Conor McGregor verdict should make football think twice about associating with him

“I want to show Freya and every other girl and boy that you can stand up for yourself if something happens to you, no matter who the person is, and justice will be served. To all the victims of sexual assault, I hope my story is a reminder that no matter how afraid you might be, speak up, you have a voice, and keep on fighting for justice.

“I know this has impacted not only my life, my daughter’s, my family and friends tremendously. And it’s something I will never forget for the rest of my life.”

Nikita Hand barely got through her statement outside the court in Dublin that had just ruled, in a civil trial, in favour of her claim that the MMA fighter Conor McGregor had sexually assaulted her in 2018.

It was a reminder of the barriers faced by women who are victims of violence like this. The strength and determination shown by Hand must have been extraordinary to even report the assault in the first place, never mind pursue it to this point. Hand said she felt “let down” by the Irish public prosecutors, who didn’t pursue a criminal claim against McGregor.

The court was told that McGregor pinned down Hand and put her in a “chokehold” as he assaulted her, that the paramedic who treated her said they had not seen “someone so bruised” in a long time, after she had been taken in an ambulance to a sexual assault treatment unit.

Hand was awarded a little under €250,000 ($257,000) in damages. McGregor denied the accusations and has said he will appeal. He posted a lengthy statement on X which he has since deleted. Another man was found not to have assaulted Hand.

The court was also told about the impact on Hand’s life that the assault had. She had to leave her job, her relationship with her then partner ended, she had to stop therapy sessions to help with the psychological impact because she couldn’t afford them, her mortgage was now in arrears and she had to move out of her home after men broke in and stabbed her new partner. The judge ruled that the latter incident should not be considered by the jury because there was no suggestion that McGregor himself was involved.

This is all mentioned to emphasise the effect of sexual assault on someone’s life, and it almost feels inappropriate to segue into the question of ‘what does this mean for football?’

But McGregor has tried to insert himself into football wherever he can, and he has often been indulged.

Take the time in October when he found his way onto the pitch at the Emirates Stadium, there ostensibly after taking part in a promotional event in London, he somehow managed to get to places in the stadium where even your typical hospitality ticket doesn’t get you.

He posed for a picture with Declan Rice and was filmed having a kick about and play-fighting with Bukayo Saka, who to his credit didn’t look particularly comfortable with the whole experience.

Arsenal did ask McGregor to leave the field of play, and later made clear that they would be reviewing their security procedures to ensure something similar didn’t happen again in the future.

McGregor was also in the stands for Arsenal’s away trip to Newcastle a few weeks later, and appeared on UK radio station talkSPORT while there.

He has posed for pictures with Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, among others, and has regularly interacted with Sergio Ramos online. He was a guest at the 2018 World Cup final in Moscow, invited by Russian president Vladimir Putin.

He has professed his support for several clubs over the years, including Manchester United, Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain. He has invested in his local Irish club, Lourdes Celtic, and has courted significant publicity by claiming he was considering buying a variety of teams, including United, Chelsea and Liverpool.

In fairness, you get the sense that many people in the game wanted no part of any association with McGregor, even before last week’s verdict.

He has been accused of a range of violent offences before and has convictions for assault and disorderly conduct but previously, legally speaking, the main accusation one could level at McGregor is that he’s an obnoxious, sometimes violent oaf, and football has plenty of those.

Now, a court has upheld accusations about one of the worst crimes a person can commit. It’s especially insidious because the sense of fear and intimidation that come with any accusation of sexual assault will be magnified in this case: McGregor is an extremely famous, influential and wealthy man with a large amount of aggressive fans who don’t need any encouragement to defend him and attempt to intimidate any perceived threat to him.

So now, there is no excuse. From this point, you can’t claim to be ignorant of McGregor. If it wasn’t clear before that he was a noxious character that nobody in football should be associated with, then it is now.

(Photo: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile via Getty Images)