Everyone, even convicted criminals, deserves a second chance after paying their debts to society. It would be an inhumane world indeed were a person's life to be cut short of all opportunity on the basis that he or she has erred in the past.

It is difficult enough for a criminal to try and start anew, to obtain the opportunity to rejoin functioning members of society - the first step is usually to secure legal employment, something many employers are loathe to offer in the presence of a criminal record.

Being fully aware of these difficulties and their unfairness, I am normally the last one to encourage a witch hunt when a former convict is offered gainful employment.

So why does the fact the Hibernians, one of Malta's more popular football teams, has offered a contract to a convicted rapist disgust me? It is simple really. Being part of a recognised and celebrated (whatever that may mean in Malta) football team is not the same as being offered just any old employment.

Professional footballers are hardly on a par with clerks, salespeople, engineers and other, more mundane, careers. They are more akin to celebrities - on a minor level, sure, given that this is Malta, but celebrities nonetheless. They are the ones whose faces are splashed on billboards across the country, the ones who are interviewed by the media, their opinions and their lifestyles automatically legitimised simply because their career puts them in the public eye. They are the ones paid to endorse products and events, to put their seal of approval on anything from a face cream to a car. Their opinion counts more than that of the ordinary Joe in the street.

Being on contract with a premier football team brings with it an extra set of perks that has nothing to do with salary. Professional footballers - especially foreign ones - are considered role models. Children look up to them and want to emulate their lifestyle. They are the sporting equivalent of Ira Losco and Wintermoods.

So what exactly does the management of Hibernians think it's achieving by 'rehabilitating' this convicted rapist back to role model status and legitimisimg everything that he stands for?

Yes, this man certainly has every right to be employed by the football team. But that doesn't mean that Hibs are right to do so. Let us hope they will consider the implications of giving legitimacy to a convicted rapist before they sign in the dotted line.

Just give him a job where he can cause no further damage and be done with it.