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.”
At work
Roar Rookie
Anyway, will we ever find out exactly what went down with the Alen Stajic sacking??
Aiden
Guest
Sure. The fireman is not really that bad, but if you asked for it to be taken down and they said no, I think you’d be within your rights to complain. I think you are correct, people still let a lot go. Most ‘letter of the law’ inappropriate behaviour is very low level. I don’t think men are any better or worse than women. It’s the more serious stuff that generates sackings and media attention. I think that when behaviour crosses into … touching, repeated sexual comments, repeatedly asking the person out, women are maybe less confident to behave like that. I just don’t see it happening anyway. Whereas men still seem to think it’s ok to ask the girl in to their room in their undies. I don’t know. Maybe if a woman did that lot of blokes would go ‘ok then …!’ The main point of my response was, this idea that women are not disciplined at work. That’s hot garbage. They don’t get in trouble for sexual harassment, because the complaints aren’t made (for whatever reason) but plenty in my experience get punted for bullying, theft and dishonesty, other forms of discrimination and good old fashioned incompetence. Where I work we have confidentiality around outcomes. So a lot of people just have no idea what goes on. I get to see first hand the gap between what some men perceive about the world and the reality. We’ve had guys complain to that there was bias against them as men in restructures when literally more women were made redundant by %. People are clueless but they have all of these opinions that they confidently express about how the world works to make life unfair for them as it gives them an excuse not to focus on their personal shortcomings.
Coastyboi
Guest
The allegations are slightly more serious than stealing $200. The claims are in relation to the abuse of power through intimidation. Actually, the biggest declaration here is the mismanagement of the National Women’s Soccer League. Players talk. People converses. Literally hundreds of rumours would have spread like wildfire over years & years. Both the players & coaches were failed by the system, which clearly doesn’t want the matter going to court.
Aiden
Guest
Incorrect. They are not ‘just allegations’ simply because they are not proven in a court of law. That absurd assertion means that if a person takes $200 out of the till at work in front of 10 other people then you can’t prove it unless it’s taken to court. Every day employees so silly things, witnesses give versions, and employers are entitled (legally) to draw conclusion from the evidence. Here the allegations involve multiple women over 5 years. There were no internal investigations by his direct employers, the clubs, that was the problem. FIFA appointed a former Attorney General to investigate … a pretty strong approach as far as these things go. And after a years long investigation he has been banned for life. A pretty devastating outcome for him … I suspect that if he has any confidence of overturning the outcome in Court he’ll sue. He didn’t even bother challenging the clubs that sacked him.
liquorbox_
Roar Rookie
I wonder if this is a case of "it is believed that X% of complaints go unreported"? Supposed unreported harassment of women is never questioned, maybe the same occurs to men but it is never reported. I have worked for many large companies and it is apparent that by most HR manuals that sexual harassment by definition happens frequently, I just get on with my job rather than causing a scene. My office has a calendar with half naked firemen on it, there is one female (owner of said calendar) and about 20 guys. We just get on with our jobs and don't really care, but by definition I have been subjected to harassment.
Coastyboi
Guest
These are all “allegations”. Did it go to court? If it’s serious, then the law needs to be involved. If not, then I don’t believe it. These “internal investigations” are fraught with danger.
Aiden
Guest
More red pill blue pill nonsense from the professional conspiracy theorist. I work at a company with 65,000 staff. In the 13 years I have been there I can’t think of one male who has made a sexual harassment complaint against a female. There are plenty of complaints the other way. Maybe it happens. But if men don’t want to complain not sure what can be done about it. I get the sense it doesn’t happen or it’s so rare as to be negligible. In terms of your assertion about women being disciplined, it’s laughably wrong. I have been involved in workplace investigations for 21 years. There are plenty of bullying complaints made by men against women. Where I work now, if we substantiate them … we sack em. Why isn’t this in the media? Because 99% of bullying complaints are convoluted and very dull. He/she didn’t roster me on to the blah blah training etc etc. The media has no interest. Sexual harassment can be newsworthy, but yeah … rare as hens teeth for male complaints against females. Hope that helps with one of your erroneous beliefs.
Damien
Guest
How often do you a lamb eat a lion?
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
I have never seen a women after a bloke at a workplace the reverse I have seen every workplace, usually the women will seek to trade sexual favours for various benefits. Women bosses can be influenced by a good suck up, flatterers , but then men as well. The reason whenever a women harasses a man makes the news its rare its man bites dog. For example someone at a work place, never was interested in anything, didnt seem to know anything, I couldn't work out what he doing there even, never made a single point at any meeting, then I saw him in action with the boss and clients and he became someone totally different, full of electric energy , a super suck up .
Grem
Roar Rookie
I agree – any bias or poor treatment of others by men or women is wrong. I am lucky that I have never been the victim of abuse or had to go through divorce, etc. I feel for anyone who has been through those situations. I am also lucky to have two well read and intelligent daughters who have opened my eyes to bias from a female point of view. While they are not all perfect they do have more to complain about than men.
The Ball Bobbled
Roar Rookie
then the female assistant will likely cop it
Geoffrey Edelstoner
Guest
You are correct , but if the situation is biased, statistics will always reflect that bias . How often do you see a woman charged or disciplined over work place offences ....I'd struggle to recall it ever happening. The labor party mean girls saga comes to mind as an example. Is that because they're all saints , or because of bias ? If the legal , and courts systems are anything to gauge it by , I can assure you its bias .
Grem
Roar Rookie
Certainly, but if you look at statistics, they don’t paint a good picture for males.
Geoffrey Edelstoner
Guest
And woman held accountable too ? Oh no , we can't have that , because they never do anything wrong .
Grem
Roar Rookie
With the amount of sexual abuse that does occur, the difficulty in proving it and the reluctance of some organisations to follow up means different solutions need to occur. There is no 100% solution, but perhaps they need to look at rules followed in schools, where unfortunately abuse still occasionally occurs. Every male coach should have a female assistant, no 1-1 sessions out of sight, all reports of abuse to be reported to an independent group to follow up, etc.