Ched Evans' retrial ended on Friday afternoon, a 12-person jury returning a 'not guilty' verdict after two hours of deliberation at the end of a two week trial.
While the decision has its own low-level footballing implications (Evans can, for example, continue to play for League One Chesterfield unhindered), they're not interesting or important enough to write about on these pages. I mean, come on now. Chesterfield.
Ched Evans: footballer cleared of raping 19-year-old woman in retrial https://t.co/vqiJpYP1J0
This is about you. And me. Football fans all over the internet, and offline too. Because a section of football fans - far too large a section - have behaved disgracefully since this case first began, and only seem to have gotten worse now their unlikely mascot for scumbag behaviour has been 'vindicated'.
Many are calling for the woman in the case to be tried herself, for her 'lies'. Huddersfield midfielder Jack Payne tweeted as much himself on Friday afternoon, writingThe girl who lied about Ched Evans is a disgrace!Should be locked up.�
Let's all say it together, now. 'Not guilty' does not mean innocent. And there is absolutely nothing in a not guilty verdict to suggest that the woman in this case lied - just that it was judged to be impossible to prove beyond doubt that she didn't consent to sex with Evans.
One young footballer's verdict on the Ched Evans case. A reflection of the ugliness this story has unleashed pic.twitter.com/ZRdu1bJtNn
This horrendously common idea that a not guilty verdict 'proves a lie' is an utter piece of nonsense. Pure, straight and simple. For a start,the woman never claimed that Evans had sex with her against her wishes, only that she didn't remember the events of the night. There was - and remains - no suggestion that she ever lied or led a court astray. She certainly has not benefited in any way from bringing the case against Evans, having to leave her family and assume new identities over and over again when human pondlife dig up her new name, address and details and expose her to showers of abuse.
Payne's post was swiftly removed but not, by the lack of apology, because he regretted the sentiment behind it. The replies to the tweet were at least as bad, if not comfortably worse. One called for the woman to be 'raped again, as punishment' - a staggering and vile statement, and a jaw-dropping display of cognitive dissonance. 'Again'? Well.
Almost all of those whoreplied - and the vast majority of those populating the various related hashtags with abuse - self described as football fans. For all that this isn't a football issue, this is absolutely a football issue.
If you want to educate yourself on the wider issues surrounding Ched Evans then @rey_z and @hummusandpizza have done important tweets.
Imagine being a human being who defends Ched Evans as anything other than a misogynistic scumbag. Compare and contrast two sets of quotes obtained this month.
"When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything - grab them by the p***y. You can do anything."
We could have had any girl we wanted...footballers are rich and they have money. That is what girls like.�
The first is the taped quote which has torpedoed Donald Trump's presidential campaign - the other is a collection of words that Ched Evans said in an ACTUAL REAL LIFE POLICE INTERVIEW.
'Team Ched' show just how sick football culture in Britain is, writes @oliverbrown_telhttps://t.co/sAsqSKWZBP
Evans' statement, read by his lawyer after the jury delivered their decision, celebrates his 'innocence being established'. We've already covered the fact that that'sa gross misrepresentation of the verdict at best, but just take a second to read the following passage from theGuardian's report on the trial.
"In court, Evans admitted he lied to get the key for the hotel room and did not speak to her before, during or after sex. He left via a fire exit. It also emerged that Evans' younger brother and another man were trying to film what was happening from outside the room."
The only thing this trial established for certain is that Ched Evans is essentially a scumbag.
If it ever boggles your mind why women are afraid of reporting assault, read literally any comments on the Ched Evans articles today.
The reaction to the trial, meanwhile,has established that too many football fans are as well. For the sake of women in football (or near footballers, or near...football fans in general, at this point), these attitudes have to be challenged.
It isn't enough to just be the kind of reasonable human being who doesn't dish out the abuse. The fight has to be actively taken to these kinds of attitudes - silence only serves to enforce them.
For more from Chris when he's not writing on 90min, follow him on Twitter at@ThatChris1209