Colleen Cranna
Image from Just Women’s Sports
The Sally Yates Report of King & Spalding LLP published in October 2022 by the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) opened the eyes of millions to the systemic sexual and emotional abuse found in professional U.S. women’s soccer leagues. Powerfully uncovering the disgraceful actions of coaches and leadership in both professional adult leagues as well as elite youth soccer environments, the report impacted audiences far and wide- however, the simple illumination of these deeply rooted allegations falls short of to healing the scars of victims that persist from decades of abuse sanctioned by corrupt leadership.
The appalling report begins with an Executive Summary that details just three separate coaches within the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) who all harbor a lengthy history of abuse and misconduct- but the entire duration of the report testities to horrific details that pertain to systemic predatory actions of a vast number more coaches within US Soccer organizations.
Unsurprising in this investigation was the choice of USSF to obtain the high profile firm of King & Spalding in October of 2021. With over 1,000 acting attorneys and twenty three offices internationally, King & Spalding possessed a bevy of resources equipped to dig through thousands of documents and reports of evidence of abusive behavior and misconduct from across the nation. Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates was chosen to lead this investigation along with a team of additional attorneys. Her retainer assured that the case would be thorough and exhaustive, with the investigation taking an entire year.
Immediately, the report begins with a harrowing incident in April of 2021 between former head coach of Racing Louisville FC, at that time a new expansion team within the NWSL, Christy Holly, and player Erin Simon, in which Holly forcibly touched Simon for every misplaced pass. Under the guise of a film review, Holly was able to target and abuse vulnerable players within the team that promoted an environment of toxicity and fear of poor athletic performances. It was not until months after this incident that the NWSL responded, only spurred by an article in the Athletic that detailed a completely separate coach and his patterns of abuse that similarly went unaddressed for years.
The immediate backlash that resulted from this report, and the numerous players that came forward corroborating the allegations, forced the USSF to respond through their retaining of Yates and beginning of an independent investigation. As documented in the introduction to the report, “Abuse in the NWSL is rooted in a deeper culture in women’s soccer, beginning in youth leagues, that normalizes verbally abusive coaching and blurs boundaries between coaches and players.” Blurred lines and boundaries between players and coaches in youth and environments is believed to be the root cause of abusive environments within top Division 1 soccer programs before continuing on to infect the NWSL.
Evident with a lack of accountability for abusive behavior, the culture of harmful environments for women’s soccer programs in the U.S. has been allowed to fester with no consequences for those who take advantage of vulnerabilities within youth, collegiate, and professional environments, until now. Yates and her team hope to spur conversations about these patterns of misconduct to see real and meaningful change in institutions such as the NWSL and US Soccer.
When abuse allegations are made, many individuals are able to separate themselves from the incidents as they may believe it does not directly impact them- however, for us in the DMV this issue of misconduct for women’s professional soccer hits close to home. Local NWSL team the Washington Spirit has come under major scrutiny for their handling of former head coach Richie Burke.
In August of 2021, the Spirit released a press statement that described Burker’s departure from the head coaching position as one that was “mutual” and based on health concerns, yet in the following month the NWSL penalized the Spirit after numerous allegations were made of Burke’s abusive and toxic behaviors. A major part of these accusations was former UCLA star Kaiya McUllough as a former Spirit player, and who has now permanently left professional soccer due to the lasting emotional burdens of Burke’s abusive environment.
The conclusion of the NWSL investigation led to the Spirit’s probation of all league governance matters, meaning they no longer had a say in prospective league changes or actions. When asked for comment on the Yate’s report and the ever growing number of abuse allegations made in professional women’s soccer environments, the Spirit’s media department replied with current owner Michelle Kang’s press release from earlier this year. The all too generic statement attempts to provide reassurance to fans and sponsors that the Spirit was committed to providing a healthy environment for all players and staff, and that she pledge’s to build a culture of excellence both on and off the field. Kang’s statement omitted any specific solutions the Spirit will implement in the coming seasons, or acknowledgement of the allegations of Burke’s abuse from former players.
For players forced to endure abusive environments, solace or healing is one of the biggest challenges. It has been seen that responsive action or prevention of future abuse for coaches who were found to be misusing their positions in power is rare. More often than not, even after being fired from their head coaching positions these individuals maintained their involvement in the organization or in soccer environments. Burke was moved to administrative duty for the Spirit and Dames continued to run and be involved in a prominent youth soccer club. One of the most successful coaches in NWSL history, Paul Riley, also continued to run a highly successful youth soccer club while under investigation for numerous claims verbal and sexual abuse. The lack of true accountability for these coaches and actions taken to prevent their continuance of misconduct and terror only furthers the cycle of abuse.
Knowing that so many of the professional coaches in the NWSL with allegations of abuse had strong ties with youth soccer programs, the competitive environment of US club soccer for young girls was also examined for evidence of impacts from the systemic abuse of the NWSL. There are numerous leagues available for girls looking to play at a travel level for soccer, all with thousands of players and coaches, but little structure to combat abusive behaviors. One league in particular recently began their attempt to change that culture through a partnership with a nonprofit organization focused on combating abuse in youth sports.
Formed in 2020, the Girls Academy (GA) league is a national platform for elite competition for girls soccer. One driving factor behind the popularity of the league is its partnership with the boys equivalent of MLS Next, a feeder for the Men’s professional league, with both leagues being partners of US Youth Soccer. The creation of the league came somewhat quickly following the collapse of its predecessor the Development Academy, a league for both elite boys and girls teams. The GA has expressed its dedication to player safety through the creation of advisory panels, as well as the utilization of the independent organization focused on eliminating player abuse.
SafeSport is an independent body of government tasked with developing and enforcing policies designed to eliminate abuse within youth sports environments. For all players in the GA, once you get to the oldest age group of u19, you are required to complete the SafeSport programming.
A local senior committed to playing Division 1 soccer at Old Dominion University currently plays in the GA with Northern Virginia club Metro ASA and was required to take the programming. Goodrich described the nearly three hours long content as depicting ways to identify abusive tactics or behaviors of coaches in sports environments that create power imbalances and intimidation. Many of these behaviors lead to players feeling like they cannot come forward, and the eventual silencing of victims of this abuse. For Goodrich, reflecting on the process was acknowledging that, “The biggest thing I learned was that this actually existed,” recognizing that, “Prior to taking the course, I had never heard of it, and didn’t believe there was something like this in place to combat abuse.”
Abusive behaviors rooted in organizations like the NWSL trickle down to poison youth soccer environments for young girls, making organizations like SafeSport at the forefront of fighting these issues. Yet, players like Goodrich question their effectiveness due to the countless accusations of verbal and sexual abuse within club soccer for female players. “Though this process is informative and can discourage abusive behavior, I do believe that this cannot be the only form and requirement for adults who deal with minors,” Goodrich admits.
Primarily, she believes that it is vital for a more “rigorous” and “formal” process for educating those involved in youth sporting environments to help protect players from abuse before it happens. This notion is shared by Athletes for Equity in Sport, a non-profit organization adamantly advocating for stricter investigations and punishments for coaches or individuals in positions of power found guilty of abusing young players.
Law makers seem to agree. In response to the growing allegations of abuse in youth sports, Congress passed the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017. This legislation mobilized the US Center for SafeSport to “make athlete well-being sport’s top priority,” focusing on the notion that “the health and personal benefits of sport should never be undermined by abuse,” as described by Daniel Hill, PR Representative from the organization.
SafeSport proudly promotes that over 1800 individuals have been sanctioned and more than 300 of those have been permanently removed from sport as a result of their investigations. Furthermore, the Center’s online tools and databases, similar to what Goodrich participated in, have been used over 4 million times. Regardless of these successes, Hill admits that “Culture change is tough and there will always be resistance.”
Yet still, backlash is common. Groups such as Athletes for Equity in Sport maintain their position that SafeSport fails to punish those found guilty of abuse harshly enough. Ultimately, SafeSport has struggled to find a balance between determining when and where it is appropriate to step into a situation where abuse may be occurring while keeping the best interests of the youth athletes in mind.
The landscape of women’s professional soccer in the US is currently undergoing major reform, yet questions remain: is the NWSL salvageable? Or does the corruption and protection of abusive behavior run too deep?