THE Clyde Ladies football team have all resigned from the team in protest at the return of the “rapist” David Goodwillie to the men’s team.
Goodwillie had played for Clyde FC since 2017 but was signed by Raith Rovers in an extremely controversial move at the start of February.
The player had been labelled a rapist by a civil court, who ordered him to pay damages of £100,000 to the victim.
The outrage at his signing sparked high-level interventions from people such as the First Minister, and led the club’s then shirt sponsor, author Val McDermid, to pull her support.
READ MORE: How 'rapist' David Goodwillie sparked a major Raith Rovers fall-out
The Raith Rovers ladies team all stopped playing under the name as a result of Goodwillie’s signing, and now Clyde FC’s ladies team has taken a similar step after the forward re-signed on loan.
Following the announcement that the 32-year-old would be returning until the end of the season, the ladies team’s general manager, and all of its players, resigned.
In a statement, the team said: “We can today confirm the general manager/secretary of Clyde Ladies has resigned on hearing the news of the return of David Goodwillie to the club.
“All of the players in the ladies team have discussed the situation with the general manager/secretary and they are all in agreement that we no longer wish to play for Clyde FC.
“This will start with immediate effect.
“As a group of female footballers all we wish to do is play the sport that we love but due to the current circumstances we are unable to do this.
“At this time, we wish to ensure the wellbeing and privacy of our players therefore we would ask that players are not approached personally for comment regarding this matter.”
It comes days after both McDermid and Nicola Sturgeon again spoke out against Goodwillie being allowed to play despite the civil court ruling.
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