"If you miss a pass I'll put my hand on you"

It is just one more of the cases of abuse that are denounced in the 319-page report.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
03 October 2022 Monday 20:32
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"If you miss a pass I'll put my hand on you"

It is just one more of the cases of abuse that are denounced in the 319-page report.

Christy Holly, coach of the Racing Louisville (Kentucky) women's soccer team, invited one of his players, Erin Simon, to see a film today at England's Leicester City. She didn't anticipate that it was going to be porn. So she started touching him. She tried to get away from her, but he jerked off and forced her to grab his penis.

It was not the only occasion. She used the power blackmail on him, and despite dodging it, another time they found themselves alone. This time it consisted of watching the recording of a match. "Every pass you miss, I put my hand on you," she warned him. And she did and reached out to touch his genitals and chest.

That's how crude he explains in this document, after an independent investigation, from which emerges a relentless image of what is called systemic abuses in American women's soccer.

The work collects the sexual misconduct and the verbal and emotional abuse practiced by the coaches in the highest competition, the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), and the unsuccessful complaints of the athletes, repeatedly ignored by the leaders of the league, the federation, the owners and executives of the teams or the other coaches. It is described as a behavior sometimes seen as normal, considering that they are practices rooted in this game from youth levels, when they already suffer these aggressions as children.

“NWSL abuse is deeply embedded in the culture of women’s soccer, beginning in youth leagues, which normalizes verbal abuse by coaches and blurs the lines between coaches and players,” Sally Yates, former attorney general, writes in the report. United States interim. The soccer industry commissioned Yates to investigate after former league players Sinead Farrelly and Mana Shim took the step in September 2021 to go public with allegations of sexual harassment and blackmail they had suffered a decade earlier from their coach Paul Riley.

Riley was immediately fired from the North Carolina Courage and league commissioner Lisa Baird also resigned. But it had become clear that the problem was much more widespread. Five of the ten NWSL coaches last season were fired or resigned over harassment allegations. “The verbal and emotional abuse described in the league is not simply hard training. And the affected players are not going to pick violets, but are among the best athletes in the world, ”says Yates.

More than 200 people were interviewed by the research team. Twenty entities and individuals contributed documents, up to a total of 89,000 reviewed. Within its breadth, the report focuses on three coaches, Holly, Riley and Rory Dames, of the Chicago Red Stars. "The abuses described are inexcusable and have no place on the field of play, in training facilities or in the workplace," said Cindy Parlow Cone, president of the federation.

“We are going to do everything possible to make them feel safe and respected,” he insisted. Jessica Berman, responsible for the league, recognized the trauma to which they have been subjected. "Your bravery is admirable," she stressed. Erin Simon commented that there are many who, like her before, remain silent, afraid of not being heard. “This report – she remarked – finally gives us a voice”.