Opinion
A 14-month investigation into the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in the US has led to the discovery of misconduct dating back to 2013. .
Disciplinary sanctions have been handed down to 12 individuals, including life-bans to four coaches, preventing them from ever returning to the league. Six clubs have been fined between $2.1 million and $72,000. The NWSL League Office will come under new administration and is mandated with overseeing policy, programmatic and procedural change.
In September 2015, Meleana Shim – known commonly by her nickname “Mana” – filed an official complaint to the heads of her then team, the Portland Thorns, accusing their head coach, Paul Riley, of sexual harassment.
Earlier that year he had made sexual advances towards her after a round of ‘team drinks’, inviting her back to his hotel room. Over the following months he continued to send her text messages, frequent requests to have dinner, and photos of himself wearing only compression shorts.
In June, Riley asked her to review film of her playing in preparation for a match the following day. Upon arriving at the hotel room, Shim says that he opened the door wearing only his underwear, asked her to sit on his bed and had no film whatsoever to watch.
She managed to excuse herself and leave the room.
In July, Shim sent Riley an email with the subject line “Concerns”, expressing that she felt he had been inappropriate and she had felt uncomfortable.
According to the investigation, he subsequently deleted the email and did not action it. Shim has said that her playing time on the field was noticeably reduced after this.
Her official complaint made in September 2015 was an email she sent to Riley, the general manager, the club’s owner, the club’s HR director and the commissioner of the NWSL. This was not the first time Riley had been inappropriate with one of his players.
Shim’s teammate Sinead Farrelly later admitted that before playing for the Portland Thorns, Riley had sent her similar semi-nude photos of himself while coaching her on a previous team.
An internal investigation was initiated by the Thorns and both Shim and Farrelly were interviewed by the club’s HR director.
Although later that month, the Portland Thorns publicly announced that they would not be retaining Paul Riley as a coach, they did not indicate that he had in fact been fired nor mention the allegations of sexual misconduct.
In October, the Portland Thorns made a deal with the Boston Breakers to trade Sinead Farrelly. Allegedly Farrelly asked the club’s manager, Gavin Wilkinson, whether she was being traded because of the Riley allegations but he denied this.
Wilkinson would later go on to publicly vouch for Paul Riley as a coach, encouraging his new employment by the team Western New York Flash. When he disclosed the complaint made by Shim to their vice president, he described her as a “disgruntled player”.
In 2017 the Western New York Flash was bought over by a private business owner and the team was renamed the North Carolina Courage. Paul Riley was announced the club’s first ever head coach. Two years later, in 2019, when a vacancy opened up for head coach of the US women’s national team, Riley was shortlisted as a candidate for the job.
In response to this news, the national team’s union contacted legal counsel from U.S. Soccer, the sport’s official governing body, explaining that the players would not support Riley as head coach of the national team. Although Riley later pulled out of the running for the role, the allegations of sexual conduct against him and the investigation at the Portland Thorns were never mentioned.
In 2021, shocked that Riley was still coaching and fearful for other players in the League, Shim sent a copy of her complaint from 2015 to Lisa Baird, the NSWL commissioner. In it, she encouraged Riley to be re-investigated by the League but the request was ignored.
A few weeks later, Sinead Farrelly also sent an email to Baird, stating that her allegations were never independently investigated and that she was “deeply concerned for the safety of current players given that Mr. Riley continues to coach in the NSWSL”.
A few days later, Farrelly received the response from Baird that “the initial complaint was investigated to conclusion”, seemingly washing her hands of it.
A few months later, both Shim and Farrelly shared their experience of sexual harassment in an article published in The Athletic. After the article came out, the North Carolina Courage terminated their contract with Riley, citing the allegations.
Baird issued a statement that she was “shocked and disgusted” to read about the claims. Screenshots of her email exchange with Farrelly months before proving that she did indeed know about them would later be shared by fellow player, Alex Morgan.
The attempt and failure of Shim to bring Riley to account is but one example of the misconduct that took place in the NSWL and the culture of silence that allowed its continuation.
Widespread allegations of sexual abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, racist slurs and misogynistic comments at every level across the League among six specifically named clubs have been documented in the 319-page investigative report that was conducted and served as the basis for the abovementioned sanctions.
In October last year, ESPN released a documentary titled ‘Truth be Told’, which chronicles the impact these allegations have had on the players and the League itself.
In it, Alex Morgan speaks of the way the abuse impacted her and her teammates, saying that it “wore on a lot of players but especially players that were struggling to get playing time or struggling to get rostered. All they wanted was validation that they deserved to be there.”
Leveraging a player’s game time against a decision to either speak up about or ignore abuse seems grossly unjust but disturbingly rampant among female athletes.
While the abuse within the NSWL does appear to have been systemic, what is clear, and quite beautifully depicted in ‘Truth be Told’, is the solidarity borne out of collective suffering. The bond between players seems to have only been strengthened in the absence of support from management.
As one player says, “This league might not have your back, but I do.”
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