The singer-songwriter Paul Heaton has become the latest figure associated with Sheffield United to resign his position as a result of its decision to allow the convicted rapist Ched Evans to train with the club.
The former lead singer in the Beautiful South has followed the lead of television presenters Charlie Webster and Lindsay Graham in quitting as a patron of the Sheffield United Community Foundation.
The Olympic gold medal winning heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill said last week she would ask for her name to be removed from the Bramall Lane stand if Evans was offered a new contract.
Heaton, a lifelong Sheffield United fan, said he wanted to “salute the bravery” of the trio in “standing up for victims of rape everywhere”.
After Ennis-Hill received rape threats and abuse on Twitter in the wake of her decision, the club issued a statement strongly condemning the trolls and said it would work with police to identify them.
Evans was released on licence having served two and a half years of a five-year sentence after being found guilty of raping a 19-year-old woman following a night out in Rhyl.
He has maintained that he is innocent, and the issue of whether Sheffield United should re-sign the player has split supporters and the wider public.
“I firmly believe that Ched Evans has the right to rebuild his career in football but rebuilding a career should not involve walking straight out of prison and into the shirt of the club he so badly let down,” said Heaton.
“I believe he needs to move away and move on, and the club itself needs to lift its reputation out of the gutter.”
The club agreed to allow Evans to train with them again at the request of the Professional Footballers’ Association, which has argued he should be allowed to resume his career.
But organisations including the End Violence Against Women Coalition have made clear their disgust at the decision, while more than 165,000 members of the public have signed a petition calling on Sheffield United chairman Kevin McCabe not to re-sign the striker.
Reports over the weekend suggested that the club had decided against offering Evans a new contract but it has yet to make its decision public.
Heaton said he planned to donate his fee for a gig at Sheffield’s City Hall later this month to Sheffield Rape Crisis Centre and thanked the foundation for its “continued hard work” in the city.
The former Housemartins member has become the fourth patron of the foundation to resign after Webster, Graham and the 1960s pop singer Dave Berry. Among the remaining patrons are the actor Sean Bean, snooker player Ding Junhui and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Nick Matthew.
