Brighton players 'trained on sexual consent'

All young male and female footballers at the Championship club are being given guidance on the law around consent as part of the Protect, Inform and Prevent programme, the BBC said.

The training is said to be given by a former police detective and a psychotherapist, and sees players questioned in a confidential environment on previous encounters, explaining when consent can be legally said to have been given.

Former Sheffield United striker Ched Evans was convicted of rape in 2012, an incident over which he protests his innocence. Evans tried but failed to return to football in the winter transfer window after serving half his sentence, but was unable to tie down a deal with Oldham due to the circumstances surrounding his conviction.

In 2013, four Brighton players were found not guilty of sexual assault and voyeurism after a 19-year-old woman claimed to have been assaulted at a hotel two years previously.