Sexual misconduct and emotional abuse were ‘systemic’ in US NWSL, findings report

Emotional abuse and sexual misconduct were “systemic” in the US National Women’s Soccer League, according to an independent investigation into allegations against several coaches in 2021.

The scandal erupted when an English coach, Liverpool-born Paul Riley, was accused of harassment and sexual coercion by several former players. Riley, who denied the allegations, was fired as head coach of NWSL club North Carolina Courage, but the allegations didn’t stop there, with five coaches in the NWSL leaving their posts last season amid claims of misconduct. The head of the NWSL, Lisa Baird, resigned after being criticized for her handling of the situation.

Former acting US Attorney General Sally Yates has interviewed more than 200 people on behalf of US Soccer. Ultimately, Yates found that the NWSL had “failed to take basic measures for player safety” and that teams, the league and US Soccer had all failed to adequately address the evidence presented to them by whistleblowers.

Players have repeatedly raised concerns in anonymous player surveys and through direct complaints, but teams, the league and federation have failed to adequately address reports and evidence of wrongdoing. A coach was ‘put in a bad position’ — or they ignored them completely,” the Yates report said in response to the allegations reported by The Athletic.

“Abuse in the NWSL is rooted in a deeper culture in women’s football, beginning in youth leagues, that normalizes verbally abusive coaching and blurs the lines between coaches and players.”

Among the players required to provide evidence for the investigation, former USA Under-23 defender Erin Simon, who currently plays for Leicester City in England’s Women’s Super League, told an alleged April 2021 meeting with her then-coach at Racing Louisville, North. -Irish Christy Holly.

He is said to have told Simon that he would touch her for every step she messed up, and Simon claims that Holly “pushed his hands up her pants and into her shirt” as they watched some match footage. Holly was fired from Racing Louisville last year “for a reason”, but the club did not disclose the reasons publicly.

“I want to do everything I can to ensure that no other player has to experience what I’ve done,” Simon, 28, from Leicester, said in a statement. “This report finally lets our voices be heard and is the first step towards the respectful workplace we all deserve.”

The abuse described in the report is “completely unforgivable and has no place in football, on or off the field,” current US Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone said in an open letter in response to the report. Yates.

US Soccer added that it would immediately begin implementing the recommendations of the Yates report.