Hearts Football club today announced that Graham Rix is to be the new boss. Graham Rix was charged and found guilty of indecent assault and sex with a girl of aged 15 six years ago. Since he was placed on the sex offenders register, he is unable to work with kids under the age of 16.

I followed this case back then, not only because I am a father, but as a fan of Chelsea football club with whom he had strong ties, (he was also the manager of Portsmouth FC). Now one thing I must point out is that I am not saying he is 100% innocent. He did himself admit that he slept with the 15 year old, but he has always maintained that he did not know she was 15. After the initial court case, there were several reports in the paper about there being some collusion by the child’s parents after it was found out who Rix was. He claimed that she always said she was over 16 and there were reports in the papers saying that her family push this point in order to gain from it later on. Whatever the true facts, there was always something dodgy about the facts that were presented, but as I stated before, he slept with an underage girl, admitted that (because you can’t hardly deny it really). For that he was punished, and has suffered as a result of it.

Personally, I believe this was the start of many claims against high profile players. Because of the laws in the UK, the defendants name is not with held, therefore if you are accused of such crimes or similar, your name will be dragged through the courts. So you either have to go to court to clear your name, or settle out of court. There are many cases which are not reported through the media, but they happen.

Since the Rix case there as been a major increase in the number of claims against premiership football players. Many of these have failed to get to court, or have been thrown out in court. There have been many more than have settled out of court for money in order to protect the name of the player and/or club.
Again, don’t get me wrong, as I do believe there are players who are both abusive and/or guilty of such attacks. Some of these are probably settled out of court, but we will never know. Our judicial system is fast following the media frenzy that surrounds the US court system and we must put a stop to that now.

It is time that both the victim and accused ID’s be kept secret. In conjunction with that, I think it is about time that any previous convictions by the accused should be taken into account. (That is worth another post on its own, since I can’t believe they don’t tell the jury or previous convictions in case it biases there opinion. Erm, excuse me, the fact that a rapist has 8 previous similar convictions tells me that along with the evidence presented to me might actually be relevant. If they don’t have the evidence to convict him, then previous convictions should not matter. It has to be beyond reasonable doubt).

Rix was found guilty mainly on his own admissions because it is something he could not deny. That and the evidence of one other person. In truth, only they will ever know the true story. Thanks to press coverage it was over hyped and we shall never know the truth.

Rix has done his time, served out his punishment and has the right to a second chance. He will be watched like a hawk, he will also be hounded by those who don’t agree with it. But would someone so guilty come back into the limelight? They would more than likely go hide somewhere and keep out of the spotlight knowing of their own guilt.

Rix has had his family with him all the time, and it must be really hard for him. I really hope he gets a chance to do his job. It will be hard, there will be taunts (far worse than Beckham, Posh and anal sex). He’s brave man and I wish him good luck.

Now if it was my daughter, then I don’t think I would be saying the same things. I’d probably be calling for him to be hanged or worse (or even doing it myself). Thanks to the UK press, we will never know the true outcome.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2215702005
http://www.football.co.uk/hearts/rix_set_for_jambos_job_208214.shtml
http://www.lasalute.net/article47362.html
http://www.soccer365.com/EUROPEAN_NEWS/Scottish_News/page_111_108810.shtml
http://www.soccer365.com/EUROPEAN_NEWS/Scottish_News/page_111_108803.shtml
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/scorecard/11/08/truth.rumors.more/1.html