Gang rape allegations shock England's premier league
The case hit the frontlines of The Sun, one of the sleezier British newspapers, and detonated in the football (aka soccer) world like a cluster bomb shell. A 17 year old girl accused a group of well-known football stars of having raped her, after first having consented to sex with one of them. The police have confirmed the allegations in the most general terms.
In Britain, there are strict laws against reporting the names of suspects (sometimes, of course, violated), and the media has not even named the club where most of the alleged rapists came from. Think the Kobe Bryant case on steroids, with nudge nudge wink wink instead of direct disclosure of the accused's identity.
However, the media provided enough detail for people to find out. 'Household names' and internationals were involved, and most of the assailants came from a Premier League (top division) club. The incident happened in a room at London's Grosvenor House hotel over the weekend. London teams don't stay at hotels, so it was down to the teams who had visited London teams then.
The exact timing of the games ruled out most of them, and speculators were left with Aston Villa and Newcastle. Villa directly denied its players were involved, but Newcastle kept mum. And Newcastle just happens to have acquired a group of young players with a disciplinary record that would make the foreign legion think twice.
 British prosecutors issued sterm warnings against naming anyone, causing practically all unmoderated football discussion boards to shut down in Britain overnight. That leaves the boards outside UK jurisdiction with a lot of extra traffic, and if you want to read a colourful debate with lots of names thrown around, look no further. And Usenet is, as always, totally outside anyone's control, and it's just funny to see the powers that be puffing and huffing about more regulation.
Newcastle, the still unnamed club which 'everybody' know is the target, is in dire straits, and not only because it had a horrible start of the season. The chairman has already read the players the riot act, and told them in no uncertain terms that either they cooperate 100% with the police, or they will be fired and banned from the game for life. The manager, legendary Sir Bobby Robson (picture), reportedly offered to resign, but this was turned down. And indeed, there was speculation about him resigning over unknown disciplinary troubles just before the gang rape case hit the headlines. Now the poor man is trying to put up a brave face in public, as the media plays the game of not pretending to know.
For Newcastle United's next games, they will have to make the decision to either pull all the accused players from the team, effectively telling everybody who they are, or let them play and be booed and jeered by angered fans every time they come close to the ball. Newcastle play home against Southampton on Sat 4th, and away against Middlesbrough on Sat 18th.
And in the meantime, the police are conducting their careful investigations into the allegations, and the rumour mill is working overtime.
1:56:04 AM 
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