FC Emmen flooded with criticism after hiring footballer convicted for sex with minor
FC Emmen faced a wave of criticism after announcing the transfer of Desley Ubbink on Monday, NOS reported on Tuesday. The 30-year-old Dutch footballer was convicted of having sex with an underage girl in 2015. A club employee tried to delete this information from his Wikipedia page, exacerbating the situation.
DESLEY 𝗨𝗕𝗕𝗜𝗡𝗞 ❤️
— FC Emmen (@FC_Emmen) August 7, 2023
💪 Welkom bij onze mooie club!#HIERKOMIKWEG pic.twitter.com/FADsZEMqRY
Desley Ubbink was sentenced on 5 October 2015, to 160 hours of community service, for abuse of a 14-year-old girl. He was 20 at the time. The encounter may have been consensual, but the court determined that Ubbink breached a "social-ethical norm," making his actions punishable. In her statement, the victim expressed fear of Ubbink and asserted that she was coerced into the act.
The player's conviction was featured on his Wikipedia page. Someone on X, the social platform previously known as Twitter, highlighted that there were multiple attempts to erase this information from Wikipedia. The person making these edits used his real name, revealing himself as an employee of FC Emmen. The original tweet has since been deleted since the employee's name could be seen.
Heb de tweet over de Wikipedia pagina verwijderd. De persoon in kwestie gesproken en die vindt het vervelend dat zijn naam pontificaal in beeld staat en ik snap dat, ook al was de actie niet echt handig te noemen.
— Wouter Holsappel (@Holsappel) August 7, 2023
Social media was flooded with dozens of outraged reactions. FC Emmen General Director Rinse Bleeker expressed his shock at the reactions on social media to RTV Drenthe. "But at this time I don't want to make any further announcements about it because it concerns the private situation of an employee." He remained ambiguous about whether FC Emmen was aware of the conviction earlier, mentioning, "We may address this at a later date."
Dus als ik het goed begrijp trekt Emmen een speler aan die 10 jaar terug veroordeeld is voor seks met een minderjarig (14!) meisje én heeft vandaag iemand van de club geprobeerd de Wikipedia pagina van die desbetreffende speler te veranderen. Wauw. Als dat inderdaad zo is …
— Leo Oldenburger (@LeoOldenburger) August 7, 2023
Bleeker confirmed that a club employee tried to modify the Wikipedia entry about the conviction. "There was an attempt to do something without ill intentions," Bleeker said. "We've addressed it, and that's the end of it," he added.