In most cases, witnesses were interviewed one at a time, although some interviews were conducted in small groups-for example, interviews of NWSLPA player representatives from certain clubs and of representatives from the Black Women's Player Collective, an organization founded by Black NWSL players to "advance opportunities for Black girls in sport and beyond." In response to Shim's email, Riley texted Shim asking to meet, and the two corresponded about meeting but ultimately did not meet. After the 2015 Thorns Investigation commenced, Plush followed up with Shim by email, notifying her that the League was monitoring the investigation and stating, [If] there is any additional information that you wish to provide me, separate from what you have discussed with Portland's human resources manager, or if you have concerns about the investigation, please feel free to reach out to me directly." It further stated that the club's executive team and Holly each agreed not to make any written or verbal communication in any form . 6. . Gotham subsequently terminated the GMs employment. Gorden's boyfriend was prevented from entering an area where he could speak with her, and she said publicly that her white teammates were visiting family in the same area, but were not scrutinized. In practice, players reported issues to someone at their club because they had more day-to-day interactions with club personnel, who were more akin to the players' actual employers. Two others explained why they felt Dames had used information about them to manipulate them. Although Plush asserted that he tried to dissuade the Flash from pursuing Riley, he did not give the Flash any information about why they should not pursue Riley. Numerous individuals relayed that as a result, Cromwell and Greene stopped speaking to players who they believed had participated in the March Investigation and who did not show contrition in the aftermath. The findings included information on what led to the firing of former Sky Blue/Gotham FC General Manager Alyse LaHue in July 2021. The NWSL and U.S. Soccer in multiple instances did not investigate or address comments from player surveys stating that club staff engaged in misconduct. 93, In one case, an individual designated to receive player complaints was accused of misconduct, leaving players feeling as though they had no recourse to report those individuals. For example, one former player explained, If I don't cover my man and they score, that might warrant screaming." The league will work with the players association to ensure that the results of these team and league reviews will serve as a road map to ensure safe environments for players and staff." We don't have HR. The 2022 Anti-Harassment Policy provides that emotional misconduct may include "belittling players about their body image or weight." That January, the Courage made Riley their first head coach. "We've seen other teams continue to up their professional standards, and Sky Blue has to follow suit," LaHue said. As noted, several current and former U.S. Soccer employees told the Joint Investigative Team that Riley was never seriously considered for the USWNT coaching position. For example, when Racing Louisville hired Holly as its new head coach in August 2020, it conducted a narrow criminal background check, in addition to speaking with former employers. In a text message to Whisler on June 13, 2018, Dames asked about waiving the player who he suspected had raised the complaint. amounted to verbal and emotional abuse." On the Monday night before the game, four Dash players had dinner at a Pumas player's apartment and returned to their hotel around midnight. Between 2019 and 2021, Holly engaged in repeated sexual misconduct and abuse targeting Erin Simon, including touching her genitals without her consent, touching her body on other occasions without her consent, forcing her to touch his genitals without her consent, sending her unsolicited pictures of his penis, and asking her to send him sexually suggestive pictures of herself. Simon described her fear that reporting Holly's misconduct could destroy her career after he insinuated to her that he had orchestrated her youth national team call-up; she recalled thinking, He could ruin me." The course description states that the course trains players to [i]dentify and navigate power imbalances (including coach/athlete relationships) that can play a role in sexual misconduct, [d]efine consent and understand relevant factors including age and impairment," "[r]espond and report appropriately (and legally) to abuse and its disclosure, and [u]nderstand barriers to reporting, and factors such as retaliation." 3. Photo courtesy of Gotham FC. Whisler responded to Bailey via email, I'm not sure how you want me to respond," and Bailey told Whisler she was "not looking for any response." Flaws in Clubs' Other Reporting Channels The Thorns's policy similarly stated that remedial action will be taken "if the company determines that unlawful harassment has occurred, and it lists examples of "[p]rohibited unlawful harassment." They also spoke with their former teammate Alex Morgan. The 2021 AntiHarassment Policy primarily focused on maintaining a safe environment free of harassment. At a team meeting the next day, players observed that Clarkson was visibly angry as he reprimanded the team at length, calling them selfish, disrespectful, and unprofessional by going out drinking prior to a game. Gulati acknowledged that he had read the memorandum in advance of a meeting with players, including Press, on September 17, 2014, but said that he did not remember any specifics about the meeting, including whether Dames's conduct was discussed. "The club has a tremendous history and close relationship with its fans, so it was important we listened and remained completely openminded throughout the process. "We've grown out of a college environment at this point. In August 2019, a Thorns staff member emailed a draft public statement (which was never publicly released) to Paulson and Golub for review. The NWSL should advise clubs to offer players the opportunity to speak candidly about their views on prospective coaches or staff and should guard vigilantly against any potential retaliation or breach of confidentiality associated with players sharing their views. Over a year later, in September 2019, the law firm retained by U.S. Soccer completed its investigative steps and produced a draft report to U.S. Soccer (the "USSF Dames Report"). As described in the following sections, the failure to fully and adequately investigate and address these reports harmed NWSL players and discouraged players and other stakeholders from reporting misconduct. Craig Harrington (Chicago Red Stars, Assistant Coach, 2018-2019; Utah Royals, Head Coach, 2020) James Clarkson (Houston Dash, Head Coach and General Manager, 2019-) The Courage also received some assurance about Riley from other club leaders and from the NWSL, including the fact that Riley had been hired by the Flash after departing the Thorns. 83, required NWSL vetting, and this person raised concerns that clubs may not have been submitting all hires for screening. In January 2018, Dames informed Whisler that he could lower the pay for two staff members because those staff members would earn additional income working for Eclipse. Burke acknowledged much of this conduct to the Joint Investigative Team, though he expressed that he did not view his conduct as problematic and claimed that some of the instances had been mischaracterized. The NWSL should share the nature of the misconduct with U.S. Soccer while protecting the confidentiality of anyone who experienced discrimination, harassment, bullying, or other forms of abuse, to the extent feasible. The NWSL should designate a team of NWSL staff to review and analyze player survey results. Furthermore, he instructed Benstiti to bring any dietary or weight-related concerns to another staff member, who could have conversations about diet and fitness with players. During the interview, Farrelly described the night that she and Shim had kissed in Riley's apartment, and she said she had seen some of Riley's inappropriate text messages to Shim. The NWSL should consider preparing an annual report regarding the operation of the Anti-Harassment Policy, including aggregated data regarding reports to the League of potential violations of the Anti-Harassment Policy, and the outcomes and resolutions of those reports. When Holly was let go-not for his mistreatment of players but for a reported relationship with a player-Sky Blue publicly framed Holly's departure as a mutual agreement, did not acknowledge Holly's misconduct, and expressed gratitude towards him. According to players, Riley made unrealistic and seemingly arbitrary demands for player weight loss. She also asked him not to speak to one player implicated in the complaint about the complaint until the League had the opportunity to call that player, but Whisler refused to comply, saying that th[e] situation has the potential to destroy team chemistry." Dames yelled at players, targeted certain players for harsh treatment, made personal insults, and blurred personal and professional boundaries with players. While Richie Burke was head coach of the Spirit, club management created an environment where players felt it was futile to raise concerns about Burke to anyone at the club. In addition, The draft statement explained that the club conducted an investigation into Riley, determined that bad judgement [sic]" was involved, and "chose not to renew his contract." One player for the Dash noted that the HR representative primarily worked for the MLS team and was unfamiliar with the reporting channels for the women's team. Ratings: Fofana 8/10 as Chelsea pick up first league win in six, Ten Hag must learn from Mourinho to ensure Man United's Carabao Cup win is just the start, Raul and Valverde are keeping Madrid prodigy Alvaro's feet on the ground, Man United must make every penny count to beat FFP and continue recovery, LIVE Transfer Talk: Bayern still keen on Kane despite new Choupo-Moting contract. She recalled Riley's behavior oscillating between positive comments about her performance and tearing her down-she had positive experiences with Riley in 2018, but recalled Riley spiraling [everything] back to [her]" and leaving meetings with him in tears" in 2019. Later that month, the NWSL adopted a Non-Fraternization Policy as part of its Operations Manual. Levine's explanation for her response to these emails was that she was focused on language in the emails regarding how the NWSL would respond to Shim's initial 2015 complaint-despite indicia in the emails that Shim and Farrelly were dissatisfied with the NWSL's response to Shim's 2015 complaint and despite Farrelly having provided additional pertinent information in her email. Her resignation followed screenshots posted on Twitter by Alex Morgan, a member of the USWNT and former Thorns player, which showed Baird had denied an April 2021 request from Sinead Farrelly to reopen the investigation into Riley. Whisler acknowledged the agreement and claimed that the non-disparagement clause was "standard. Holly complained to Simon about Hendrix and referred to Hendrix as a "cockblock." The League added seven expansion teams, and four teams were rebranded or relocated. As one player told The Washington Post, her interview during the investigation was "the last she ever heard" about the investigation. The public revelation of Riley's misconduct and the systemic issues it exposed prompted outcry and action. In any case, Riley told them that if they kissed, the team would not have to run the "suicide mile, an intensive fitness drill, that week. The Athletic recounted the experiences of two former players, Mana Shim and Sinead Farrelly, and reported that Riley sexually coerced players, provided alcohol to players and drank excessively with them, and made derogatory comments about players' weight and sexual orientation. A USWNT staff member said they were familiar with Benstiti before the Reign hired him and recalled that "everyone had heard rumors of his treatment of Lindsey Horan" because "it was public." When the League initiated an investigation into a complaint against Dames in 2018, Whisler spoke directly to Dames about the complainant and created the risk that Dames would retaliate against the player. According to Novo, after his conversation with ownership, he met with Holly and told him it was "time to move on." For instance, Stanton recalled Holly asking her to come to his hotel room to review film one-on-one on two to three occasions. Simon recalled being scared and noted that Holly lived in her apartment building, so she wanted to know how the club could keep her safe and make sure Holly did not come to her apartment after he was fired. b) Failure to Investigate Allegations from Player Surveys 125, The N.W.S.L. These player survey results had already been shared with Dan Flynn and Sunil Gulati at U.S. Soccer. It was not until June 2021, when Benstiti gave a speech in which he criticized players' diets, that the club took action. In fact, multiple players reported that they did not consider the League as an option to report misconduct and did not know of anyone at the League to whom they could report concerns. After Riley joined the Thorns, he targeted Thorns player Mana Shim. Riley was only one of several NWSL club personnel accused of misconduct in the 2020 and 2021 seasons. 95, stated: "I had no direct involvement in the creation, administration or review of the player surveys. These biases are central to any evaluation of misconduct in the League.. 51, with an erection. The article further reported that in 2021, Shim and Farrelly asked the NWSL to reopen the investigation into Riley, but that then-Commissioner Lisa Baird declined to investigate further. face allegations of misconduct. If you don't like it, then there's never going to be a league." Most prominently, on September 30, 2021, The Athletic reported that then-North Carolina Courage Head Coach Paul Riley had engaged in sexual misconduct during his tenure as head coach of Portland Thorns FC. Another player described the way Riley spoke disparagingly about players' weight to another coach, in the open, where other players overheard. Wilkinson also wrote to Riley in a letter, "While our investigation did not reveal any unlawful conduct by anyone, we did confirm that, on occasion, you exercised poor judgment in your interactions with one or more players." Upon the conclusion of the investigation, U.S. Soccer did not communicate the investigation's factual findings to the players, the Red Stars, or the NWSL. This phenomenon is not unique to this investigation or the NWSL: interpersonal misconduct, and particularly sexual misconduct, is generally underreported. Wilkins, Estes, O'Connor, and outside legal counsel met with Holly later that day and terminated his employment. These aspects of the culture in the NWSL discouraged some players from reporting any concerns. However, player confidentiality and safety were not the motivating factors in the Thorns's decision to withhold information about Riley's misconduct from the Flash and the Courage. Any individual who receives a report of potential misconduct must immediately submit the report to the NWSL HR Office.
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