A controversial blog post about convicted rapist Ched Evans has been removed by the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland (PFAI).

The article, written by a PFAI solicitor named Stuart Gilhooly, called into question Evans’ conviction for sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman, referring to the crime as “alleged.”

Evans has denied raping a woman in May 2011 in Rhyl, North Wales, claiming she gave consent. A jury in Caernarfon Crown Court found him guilty in 2012, and the Sheffield United striker served half of his five-year prison sentence.

Mr Gilhooly’s blog received considerable criticism when it was posted on the PFAI website, in light of a number of passages that refer to how fortunate the victim was to not remember the crime.

"This crime, as alleged, was at the bottom end. There was no violence and thankfully the victim has no recollection of it,” Mr Gilhooly writes.

"This, I hasten to add, does not make it right, or anything close to it, but it is nonetheless a mitigating factor," he adds.

Mr Gilhooly also said that Evans is arguably the “victim of a miscarriage of justice,” and that if sleeping with an intoxicated woman is a crime, thousands of men are guilty of it everyday.

Evans’ case was also compared to the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six, whose convictions for IRA bombings were overturned after years of protesting their innocence.

Mr Gilhooly’s blog, which has now been removed from the site, argued that Evans “deserves a chance at redemption,” in light of the vocal public outcry at the striker’s return to training at Sheffield United.

The team’s decision prompted the high-profile resignation of a number of patrons of the club, including Olympic champion track-and-field athlete Jessica Ennis-Hill; the gold-medallist asked Sheffield United to remove her name from a stand in the Bramnall Lane ground if Evans is resigned.