Debbie Jevans, the Rugby World Cup 2015 chief executive, is among four Football League directors looking at whether new rules should be introduced in the wake of the Ched Evans case.
The debate over whether Evans, who served two and a half years of a five-year sentence for raping a 19-year-old woman, should return to Sheffield United has intensified in recent days as he has been granted permission to train with his former club.
Jevans, a former London 2012 director of sport who joined the Football League board this year, is one of four who will look at whether new rules are required to cope with circumstances where a player has been convicted of a serious offence.
The consultation could result in new rules or new guidelines for affected clubs to follow but is unlikely to report back in time to affect the Evans case.
The Football League chairman Greg Clarke, its chief executive Shaun Harvey and its two non-executive directors – Jevans and the former National Express chief executive Richard Bowker – will look at the issue in detail.
While it is believed to be unlikely that the league will go as far as bringing in regulations that would dictate to a member club whether they could register a player or not, it will look at whether there should be clearer guidelines on how to handle the process and whether players should be forced to serve a further punishment.
The Professional Footballers’ Association has argued that Evans, who maintains his innocence, should be free to return to his career having served his sentence. In a statement justifying the decision to accept a request from the PFA to allow the striker to return to training this week, Sheffield United said they agreed with that view but had not made a decision on whether to re-sign the player.
Any proposals that emerge from the Football League process are unlikely to affect the outcome of Sheffield United’s deliberations over Evans. It said this week that the decision was down to the club. “While we fully understand the gravity of the offence in question in this particular case, we also recognise that there is a value to wider society in enabling offenders to be rehabilitated through a return to their chosen line of employment,” said a Football League spokesman. “Equally, however, it is important never to lose sight of the effect that crime has on its victims.”
The issue has split fans and the wider public. The 2012 Olympic champion heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill said on Thursday that she would ask for her name to be removed from the stand that bears her name at Bramall Lane if Evans was allowed to return to the club.
