Qwiss I asked the same question but okay, I'll answer first and you can go next.
I've mentioned this before, but I've witnessed two people getting sacked for sexual misconduct at two different workplaces in the past. There was a procedure, an evidence gathering process and a decision came fast in both cases. Both were cases at work (in one case, on a survey field trip) however. I don't actually know what would have occurred if an employee had been on pre-charge bail pending an ongoing investigation of accusations of rape at these workplaces.
My opinion is that, based on what is known already publicly, Partey should have been suspended and the club should have sought to end his contract or at least transfer him out. At a minimum, he should be suffering a substantial career and financial penalty for the situation he's embroiled in.
A culture of harm to women even worse than that prevailing in broader society has prevailed in football for a long time. As a materialist, I don't believe these tendencies can readily be altered without real consequences and incentives put in place.
As we've discussed at length several times, the legal process is currently unlikely to lead to convictions or even charges in these cases. As that researcher I previously posted in this thread put it, rape is effectively decriminalised in the United Kingdom, which has an even worse record than the shocking one that prevails throughout Europe by comparison.
Pending radical reform, for example jurisprudential changes such as the principle of enthusiastic consent, the legal process can't be regarded as positively salient to our broader judgements of offenders. Escaping charges or a guilty verdict means little. On the flip side if a person is convicted, then the evidence was probably overwhelming.
Given all this, I think clubs have the opportunity and arguably, a social duty to create a zero tolerance culture towards harm to women. Reactionaries will always harp on the potential injustice to individuals such as Partey or Mendy or Ronaldo or Greenwood, all of whom are famous and wealthy footballers no matter how much more famous or wealthy they might miss out on being, while disregarding the ongoing, serious tendency of harm to women under current conditions.
The situation sucks and perfect justice may not be possible, but it's inarguable that things could be better, and they never will be without real consequences for players fucking around recklessly. So where does the buck stop? Do we accept this for other systematic issues in sport, such as racism?
That's why I would like the question I put forward above to be answered. I mean, if you haven't got an answer at all, you can't claim you have principles on the matter. But if you do have a line of thinking that would create no consequences for players over and above those there are now, it seems to me you've decided it's fine for football to put the underlying problem in the too hard basket, relying on society as a whole to become less shit.
On the other, non-punitive side of the ledger, maybe the cleanskin style cultural changes we've had at Arsenal under Arteta, stuff like the gender integration of the training areas, and better initiatives to educate the players will have a good impact on some of this stuff.
