PHILADELPHIA — The latest report into allegations of abuse in American women’s soccer was published on Tuesday by the National Women’s Soccer League and the NWSL Players’ Association.
This one is the result of a joint investigation by the league, the union, and law firms each entity hired that started October of last year, after The Athletic published detailed allegations against former Philadelphia Independence, Portland Thorns, and North Carolina Courage manager Paul Riley.
The new report claimed it studied “all reports of inappropriate conduct” toward players in the league since its launch in 2012. The investigators said they conducted more than 200 interviews and reviewed some 200,000 documents.
In a news conference after the report’s release, NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said that neither she nor NWSLPA executive director Meghann Burke had prior approval of the report before it was published. Many players, team and league staff, and team owners were not given the completed report before it was made public.
“We have the benefit of what I hope is a cultural awakening around privilege and a cultural awakening around people trying to understand someone else’s perspective,” Berman said.
“This week has felt a bit like an unloading or a purging of all of these stories that have been collected over time,” Burke said.
‘Positions of power’
As with former acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Q. Yates’ recent investigation for the U.S. Soccer Federation, this report did not hold back in its allegations.
“[C]lub staff in positions of power made inappropriate sexual remarks to players, mocked players’ bodies, pressured players to lose unhealthy amounts of weight, crossed professional boundaries with players, and created volatile and manipulative working conditions,” it says. “They used derogatory and insulting language towards players, displayed insensitivity towards players’ mental health, and engaged in retaliation against players who attempted to report or did report concerns.”
In addressing root causes of those problems, the report says: “Like many institutions, the League has been influenced by sexism, racism, homophobia, and other biases. These biases are central to any evaluation of misconduct in the League.”
And the report ties those biases to issues in the sport as a whole.
“The League is also part of a soccer ecosystem in which mistreatment of players is endemic — one which affects not only the NWSL, but other professional leagues, both domestic and abroad,” the report says. “Misconduct in the League is not wholly independent from abuse that begins in youth soccer, where many coaches’ and players’ formative experiences shaped the way they engaged in, or reacted to, misconduct and abuse in the NWSL.”
The report points out issues within the NWSL’s infrastructure, including a historical lack of background check procedures for potential coach and front-office hires.
“Background checks and reputational vetting of player-facing club employees were not mandatory for much of the NWSL’s existence,” the report says. “Many of the coaches and individuals who engaged in misconduct and who are discussed in this Report were not appropriately vetted by their clubs.”
Nor are the league’s current protocols sufficient, the report says: “Significant gaps exist in the NWSL’s revised background check requirements.”
More on Paul Riley
In spotlighting individuals accused of misconduct — including former North Carolina Courage, Portland Thorns and Philadelphia Independence manger Paul Riley — the report restates some things that have already been reported. Some came from the media, and many others came from an investigation run by former acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Q. Yates for the U.S. Soccer Federation.
The new report expands on many of those topics, though only relating specifically to occurrences in the NWSL era.
Among the anecdotes is one about a time in 2019 when Riley was a potential candidate to succeed Jill Ellis as U.S. women’s national team manager.
Though his candidacy never became serious, the report alleges that then-NWSL president Amanda Duffy and general counsel Lisa Levine “worked with NWSL communications staff to prepare a draft public statement (which was never publicly released) related to the handling of sexual harassment complaints” and a 2015 investigation by the Thorns when he coached that team.
“Despite the discussions between U.S. Soccer, the NWSL, and both the Thorns and Courage regarding Riley’s unsuitability to coach the USWNT, no steps were taken to remove or prevent him from coaching NWSL players,” the report alleges.
Riley has previously denied the allegations against him. The report says he “declined to respond to requests to participate in this investigation.”
Gotham FC in a spotlight
New subjects include details on why former Gotham FC general manager Alyse LaHue was fired in July of last year.
Until now, the only reported detail was that LaHue was the subject of a complaint filed under the league’s anti-harassment policy. Gotham fired her on July 9, 2021, and said in a statement seven days later that the dismissal was “based on the results of a league investigation into a complaint of a violation of league policy.”
Four days after that, Equalizer Soccer reported the anti-harassment detail.
The new investigation alleged that LaHue had a romantic interest in an unnamed player, and published text messages between LaHue and that player.
“The player explained that although she repeatedly pushed back against LaHue’s inappropriate conduct, LaHue persisted,” the investigation’s report said. “On one occasion, when she informed LaHue that other players had asked why LaHue was ‘so mean’ to her, LaHue responded, ‘Tell them kids at the playground always pick on their crush.’ ”
When the NWSL investigated the complaint last year, the investigation’s report says, “multiple staff members reported that LaHue behaved differently around this player. As one staff member explained, there had ‘always been a high interest and attention’ in this player by LaHue.”
The new investigation by the league and union said LaHue “participated in an initial interview with the Joint Investigative Team but canceled a second scheduled interview and declined the Joint Investigative Team’s repeated requests to reschedule.”
This was accompanied, investigators further said, by an email from LaHue’s lawyer calling the allegations “false claims.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer contacted LaHue for comment after the report was released. She has not responded yet.
Promised changes
The league and the union issued a lengthy statement with the report’s release, including a list of concrete steps that either have been taken or will be taken before the 2023 season starts.
Notable policies that will be established or revised include: a “Non-Fraternization Policy that will create clear rules regarding romantic and/or sexual relationships and/or encounters between players and staff,” and an “Alcohol Policy to establish standards around alcohol-use in social settings where players and club staff are present.”
The league also promised that it would implement “league and club minimum standards and staffing / reporting requirements with an emphasis on having clubs dedicate full-time employees to the Human Resources and General Manager positions, ensuring autonomy of the medical staff, and requiring clubs to designate their own Player Safety Officers to provide in-market support to the NWSL Player Safety Officer.”
In all, the report has specific allegations against eight NWSL teams, 12 former NWSL coaches or front-office leaders, three former top U.S. Soccer Federation employees — including former president Sunil Gulati — and three former NWSL commissioners or their equivalent. (The league has not always used that specific title.)
“The actions of League and U.S. Soccer personnel — from the League’s founding, through its years under U.S. Soccer management, to the present — demonstrate that misconduct does not announce itself, but requires proactive prevention and detection,” the report says. “Inattentiveness, neglect, and concealment allow misconduct to fester.”
