code of Conduct booklet on being selected for the national side. It is not a rulebook, but instead “sets out its expectations of its players”, according to a spokesperson. For players in the English league who are not in the national side, the charge of bringing the game into disrepute affects those acts which relate directly to football. All criminal investigations are left to the legal service.