Luke McCormick's return to football with Swindon Town after serving a prison term has reignited an emotional and raw debate
The problem, as Luke McCormick must realise from behind the walls of Leyhill Prison, is that it doesn't really matter how many character references are put forward or what is said about the benefits of rehabilitation, there will always be people appalled to the point of revulsion by the idea of him rebuilding his football career.
The McCormick case is so emotive and still so exceedingly raw many would rather football simply pulled down its shutters when he is released on 6 June, halfway through a seven-year sentence for the drink-driving that caused the deaths of two boys, aged 10 and eight.
Except we know now that McCormick is to get the chance to resume his career, courtesy of Swindon Town, and could be back on a football pitch by the time the new season starts. "The guy's done his time," the club's chairman, Jeremy Wray, says. "He wants to come back and give something back to society. The best way we can do that is to rehabilitate, and that's the role Swindon can play."
It is a complex, divisive issue, and it is probably no surprise these debates almost always descend into shouting matches when the two opposing sides are both utterly convinced they are operating from a position of right over wrong. The divide is unbridgeable, and there is so little middle ground it would be futile to think an argument can be made that will not polarise opinion.
There is, however, a fundamental right for someone to be given the chance to rebuild his or her life at the end of a prison sentence and, on that basis, Swindon should not be demonised for offering McCormick the chance to resume his professional life, particularly if their understanding is correct and he wants to help behind the scenes to educate about the perils of drink-driving. He, like every British citizen, is entitled to work again now he has been through the justice system.
It just happens to be that McCormick's line of work is football, which is regarded as such a cushy lifestyle it is not seen by everyone as returning to a day job, in the usual sense. Lee Hughes received an £80,000-a-year contract when he walked out of jail and straight into Oldham Athletic's employment in 2007. Marlon King will have earned considerably more, firstly at Coventry City and now Birmingham City, since his early release from an 18-month sentence for sexual and physical assault. McCormick could earn hundreds of thousands of pounds if he returns to his former level at Plymouth Argyle, his last club. He has the support of the Professional Footballers' Association and, at 28, is approaching the age when goalkeepers are usually at their peak.
Money is one thing, however; being in the public eye is something entirely different, and this is when the moral argument about rehabilitation takes a different slant and it is easier to understand the outcry.
Imagine, for example, how the parents of Arron and Ben Peak would feel turning on the television and seeing McCormick back in the football bubble, with all its perks and advantages. Or opening the newspapers and seeing him lauded for his achievements. McCormick was more than twice over the drink-drive limit and had been driving at speeds of 100mph, veering between lanes, before his Range Rover hit the family's people carrier. It was past 5am, on his way south from a wedding, and he had fallen asleep at the wheel. Arron and Ben were buried in coffins made in the colours of their favourite team, Manchester United. Their father, Phil, suffered a broken neck and back and is now in a wheelchair. He and his wife, Amanda, had no idea McCormick had been training with Paolo Di Canio's squad, on day release, since January.
It was, according to Amanda, like being "hit in the stomach". It is a shame, for starters, they had to find out through a reporter from the Sun.
Wray says he will resign if McCormick's involvement seriously damages the club's reputation, and the fact he is even talking along those lines shows the depth of feeling. Swindon won League Two's family club of the year and a poll on thetownend.com fans' website has 54% opposed to the idea and 4.6% threatening to withdraw their support. It is, however, more or less a split vote, with the remainder ticking the other options, including one marked "kudos to Swindon for giving him the chance".
Oldham experienced something similar after signing Hughes once he had been released from the six-year sentence imposed after a drinking session that ended with him crashing his Mercedes into a Peugeot 206 and then fleeing the scene. The other driver, 56-year-old Douglas Graham, was killed. Maureen, his widow, suffered terrible injuries, and died in her sleep 13 months later. Just as now, the relatives of the victims spoke of a bitter sense of injustice to see the footballer returning to his profession. Yet of all the letters, emails and telephone calls Oldham received, only three actually criticised the club and said they could not accept it. The majority wished Hughes well, including a good-luck card from the supporters' club of his old team, West Bromwich Albion, promising to visit Boundary Park to see one of his first matches back. Hughes has been involved in other trouble since but, to give him his due, he did become prominently involved with local road-safety campaigns, working alongside a mother whose son had been killed by a drink-driver.
Swindon want McCormick to do something similar and say he is receptive to the idea. It will never please everyone, but these issues never do. It is, however, a start, at a time when Jermaine Pennant's crash into a lamp-post and the subsequent eight-week prison sentence, suspended for a year, remind us again about the frequency with which footballers up and down the country get behind the wheel after a skinful. Read More
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