Club owner triggers fresh condemnation after claiming unrepentant rapist David Goodwillie deserves sympathy too

The owner of Raith Rovers faced renewed criticism yesterday after he defended his signing of an unrepentant rapist.

John Sim was challenged to meet rape survivors to understand the crime after he suggested David Goodwillie deserved as much sympathy as his victim.

He described the response to the player’s transfer to the Kirkcaldy club as “appalling” after best-selling novelist and lifelong fan Val McDermid led condemnation of the signing, echoed by Nicola Sturgeon and Gordon Brown, another Raith Rovers fan, before the club’s women’s team severed ties and some board members resigned.

Sim said: “I’m appalled by the reaction to it and initially my reaction was ‘well, if he can’t play for the club, let’s close the club’. I didn’t think it was fair.”

“Surely you need to move on and let the guy pick up the pieces.”

Goodwillie, who was ruled a rapist after his victim launched a landmark civil action, has never apologised for his actions or paid any of the compensation ordered by the court after declaring himself bankrupt but, in his interview, Sim said his victim deserved sympathy but so did her attacker: “I feel sympathy for her. Both of them have paid dearly.”

After his signing triggered a wave of criticism, Raith Rovers initially stood by the signing but, within days, said he would not play for the club. An attempt to loan him to his former club, Clyde, ended after the club’s landlord, North Lanarkshire Council, said it would end the lease on its stadium if he entered it. Raith Rovers are continuing to pay his wages, with a contribution from Clyde.

Sim stood down as chairman of the Fife club last week in a move described by Goodwillie’s victim, Denise Clair, as meaningless PR and his comments yesterday attracted widespread criticism.

The Sunday Post view: Mr Raith Rovers and everything that is wrong in Scottish football

A rape survivor, known as Miss M, yesterday challenged him to meet her face to face to understand the impact of sexual violence on women. The former St Andrews University student, who won a civil court action after a jury delivered a not-proven verdict against her attacker, said: “I don’t think John Sim has any place to be telling society to forgive but not forget what a rapist has done. Sim is not the person who has experienced the pain and his ­entitlement is sickening.

“I’d like to explain to Sim how what happened to me affected not only all the female members of my family but my father and brothers too. It’s not just the victim of a rape who is affected for the rest of their life, their whole family is, and the effects are devastating.

“I hope he has the courage of his conviction and will agree to meet me and members of Rape Crisis Scotland so we can give him a better understanding of what happens to victims in this country, and how the criminal justice system lets so many of us down.”

She said: “Denise is an inspiring woman who has faced so much in her fight for justice. We all stand with her in support.”

Goodwillie, along with his then teammate David Robertson, was found to have raped Ms Clair after a night out in West Lothian when she was incapable of giving consent through drink or drugs. Tests were not done quickly enough to establish if she had been drugged but her blood revealed ­potentially fatal levels of alcohol. After a criminal prosecution was suddenly dropped without, according to Ms Clair, proper explanation, she launched a ­successful civil action in 2017.

Robertson retired but Goodwillie was allowed to continue his senior career at Clyde without sanction. After the players were ruled rapists, the Scottish Football Association said no disciplinary action would be taken because, after a review, it was decided they had not brought the game into disrepute. It has been urged to review that decision.

Scottish Conservative shadow community safety minister Russell Findlay said: “From these comments it seems the club owner is more concerned for the rapist footballer than his victim. To be ‘appalled’ at the backlash confirms he still does not understand or accept the outpouring of anger from fans and others.”