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As a result, multiple players and staff members credibly expressed fear of severe consequences for their participation in the March Investigation and the subsequent retaliation investigation if they spoke negatively about the coaching staff, or if they were not bought in. The NWSL should provide training and guidance to the clubs on the types of questions to ask. e) From the early days of the League, they were told to be grateful, loyal, and acquiescent, even as they were not afforded the resources or respect due to professional athletes. In explaining the transactions the club made before the next season, Williams said, "We needed to make a lot of changes-we were last [in the League]. Club statement. Former NWSL Executive Director Cheryl Bailey said that in the League's early years, there was an expectation that clubs would each develop their own HR capability. A 2012 ESPN article later reported that Borislow's conduct included verbal abuse and sexually suggestive comments towards players. Prior to 2021, the NWSL did not have a formal policy prohibiting harassment, which includes sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. Until now, the only reported detail was that LaHue was the subject of a complaint filed under the leagues anti-harassment policy. These fears were not unfounded. The NWSL ran its standard background check, and its resulting report contained no significant adverse findings. 7. Covington and Weil (collectively, the "Joint Investigative Team) reviewed all reports indicating that a person in a position of power in the NWSL or one of its member clubs engaged in or facilitated inappropriate conduct towards NWSL players, including discrimination, harassment, sexual, physical, or emotional abuse, and retaliation related to such reports. For instance, Farrelly began dating one of her teammates on the Thorns during the 2014 NWSL season. At least one player and a volunteer at the club corroborated that Holly treated Simon harshly. Alyse LaHue, General Manager of the NJ/NY Gotham FC Women's Football Team Lisa Ferkul, Director of Hockey Sponsorship at Scotiabank Andrew Sutherland, Vice President of Marketing, Creative and Original Content at Sportsnet What were the takeaways? In his interview with the Joint Investigative Team, Whisler said it was "clear that it was mutually beneficial," especially given that the Red Stars were "probably the poorest team in the League." Although Novo said he shared these concerns with others at the club, key decision-makers within the club did not recall Novo telling them about Holly's mistreatment of players. 5. In the fall of 2021, the Joint Investigative Team asked clubs to produce their antiharassment policies, and this Report analyzes the policies received from that request, some of which were implemented only recently. Leveraging Players' Job Insecurity and Ambition Many players told the Joint Investigative Team that they defaulted to viewing the NWSLPA as the most trustworthy channel to receive and respond to player complaints. Falling between these two approaches, one club consulted with owners at the coach's former club and U.S. Soccer staff during the hiring process, but not with the coach's former players. In several instances, when announcing departures of coaches found to have committed misconduct, clubs released vague public statements that obscured the reason for the coach's departure. On today's episode of the Dynamic Leaders Podcast, Colin is joined by Alyse LaHue. An investigation commissioned by the National Women's Soccer League and its players union found "widespread misconduct" directed at players dating back to the beginnings nearly a decade ago of the Misconduct within the NWSL-and a failure to adequately investigate allegations of misconduct and take measures to prevent further misconduct-has contributed to players' lack of trust and confidence in U.S. Soccer, the NWSL, and its member clubs. alyse lahue relationship. The team, including the head coach, later engaged in conversations regarding creating a safe workplace for players. Yet, because of the deficiencies of the investigation and the systemic failures of U.S. Soccer, the NWSL, and the Red Stars, Dames's behavior went unaddressed during his nine seasons as head coach. She did not consider reporting Holly to the NWSL or U.S. Soccer, in part because she did not know who to contact or how to make a report. Yet, in responding to document requests from the Joint Investigative Team, the Thorns asserted the report was protected by attorney-client privilege and claimed they had shared it with U.S. Soccer in 2015 pursuant to a common interest agreement under which neither the NWSL nor U.S. Soccer would be permitted to share the report. The player wondered, "How the hell am I going to lose 10 to 15 pounds without starving myself? manipulate them."" 2. In response to player requests for the improvement of conditions and resources at clubs, players were often reminded that they ought to be grateful, even when players sought benefits or allowances included in their contracts. The Joint Investigative Team sought evidence from U.S. Soccer in the form of relevant documents and interviews of current and former U.S. Soccer employees. In a follow-up interview, the lawyer said the alterations were not made by Ms. LaHue, and did not provide any further details. 75, Benstiti saying that he would replicate his "very strict monitoring and measuring [of Horan's] weight and what she's eating" with the club's players. This was despite Shim and Farrelly both indicating in their 2021 communications that they were dissatisfied with the NWSL's response to the 2015 complaint and investigation, and Farrelly providing additional information regarding Riley that should have been of interest to the NWSL. If you live with your partner (s) or friend (s), set up designated areas within your place where you can spend time alone. For much of the League's existence, there was confusion between U.S. Soccer, the League, and its clubs regarding their respective roles in responding to reports of misconduct against players. One person who works with players in the League mentioned that she had seen text messages to other players from coaches that engaged in such emotional manipulation. When one person holds both coaching roles and general manager roles, players have fewer avenues to report misconduct and may fear that reporting misconduct will lead to retaliation. Reis acknowledged encouraging players to speak with investigators, but she denied telling them what to say. Maybe. . At the U.S. national team level she totaled 132 caps and 30 goals, won an Olympic gold medal in 2008 and 2012, a World Cup title in 2015, and a CONCACAF Women's Championship in 2014. 3. Despite the discussions between U.S. Soccer, the NWSL, and both the Thorns and Courage regarding Rileys unsuitability to coach the USWNT, no steps were taken to remove or prevent him from coaching NWSL players, the report alleges. Some of the sport's most prominent players are married to their former coaches, including their college coaches. The New Jersey native is hoping to expand her horizons through overseas play. Additionally, the policy requires each club to designate two individuals to receive reports of potential misconduct, at least one of whom must not be the club's Board of Governors representative or head coach. According to the staff member, Predmore said the Benstiti weight-shaming issue was a cultural thing and that he "worked on it." "The continuation of ongoing investigations initiated under the NWSL's current antiharassment policy, and the recommendation of sanctions where appropriate." Instead, the joint investigation identified gaps in existing policies and procedures, including strengthening the league's anti-harassment policy, which was only first adopted in 2021 -- eight years after the league first played a game. In an email, LaHue's counsel described the allegations against LaHue as "false claims." F. Club and U.S. Soccer personnel repeated the Thorns's characterization of Riley's conduct as poor judgment for years. Alyse LaHue, a former team executive, also received a two-year penalty, while ex-coaches Farid Benstiti, James Clarkson and Vera Pauw could return only by meeting specified conditions, such as . Rather, the allegations and findings against Riley were frequently downplayed, including by discussing only certain aspects of certain of the allegations against Riley and, as noted, by using the determination of no unlawful harassment to summarize the investigative findings. 2. Another player stated that Holly liked to play mind games" with players, including one incident in which he purposely benched a starting player immediately before a game just to observe her reaction, and then threatened to cut her from the team when she reacted poorly. This league, eventually named the National Women's Soccer League, began play in April 2013. The 2020 survey also asked several questions about NWSL tournaments and schedules. Holly was an assistant coach at the U-23 camp, which Simon did not know until a couple of days prior to the start of the camp. .17 When Riley was head coach of the Thorns, after a night out drinking alcohol with Thorns players, Riley brought Shim and Farrelly to his apartment, made additional alcohol available, tried to grind" against Shim, and told Farrelly and Shim that if they kissed each other, the team would not have to run an intensive fitness drill that week. McCall Zerboni, Gotham FCs captain and NWSL Players Association representative in 2022, is ready to move towards a place where the mistakes from the past can be turned into creating a strong future for the NWSL, a young league that is still growing. During this time, Duffy, who had recently become NWSL president, and Levine, who had transitioned to the role of NWSL general counsel, worked with NWSL communications staff to prepare a draft public statement (which was never publicly released) related to the handling of sexual harassment complaints and the Riley investigation. Riley stepped away to use the restroom, and Farrelly and Shim discussed leaving. The NWSL's 2022 Anti-Harassment Policy contains this same language, and it further clarifies that the NWSL prohibits discriminatory and harassing conduct in any form, regardless of whether it rises to the level of a legal violation. The Joint Investigative Team also reached out to approximately 150 current and former players individually by email, telephone, and/or text and invited them to share their, experiences with the Joint Investigative Team. SafeSport produces over a dozen "abuse awareness and prevention courses, and all NWSL employees (including players) and club employees are required to participate in at least one training course developed by SafeSport. Pride leadership held a call with players and staff in which they were informed generally that some reports had been substantiated and some had not. While many clubs properly submitted candidates for the required vetting once these processes were in place, on at least two occasions, clubs hired player-facing staff and allowed them to begin working before they were cleared by the NWSL. One Spirit player recalled Burke going "from zero to a thousand on the aggressive scale" towards one of her teammates during a halftime speech and making the teammate cry. Maybe. In spite of this, the evidence shows that neither club that subsequently hired Riley was given a full understanding of the extent of Shim's allegations and the full investigative findings against Riley. Farrelly tried to pretend these sexual encounters never occurred, but Riley would try to talk about them with her. The next day, Riley said, "A deal is a deal," and he did not require the team to run the suicide mile that week. [we] use the [NWSLPA] as a voice or shield to speak to the executives at the club. The following morning, on August 31, 2021, Starr met with Racing Louisville's HR Director Erin Wilkins, O'Connor, Estes, and Bates. One player reported that Riley ripped" a player for being too fat during a halftime speech. Cromwell also sought to exclude the players she believed to have been involved in the March Investigation from her efforts to improve the locker room culture. At the time, the League consisted of eight clubs, including former WPS clubs: the Flash, Boston Breakers, the Red Stars, and Sky Blue FC; and new additions the Spirit, Seattle Reign FC, the Thorns, and FC Kansas City. When interviewed by the Joint Investigative Team, Whisler acknowledged that he received the survey comments in 2014, but said that these comments reflected only the USWNT players' views on Dames and he was aware that at least one USWNT Red Stars player-Christen Press-did not want to be on the team. 3. 116, 3. Predmore said he told Benstiti that his comments were not appropriate and that he was not permitted to have a conversation with any players about diet, nutrition, or fitness under any circumstance. c) She was later named the team's interim general manager in April 2019 after former GM Tony Novo resigned. In a written statement, Flynn stated that he did not recall personally reviewing the results or being made aware of concerns regarding the quality of coaching or abusive coaching tactics. E. While Dames affirmatively denied the allegation and said that he "let people go home all the time," the report provided no explanation for why the investigator credited his denial. The NWSL should update the 2022 Anti-Harassment Policy to explicitly address microaggressions and racist, antisemitic, homophobic, and other derogatory language. One player remarked that rumors [got] around" because of the player-staff relationship, and a staff member said that while you could articulate a policy of "church and state . 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." Players at the Dash told the Joint Investigative Team that they were unsure where to report misconduct by James Clarkson because they believed that he and club President John Walker were "best friends." In response to her request, Courage Assistant General Manager Bobby Hammond conveyed to Kurtz or her agent that the club was unable to find a trade for her, but that it could increase her salary by a "few thousand dollars." Multiple players described coaches engaging in behavior that was perceived to be physically threatening to players, such as chasing players down to scream at them, screaming in Players also reported that Burke continued to yell at a player during a game when she was experiencing a panic attack on the field. One club, in hiring a head coach, spoke to management at two of the coach's former clubs, individuals at the League and U.S. Soccer, players at one of the coach's former clubs, player agents, and a non-NWSL-affiliated member of the women's soccer community. This player felt "the lines [were] blurred," and she never knew whether the invitations were inappropriate or if he "just genuinely care[d] about [her]."