A CROWDFUNDER for Rape Crisis Scotland set up by a Raith Rovers fan in response to the signing of David Goodwillie has raised more than £10,000.
Season ticket holder Martin Glass launched the fundraiser as the club faced a furious backlash over the decision to buy the forward, who was found in a civil court in 2017 to have raped a woman six years earlier.
Rape Crisis said in a statement that Raith Rovers were sending "a clear message of disregard to survivors of rape and sexual violence".
Yet another key organisation has since distanced itself from the Kirkcaldy team. Broadcaster Raith TV, which covers the side’s home and away games, announced it could not in “in good conscience” carry on working with the club.
RaithTV Team Statement pic.twitter.com/I71sJvn2hR
— RaithTV (@RaithTV) February 2, 2022
Former Raith Rovers star Stephen McAnespie has also instructed his lawyers to ask the board to have his name removed from the Hall of Fame.
Meanwhile, the women and girls’ teams have moved to completely distance themselves from the club.
As of Thursday morning, more than £11,000 has been raised for Rape Crisis Scotland through Glass’s JustGiving fundraiser.
The season ticket holder said the page had been set up as a “counter measure” to Goodwillie’s signing, adding: “Let’s make a difference.”
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon: Football chiefs should step in over Raith Rovers 'rapist' signing
Late on Tuesday, Raith TV announced: “We cannot, in good conscience, just go along with this - hoping the media storm will blow over, that people will become numb to it and then just go on broadcasting to the world footage of an individual with such a background representing us on the field.
“We struggle to see a way back from this for our club, but are heartened that the vast majority of Raith Rovers fans, and wider society, find this decision equally abhorrent.”
Author Val McDermid, who has ended her sponsorship and support of the club, says she is now helping the women and girls' teams, who were outraged by the club's move.
She said they are having new shirts printed that do not have the Raith Rovers crest on them, and that the women’s team want to play their weekend fixture at a different ground in the town.
Tyler Rattray, captain of Raith women’s team, quit in protest after the Kirkcaldy club signed Goodwillie.
McDermid says the women’s and girls teams were “appalled and horrified” by the signing.
She told Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4: “I’ve kind of pivoted towards the women and girls’ teams and my position now is to support them into rebuilding their confidence and their trust in themselves.
“They had a meeting last night and the upshot of that is, essentially, they want to completely distance themselves from Raith Rovers football club.
“They are currently, as we speak, having new shirts printed that don’t have the Raith Rovers crest on them.
“They are committed to playing their fixture on Sunday not at Stark’s Park, the Raith Rovers ground, but at another ground in the town, at the Windmill pitches.
“They are talking about changing the name of the club but that’ll obviously be something they have to discuss with Scottish Women’s Football, but they are adamant they no longer wish to be associated with Raith Rovers and that’s where I’m focusing my attention now to rebuild their club, and to circle the wagons round them.”
READ MORE: Everything wrong with the Raith Rovers David Goodwillie statement
Raith Rovers signed Goodwillie despite a court ruling in a civil case in 2017 that he, and now retired player David Robertson, had raped a woman.
The two men were ordered to pay damages of £100,000 to the woman, but no criminal charges were brought against either of them.
The club has said the signing was “first and foremost a football-related decision”.
Martin Glass's crowdfunder for Rape Crisis Scotland can be accessed here.
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