What were they thinking?
It’s the question that’s been rattling round my mind since late on Monday night when I saw a tweet from Raith Rovers, confirming the club had signed David Goodwillie.
Evidently I wasn’t alone.
But there did come a point when even I was taken aback by the scale of the outrage.
I think it was around the time our sports writer Alan Temple revealed the CNN news network in the US had been on the blower to the Stark’s Park press office looking for a comment.
By then, of course, it was becoming difficult to keep count of the staff and supporters expressing disgust at the move and following sponsor Val McDermid out the door.
By Thursday bosses admitted they had got it wrong and revealed they were taking steps to annul the contract.
David Goodwillie, who was branded a rapist in a civil court case in 2017, will not now play for Raith Rovers.
It’s too little, too late for many people.
The cost – in terms of reputational damage and reneging on the deal with Goodwillie – might yet prove ruinous for the Kirkcaldy club, which has long prided itself on its position in the community.
For supporters who have followed Raith Rovers all their lives it’s a depressing conclusion to a ghastly week.
But maybe something positive might yet emerge from this whole sorry episode.
Ripples were felt far beyond football
On Tuesday, our columnist Kirsty Strickland suggested Raith Rovers would not have signed David Goodwillie in a society that valued women.
“In a country where women really mattered, we wouldn’t need to remind you we are your sisters, mothers, grans and daughters,” she wrote.
“Our safety and well-being would matter, not because of the familial ties that bond us to men, but because we matter as people. This decision by Raith Rovers sends a clear message that we don’t.”
It’s a chilling thought.
But it turns out the directors who approved this signing massively misjudged the public sentiment.
I’ve created a fundraising page for Rape Crisis Scotland in response to the David Goodwillie news.
Any donations and RTs massively appreciated. @rapecrisisscot
Thank you! #JustGiving https://t.co/uvJrQV2ZJX
— Martin Glass (@Martin_Glass96) February 1, 2022
Women and men stood up in huge numbers and declared this was not acceptable.
A crowdfunder set up by Raith Rovers season ticket holder Martin Glass in aid of Rape Crisis Scotland raised more than £11,000 in two days.
A line was crossed and people who would ordinarily run a mile from the label of social justice warrior spoke with their hearts and their feet.
And they were listened to.
Might the David Goodwillie saga be a moment of change for women?
I doubt another club will ever make a similar mistake.
But this felt bigger than Raith Rovers.
Bigger than football even.
I’d never go as far as to compare it to the MeToo or Black Lives Matter movements.
We’re Scottish. We don’t do big gestures.
And I’m a woman. What do I know anyway?
But it felt like something shifted this week.
Like we had a moment.
Like we pulled back a curtain and discovered people do give a toss about women, and their safety, and that they’re willing to stand up and fight for it.
Maybe it was just that – a moment.
Maybe we’ll all just go back to normal. Know our places. Hold our tongues. Laugh at the jokes about getting back in the kitchen. Cover our drinks. Look over our shoulder and carry our keys between our knuckles.
But there’s power there if we can only harness it.
And imagine if we could look back on this as the week when things really changed for the better.
