David Goodwillie: 'Scrapping signing may be societal shift in violence towards women', says Scottish Women's Football chief

The chief executive’s comments come after Raith Rovers decided to scrap the signing of ruled rapist David Goodwillie.

The club has now said the striker will not play for them and his contract is being reviewed.

Goodwillie has already signed a contract but it is understood negotiations between the club and the player are underway.

It comes after the First Minister, celebrities, members of staff and the footballing community all condemned the club’s signing of the player.

Asked if the U-turn from the club was enough, Aileen Campbell, CEO of Scottish Women's Football told BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “I think it’s a positive first step but it is only a first step.

"I think there are relationships to repair for the club and a lot of trust to rebuild."

Ms Campbell agreed that uproar towards the signing of Goodwillie was ‘not as much’ when the striker was playing with Clyde FC for four years.

The signing of Goodwillie led to Raith Rovers’ Women’s captain Tyler Rattray announcing her resignation and reports of the women’s team getting new shirts printed without the club crest.

"Perhaps this signals a societal shift.” said Ms Campbell, “There was a huge outpouring for Val McDermid and for Tyler the captain of the team over the stance they took.

"People across the community of Kirkcaldy, across Fife, across Scotland and beyond showed that they didn’t want to accept violence against women and I hope that that sends a signal that society does not want to meekly accept these things and society is changing.

"But there is still a lot of work we need to do with zero tolerance of violence towards women.

"What we need to do is think about how we can move forward and for me it’s about making sure that we use this as a platform to promote and show what the game can do and to really encourage and respect the game in the way that it deserves.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.