6 October 2010 A little bit sexually assaulted a cup of Milo and a bad lie down A woman can't be a little bit pregnant, she can't be a little bit dead, she can't be a little bit equal, and she most certainly can't be a little bit sexually assaulted. If consent is absent, rape has occurred. There is no grey. While the details get shuffled about -- the code, the players, the seedy nightclub providing the backdrop -- in essence the same story is being retold. Footballers and sexual assault. The same story and frequently, the same public reaction: scepticism. Blame it on misogyny, blame it on our cultural pastime of cynicism or blame it on a media ever on the hunt for an "angle", the more frequently these stories appear in the press, the greater our scrutiny of the victim. As a rule our society may accept that rape is wrong, rape is heinous, rape is unforgiveable, but when these cases involve demi-Gods and ball sports, suddenly the game changes. Suddenly, not only is the case treated as a bit iffy, but more startling, we revert to the bad old days when it's not only healthy scepticism about rape but outright victim vilification. Unlike rape cases not involving sportsmen, footballer assault stories are treated to a front page, 6pm airing. Unlike "real life" cases played out in police stations, crisis centres and court rooms, in the footballer cases every known -- and merely speculated -- detail is put