Yates Report Highlights Abuse in NWSL

I'm still reading the report, but if any one though this report would reveal little new after everything we learned last year, you were wrong.

 

“This is endemic,” says The Athletic’s @itsmeglinehan, whose reporting helped spur an investigation that found years of systemic abuse in women’s soccer. pic.twitter.com/L3KZ6dsViU

— Hallie Jackson Reports (@HallieOnMSNBC) October 3, 2022

 

I've skimmed through the report and it is indeed shocking.

I'm pretty cynical about coaches and everybody else in positions of leadership. "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." A coach has something approaching absolute power over the average player's fate. He can play them or not as he wishes. And many players (and their parents) are willing to put up with abusive coaches for the sake of getting ahead in their chosen sports. Look at Olympic gymnasts, for example.

Adding to the power factor is the sex factor. The sexual attraction of old, ugly male coaches for young attractive women added to the predominance of power possessed by the coach can cause problems. (Is the same true of women coaches? I don't know.)

But, again in my cynical view of human nature, sex, power, and money are three big motivators of human behavior.

That being said, a coach is going to bruise tender egos with his comments about a player's performance and his decisions about who plays and doesn't play. There's a fine line between constructive criticism and emotional abuse. I would tend to give the coach the benefit of the doubt in border-line cases -- but prohibit off-field, non-business related contact between coaches and players. No fraternization.

 

The fans have been aware of this, but it's now national news and a very bad look for the NWSL. Curious to see if the playoffs see a down tick in ticket sales and viewers. NWSL has a major mess to try and clean up by next season.

 

I read through Sally Yates’s investigation and Gavin Wilkinson need to go

 

It's an awful look for what things were like recently, yes. But considering that the coaching scandals of NWSL were already national news last year, and that almost everyone involved has already been removed, I actually don't think this will affect attendance or viewership among the general populace, casual fans, or dedicated fans. Dedicated fans already knew, and they've already voted with their feet in places like POR and NC whose attendances have been down all year. Casual fans and the general populace will largely see the news and either see that changes have already been made, or it'll come off as the second wave of an old story, and the second wave is almost never as impactful as the first.

 

I haven't read the report itself yet, but one thing I have noticed that seems to be absent from all of the journalism coverage of the report (Athletic, EQZ, AllForXI, etc.) is a lack of any mention of LaHue. Possible that's because her dismissal was based on something much less egregious than that of all the male coaches? And yes, I know she wasn't a coach, but was still in a position of power within her club. So IDK what went on there, but in an industry with a much higher percentage of LGBTQ+ individuals, it's certainly worth generally including all genders in discussion of who might be taking advantage of players (or other staffers).

 

She's mentioned, but briefly (on page 47) along with some of the others like Burke and Benstiti. However, the investigation and subsequent report focused most of its efforts on the allegations around Riley, Dames, and Holly.

 

Portland's attendance might continue to drop. Out of all of the teams, I think the Portland Thorns' leadership come out looking the worst from this report (close second goes to Chicago), and the supporters' groups are clearly demanding Wilkinson and Golub be fired and Paulson to sell the team:

A Joint Statement on Behalf of the 107IST, Rose City Riveters, and Timbers Army About USSF’s Release Results of the Sally Yates’ Independent Investigation - https://t.co/uQu4DUG2E3#BAONPDX #RCTID pic.twitter.com/HTZGV7uMnp

— 107IST (@107IST) October 4, 2022

 

It's struck me how three of the four big-problem FOs (POR, LOU, NC, not CHI) as well as two past problem FOs (UTA, FCKC) all leveraged off of associated men's teams. Not sure if/how that plays into the "good ol' boy's club" culture, especially since we haven't seen (too) much from HOU+ORL, and we had problems with the independent CHI+DC too...

 

Have you read the report? It's much worse than even fans knew.

 

From today's King & Spalding report regarding USSF and the NWSL, there is a bit about Gotham FC and the situation with former GM Alyse LaHue. Full paragraph below. pic.twitter.com/KUjyAK42WO

— Jenna Tonelli (@jennatonelli) October 3, 2022

 

I know the Yates report is about the NWSL, but it is bigger than that and there is a thread on the US Women forum,
USSF Yates investigation into abuse in woso. I suggest posters use that thread -- but, of course, post where you want.

 

Whisper stepping down, in some fashion:
https://www.chicagoredstars.com/post/statement-from-arnim-whisler

I'm not sure what all the inner workings of the club are, so IDK if this is sufficient, but it sounds like a big step down; not a full sale, though.

 

Thorns leadership is *temporarily* stepping aside, at least until the second investigation concludes:
https://www.timbers.com/thornsfc/news/a-statement-from-merritt-paulson

 

This may not be sufficient change for the supporters' groups (I've not seen a statement, but that feeling is just based on what the Rose City Riveters are retweeting).

Something that jumped out at me from Paulson's statement is the mention of the release of the NWSL/NWSLPA investigation report in November. I think that's the first time we've heard of when the report will be released?

 

Oh yeah, it's very very much not sufficient; I emphasized the temporarily part on purpose. They're acting like they're trying to go away without actually firing people or selling the team like they should.

 

I am not sure about that. I think it more likely is, we are going to wait until it all is out there, including the NWSL-NWSLPA report, and then we will decide and say what we are going to do.

The Thorns situation is complicated by the fact that the Thorns and Timbers share many aspects of business operations as well as Providence Park. If Paulson were to divest the Thorns, and I mean really divest, it is going to be complicated figuring out how that will work and not be disadvantageous to the Thorns. It may be the way to go, but if so it is not going to be easy.

 

Lisa Baird appeared on E:60 defending herself, saying she had properly handled allegations presented to her (Baird was the one who in the report kept telling Shim that the 2015 investigation was closed). She also says that she not heard about the allegations of sexual abuse until the Athletic article was published (To be fair, this might be true to an extent that Baird never followed up on or further investigated any of the allegations that she did hear about). The Yates report has the receipts of e-mails (also published in the Athletic article) from Shim and Farrelly to Baird in the spring of 2021 as well as a statement from Paulson that he informed her about the 2015 Thorns investigation into Riley when she came on in 2020. Baird herself was not available for an interview with the Yates' team of investigators.

Seems like someone in Baird's life should have advised her not to do this interview.

 

Now available to stream on ESPN+:

Yesterday - an explosive report reveals widespread failures within U.S. Soccer and the NWSL.
Tonight - the stories behind it.
Truth Be Told: The Fight for Women’s Professional Soccer
7 PM/ET ESPN pic.twitter.com/zBmmcgTiX3

— E60 (@E60) October 4, 2022