I cannot believe these clubs would even want their names associated with them. If I was employed at a competing club, I would surely use these abusers/predators against their clubs when recruiting players to join my club.
Well, Dame’s club is called Chicago Eclipse Select. I can’t find his name on the website. You have to go to Wikipedia to see he owns the club. And Riley’s is called Albertson Fury soccer club where he is listed as director of coaching in some obscure back pages, but you have to search to find it. He’s not listed on any of the governance boards or anything. If you just look at the board listings, you might assume he is gone. The ownership was purchased by a competing club on LI called the SUSA SC in 2020 according to a release back then from Riley which talked about a transition period, so there is plausible deniability there. I do see the albertson fury site is still operating, so the transition must not be complete. I’m betting SUSA SC won’t want him near the place. There are some pretty good players from that club, including Rebecca Moros, Allie Long, Emily Menges, Cari Roccaro, Crystal Dunn, Vicki DiMartino,( and her two sisters) Michelle Betos, Jazmyn Spencer, Brittany Taylor, and a bunch others. You could field a pretty nice NWSL team with them. Both ECNL clubs have track records of placing players on college teams, which is all some parents look at. Both coaches have accusations of abuse going back years which have been ignored.
Another sponsor drops the Timbers/Thorns from stadium sponsorship. https://www.oregonlive.com/portland...-meaningful-institutional-transformation.html
Alaska Airlines, the shirt sponsor for the Timbers, has redirected its advertising sponsorship funds for this quarter to the NWSLPA “Save the players emergency Trust” whatever that is, and to Youth sports in the Portland area. https://news.alaskaair.com/newsroom...-on-portland-thorns-and-timbers-relationship/
I don't see anyway out for the Thorns owner. He has to sell at least the women's team. The financial and public pressure will not going away as long as he is the owner.
The Oregon Youth Soccer Association has taken steps to cut its ties with the Timbers and Thorns. https://www.oregonlive.com/portland...ionship-with-portland-timbers-and-thorns.html The Timbers had taken control of management of the organization’s Olympic Development Program.
It’s getting harder to see how he doesn’t lose the Timbers as well. the precedent was set in Salt lake with Dell Loy Hansen
In France’s case it seems to be everyone, just as it is here. https://todaytimeslive.com/sports/121311.html and https://vietnam.postsen.com/sports/...dents-to-exchange-love-for-the-main-kick.html Maybe this deserves its own thread to sort through.
Back to the NWSL Paulson resigns as CEO of Timbers, Thorns. https://www.portlandmercury.com/new...son-resigns-as-ceo-of-portland-thorns-timbers it will be interesting to see if fans and players think that’s enough. The City council ( City owns the stadium ) thinks not.
I've payed attention to this for a while, and I've seen enough reporting, to understand 3 things: 1 - This is not exclusive to the US 2 - This is not exclusive to soccer/football 3 - This is about power (over women). Who has the power is not relevant. Point 3 should make everybody who posts in this forum, or about women's soccer, take a hard look at what they post, and why they are posting what they do. Keep in mind that there are going to be several of us posting with good intentions who are not posting in a manner of actual support.
So, I gather you are saying that both males and females up the chain of command have used their positions of authority to engage in sexual abuse towards female players. If so, they all ought to be sacked and cover ups should not be tolerable in relation to any of them.
Casey Stoney agrees it's a widespread problem: “I don’t agree with staff having relationships with players on any level,” Stoney said. “It’s a power dynamic that should not happen. But this isn’t just an NWSL problem, it’s a women’s sport problem, it’s a women’s football problem.” Stoney hammered home her point. “I’ve seen it in so many clubs I’ve been apart of and I don’t agree with it,” she continued. “I’ve moved staff away from my environments in previous jobs because there’s been boundaries crossed, I will not have it at all. I don’t agree with it on any level.” https://justwomenssports.com/san-di...layer-coach-relationships-nwsl-abuse-scandal/
I admire most of this post and have "repped" it. But could you please explain what you mean by: "Who has the power is not relevant." How could it NOT be relevant? What are you saying here? "... posting with good intentions who are not posting in a manner of actual support." Again I'm baffled. Who are you NOT supporting? What does this mean? Sorry but I find these statements extremely unclear. I completely support what you've written that I am able to understand. Many thanks for any help.
This issue in the report was the abuse of women. Most of it was done by men, but not all. And in the case noted about the French team, it was not a man. The issue was that women are, and continue to be, abused in sport (and society wide, but that is a different, yet parallel, discussion). One of the things I keep coming back to was how some of the coaches coerced sex out of their players. In my world, that is rape. And rape is not about sex, it is about control and power. Another way of answering is that if we concern ourselves with the "who" (meaning gender) is doing the abuse, to me, it does not support the women and girls (to keep simple terms) who have been abused. Yes, we need to remove abusers, but we need to support those who were abused, whether nor not they spoke up, and work with them to develop methods where this abuse can be minimized (as it won't ever be eliminated). Yes, it is important to know who the abusers are, but I'm thinking of it in a way that says those who used their power to abuse need to be penalized. But when I say "who as the power is not relevant" I'm trying to get at not focusing on them. And I understand the lack of clarity. I have worked for many years around girls (and boys) who have been abused. I have learned that the support of the abused is much, much stronger than the punishing/penalizing the abuser.
Thank you, soccermutter, for this extremely insightful and helpful response. You've made so many important statements, among them making it clear that so-called "coercive sex" IS rape. I am sending you a private message about the one way in which we seem to disagree.
The Thorns are back in the local news. Groups organizing to buy the team, prospective Governors all calling for Paulson to sell both teams, the city weighing in reminding people the binding stadium lease gives them the right to veto or approve any sale. Paulson still claiming he will retain ownership. https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/2...rns-from-embattled-owner-merritt-paulson.html
Thanks for this-- I wasn't getting you, and now I'm agreeing with you, so much so that I hope you will understand that the below is absolutely not meant to blame the victims at all. (As a bullied child myself, I get that you get to a place where all choices are bad-- you can't even cry because if you cry the bully wins. He gets his endorphin rush and it gives him a reason to come back and do it all again tomorrow.) But I am kind of non plussed that with behavior this widespread and outrageous, and people in a highly physical profession it seems kind of improbable that no one simply picked up a lamp and brained one of these guys with it? I understand why most did not, but you'd think sooner or later you'd hit someone in a real bad mood, if nothing else... I mean, I get that if you are that sort of turd, you get good at spotting the ones that will put up with you-- but it doesn't seem like you should be able to bat 1.000 at it...
One of the things about (child) abusers is that they are pretty good at picking out their victims. I imagine this is not much different, though there seems to have been substantial indifference from levels above.