Craig Harrington, the former Utah Royal F.C. The History and Culture of the League and its Member Clubs Discouraged Reporting of Potential Misconduct While the club discussed with Simon the possibility of a severance agreement, there is no evidence that the club sought Simon's input on these terms. Compounding this effect, the League lacked trainings, policies, and other resources on harassment, abuse, and other forms of misconduct. In a follow-up interview, the lawyer said the alterations were not made by Ms. LaHue, and did not provide any further details. If you don't like it, then there's never going to be a league." On September 30, 2021, an article in The Athletic shared accounts by Shim and her former Thorns teammate Sinead Farrelly detailing not only Riley's 2015 misconduct towards Shim, but also his prior sexual misconduct-which the 2015 Thorns Investigation had not uncovered-towards Farrelly. If [a player] gets [an] injury we still need [her.]" The NWSLPA and the League began collective bargaining in late 2020, and Meghann Burke was hired to a full-time position as the Executive Director of the NWSLPA in early 2021. Our players respect what Holly does as a coach and how he treats other players, coaches, and staff." 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. 96, player commenting in the 2020 player survey that Burke used demeaning language. The announcement did not specify that the cause was sexual misconduct. NWSL bans Paul Riley Richie Burke Christy Holly Rory Dames Bailey also noted to Whisler that the player survey results were shared with Flynn and Gulati, and Whisler emailed both Flynn and Gulati regarding the survey results. Some witnesses also recalled that Riley would at times exert pressure to have injured players play, in spite of medical advice to the contrary. Burke also engaged in multiple instances of conduct that included stereotyping and jokes about Jewish people. The cover email was not marked as privileged, or confidential, or as subject to any legal protection. A player for another club recalled that she had to take a break from the team to be with family due to anxiety, and when she returned, both her coach and the general manager informed her she would have to find her own housing because she had "made the choice" to go home temporarily due to mental health reasons. The NWSL should also develop standards for evaluating an applicant's fitness for the position, based on the results of background checks, that are consistent with applicable legal restrictions, including applicable state laws. 5. ", - Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, more (U.S.). The joint investigation team noted that all three clubs also "withheld key documents" from them until after the Yates report was released. The lack of clearly established responsibilities allowed individuals within these institutions to disclaim personal responsibility for player protection and to turn a blind eye or shift blame to other individuals and entities, while players were left exposed to further misconduct and unsafe environments. Of the ten clubs that were in operation in October 2021, seven did not have dedicated HR staff tasked with receiving complaints or reports of misconduct and with investigating misconduct. At OL Reign, CEO (and for much of the club's history, the principal owner) Bill Predmore also managed HR. For instance, Stanton recalled Holly asking her to come to his hotel room to review film one-on-one on two to three occasions. Williams, who was not at the meeting, reported being told by the Longs and a staff member that players were not happy because the team was not doing well. A third player recalled that during trips for away games, the team would "go to the bar together and Riley would "be there buying players . The club fired LaHue in July 2021. Another club staff member felt that Holly lost trust in the locker room" because of his romantic relationship. LaHue first joined Gotham FC in 2018. Predmore said he did not know about Benstiti's weight-shaming before deciding to hire Benstiti and remarked that "by the time it came out[,] Farid had signed his contract." Dames remained head coach for nine full seasons in the NWSL, and when he resigned in November 2021, he was the Those findings will remain confidential and the league will not comment further on individual club personnel matters., Now, further details have come to light. 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. The anti-retaliation trainings should explain that ostracizing players or staff or ignoring them, denying players certain training opportunities or playing time, or showing favoritism toward certain other players or staff could be retaliatory if a motivating factor for engaging in the conduct relates to those individuals participating in a Protected Activity under the AntiHarassment Policy. Players reported that they felt confused by the information shared with them and did not understand exactly why Holly had been fired. The team tried to fit into a rented van to return to their hotel, and team members sat on each other's laps. 43, Players also told U.S. Soccer's investigator that Dames used his power as head coach to exercise control over them. In multiple instances, coaches and staff accused of misconduct were able to find employment at other clubs despite losing their previous employment due to misconduct. The 2022 Anti-Harassment Policy prohibits a range of misconduct. Within one day of learning of the players complaint, the matter was escalated to the NWSL pursuant to league policy. soccer career. Multiple clubs expected the League to take a more active role in addressing misconduct. NWSL staff responsible for reviewing player survey results were not trained on how to handle player survey responses suggesting misconduct against players. At the end of the meeting, Simon was informed that the club planned to fire Holly that night. The Joint Investigative Team is not aware of any action by U.S. Soccer, the NWSL, or the Red Stars to address the behavior described in the 2014 comments. 15, "manipulative" and noted that Holly stopped building her up and "became a monster" after she began a relationship with someone. Wahlke agreed that the investigation proceeded stepwise and also stressed that the investigator had trouble contacting players during the off-season and the 2019 World Cup. disparagement language in the agreement included a caveat, which allowed Holly to "provide his honest assessment of players on the Club team, solely as it relates to their performance as soccer players." She was surprised then when the club's HR personnel emailed staff and the players who raised concerns to schedule a meeting for them to discuss the issues collectively. Courage President Curt Johnson explained that during this vetting period, Flynn told Johnson some of the details of Riley's 2015 misconduct towards Shim and Farrelly, but described the incident as "a moment of poor judgment." Another player recalled that Riley loved the feeling of controlling our lives, and that he acted on this feeling by chang[ing] the schedule at the last minute" and "withhold[ing] information Novo responded, "My answer is that Christy [Holly] has a very good and fair relationship with our players . The Spirit suspended Burke pending an investigation initiated shortly after the Washington Post article was published, and the club fired him on September 28, 2021, following the completion of that investigation. In multiple investigations by the NWSL, no written report, summary, or other record of findings was prepared, and findings were not broadly shared. We interview the founders, investors, technologists, and early stage employees who are part of today's entrepreneurial ecosystem. The future of sports sponsorship? Women's sports - Sid Lee Boundary Blurring Between Players and Staff Both players and staff on the Current described disproportionately angry responses by their former head coach, Huw Williams, to routine questions in the course of games or practices. Another player explained, "We are still in a growing league, and that's not lost on players." In other instances, players were told they could raise concerns to club management or ownership but feared doing so due to close relationships between coaching staff and club management, or because their coach also served as general manager. This witness said that Riley did not make similar comments about players in relationships with men. The NWSL's Non-Fraternization Policy, adopted in 2018, states: "No person in management or a supervisory position with a Team or the League shall have a romantic or dating relationship with a League or team employee whom he or she directly supervises or whose terms or conditions of employment he or she may influence." Players also lacked uniform trainings addressing how to identify and respond to inappropriate conduct. Representatives appointed by each of the 12 NWSL club owners comprise the League's Board of Governors, which acts on behalf of the League. Players reported that as a result of reporting misconduct or supporting others in doing so, they were verbally abused, isolated and ignored by coaches, removed from starting roles, waived, traded, and not re-signed, among other consequences. ii The Joint Investigative Team carefully considered which individuals to identify by name in this Report. In another example, Paulson recounted that when he spoke to Wahlke about the 2015 Thorns Investigation when U.S. Soccer was considering hiring Riley as a coach in 2019, Wahlke focused on the fact that the investigation had found no unlawful harassment. The NWSL did not distribute these player surveys consistently: player surveys were distributed yearly from 2013 to 2017, and again in 2020. The 2015 Thorns Investigation was poorly handled in key respects. Insufficient Understanding of the Respective Roles of U.S. Soccer, the League, and Clubs in Investigating Misconduct Formation and Mandate of the Joint Investigative Team The public revelation of Riley's misconduct and the systemic issues it exposed prompted outcry and action. In this meeting, she recounted that Riley sent her text messages that made her uncomfortable and refused to trade her from the Courage despite her request for a trade. This one is the result of a joint investigation by the league, the union, and law firms each entity hired that started October of last year, after The Athletic published detailed allegations against former Philadelphia Independence, Portland Thorns, and North Carolina Courage manager Paul Riley. Ms. LaHue immediately hired a top digital forensic company, which provided the JIT metadata and evidence of alterations in documents used against her., That relates to a line in the report which says the Joint Investigative Team identified discrepancies in versions of an email exchange involving LaHue that was part of the file from the 2021 League investigation.. Sauerbrunn: NWSL players horrified and heartbroken, Morgan shames former NWSL commissioner Baird for inaction over Riley abuse, Morgan: Mana Shim was failed by the system, NWSL report explainer: What's new, what's recommended and what's next, Foden's return to form helps mask De Bruyne's troubles, Nelson sends Arsenal into euphoria with last-gasp winner over Bournemouth, Arsenal rally, net late winner in 5-goal thriller, Garber: MLS would be flexible for Messi move, City beat Newcastle to keep pressure on Arsenal, Arteta: Arsenal win my 'most emotional moment', Ancelotti defends Benzema after Clasico loss, Klopp, Ten Hag tell fans to 'lose the poison', Xavi on Clasico critics: Barca world's hardest club, Guardiola: Next three games define City's season. During her tenure as NWSL president, Amanda Duffy was made aware of, but failed to act on, Shim's 2015 complaint against Riley and the subsequent investigation conducted by the Thorns. That same day, NWSL General Counsel Lisa Levine also resigned. Also that same day, Levine reported Riley to the U.S. Center for SafeSport (an organization that investigates reports of abuse and misconduct in athletics) based on information that was then publicly available. It [did not] matter what kind of abuse and toxicity they [were] creating. According to the staff member, Predmore said the Benstiti weight-shaming issue was a cultural thing and that he "worked on it." When he spoke to the investigator, Whisler indicated that he was aware of players' concerns even before Press's complaint. As described in detail below, the Joint Investigative Team contacted and interviewed stakeholders representing a variety of perspectives, including current and former players, coaches and other club staff, NWSL employees and officials, U.S. Soccer officials, NWSLPA and U.S. Women's National Team Players Association (USWNTPA) leadership, and other members of the professional soccer community. Craig Harrington: The former Utah Royals coach is reported to have. To conduct the training, the NWSL should consider engaging a third party with expertise in anti-racism, antisemitism, and DEI in the professional sports context. Some clubs have strictly enforced a non-fraternization policy. Holly also verbally abused players and retaliated against those who raised complaints about him. When an assistant coach attempted to give the player the requested advice, Williams told the assistant coach, "Shut the fuck up and go sit down." 3. The supporters group claimed that the banner was removed because it was a political statement. The phrase 'using personal information against you' appears to be a catch-all phrase used by players to capture conduct by Dames that was perceived as being mean toward players on a personal level." In the course of 2021 alone, six of the League's then-existing ten clubs fired or accepted the resignations of general managers or head coaches due to misconduct, in some cases misconduct that had persisted for years. The Joint Investigative Team looked to a variety of sources, including the League's 2022 Anti-Harassment Policy and professional coaching standards, when making these assessments. Only two clubs' employee handbooks-the Spirit's and Gotham's-referenced the NWSL Anti-Harassment Policy. But the story had been percolating since June 28, when I reported via Twitter that Alyse LaHue was away from the team. A player on another team recalled that a general manager, when asked by a player about hotel room arrangements, screamed at the player for several minutes and accused the player of "trying to get inside information about who was going to be traded." One player reported that club staff living in the same housing as players led to unprofessional interactions. . In the 2020 survey, a player for the Spirit wrote that Burke was "unprofessional in his communication with certain players, that he play[ed] major psychological games with certain players, and that he used demeaning language." The day before a game, Holly got into a fight with Pearce Rampone during training. For example, and as discussed in detail above, when Riley was separated from employment with the Thorns and subsequently hired by the Flash, neither the Thorns nor the League informed the Flash of the precise issues or investigative findings against Riley. Players were aware not only of the NWSL's uncertain future, but also of the precariousness of their own individual futures within the NWSL. This investigation found that players lacked effective channels for reporting inappropriate behavior. 12 Given this conduct, players feared retaliation from Burke and held back from criticizing him out of fear they would be waived. This prohibition extended to disclosures that would not identify Simon or that Simon approved. Spirit players reported that Burke also used the full N-word in recounting past racism against a family member; asked players if he should sing the "Black version" or "white version" of "Happy Birthday"; and joked, to a player wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt and who had a black eye, that "black eyes matter." Likewise, OL Reign performed a background check but did not perform a reputational check when hiring Farid Benstiti, who later left the club following reports of misconduct that, as discussed above, mirrored public reports about his behavior while coaching a team overseas. According to multiple interviewees, Clarkson did not allow the players to address the accusation that they had been drinking and told them, Cameras don't lie." In an interview with the Joint Investigative Team, Gulati stated he could not recall being aware in 2014 of player survey comments from that year indicating Riley was verbally abusive. Cone said she informed others at U.S. Soccer about this call, and she called Malik to ensure Courage players were safe. The NWSL did not distribute player surveys in 2018 and 2019 due to bandwidth and resource constraints, and it did not distribute player surveys in 2021 in part because the NWSL received feedback from players on many topics covered in previous player surveys during CBA negotiations. Ms. LaHue has sat for approximately seventeen (17) hours of interviews and continually requested access to materials related to her case., According to the joint investigative report, LaHue participated in an initial interview but later canceled another scheduled interview through her counsel and declined repeated requests to reschedule. Shim also forwarded the complaint to then-NWSL Commissioner Jeff Plush. He said he shared with Johnson that Kurtz mentioned Riley calling her chubby, and understood that Johnson would talk to Riley about his choice of words. The Management Agreement executed between the NWSL and U.S. Soccer on December 12, 2012, established U.S. Soccer as the manager of the NWSL. 5. Stanton reported that Holly texted her all the time" while he was an assistant coach at Sky Blue, sometimes communicating in a way that felt like it was "teetering on the line" of Holly also told Simon on more than one occasion that he wanted to have a threesome with her and another former player, and he would refer to it as "the most epic threesome. Holly also sent Simon inappropriate messages on Snapchat, including a photo of him lying on his bed in boxers Alyse LaHue The Oversight Committee pledged to ensure that the investigation was independent, thorough, and objective. Alyse LaHue: The former Gotham FC general manager is reported to have engaged in inappropriate communications with players. Two players had in fact described the same example of Dames sharing personal information, but one of the two players also provided a different example of when Dames's had shared information in a way that made her uncomfortable. In 2022, in consultation with the NWSLPA, the NWSL replaced the 2021 AntiHarassment Policy with the Policy to Prevent Workplace Discrimination, Harassment, and Bullying (the "2022 Anti-Harassment Policy"). A member of I also pitch in with coverage of college basketball and the WNBA. These categories are illustrative and non-exhaustive; emotional misconduct also can include intentionally acting in a manner that causes emotional or psychological harm, including severe or repetitive conduct, such as insulting or degrading players or by creating a hostile working environment for players. Johnson reported Players and former assistant coaches said that Holly would "ream" out players, verbally attack[] them, and play mind games. Holly retaliated against players who resisted his unwanted advances or complained about his conduct. 14 Levine told the Joint Investigative Team that from what she could recall, Lines was removed "directly in response" to the survey results. Non-contact physical behavior can also contribute to the creation of emotional misconduct. As discussed above, in early 2022, counsel for the Pride conducted an investigation into reports of inappropriate conduct by Head Coach Amanda Cromwell and Assistant Coach Sam Greene. Both before and after the NWSL implemented its Non-Fraternization Policy in 2018, clubs responded inconsistently to player-staff relationships. The club did not take steps to determine if Riley's conduct extended beyond an isolated comment or to other players. Flynn did not specifically recall providing the details noted by Johnson; rather, he only recalled telling Johnson to speak to individuals at the Thorns and to other club owners prior to making a decision regarding Riley because others might know the results of the 2015 Thorns Investigation. I. Third, the Joint Investigative Team found that the Thorns, the NWSL, and U.S. Soccer failed on numerous occasions to fully and clearly communicate the allegations and findings against Riley to other NWSL clubs that subsequently hired Riley. Players reported the coaching staff physically turned their backs on the player while she was experiencing a panic attack and did not follow up with this player afterward to ask how she was doing. One evening, he persuaded her to have dinner at an Italian restaurant in Portland. 114, staff and players to identify conditions and circumstances for socializing that prioritize player safety and respect for boundaries. Riley and Holly were not the only club staff members reported to have made unwanted sexual advances toward players. Kurtz further detailed to investigators incidents of weight-shaming by Riley, noting that she developed an eating disorder. Two people used the phrase Jekyll and Hyde" to describe Holly. Alyse LaHue was appointed as General Manager of NJ/NY Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in April 2019 (then known as Sky Blue FC) and has been leading the club's dramatic turnaround since. She told Clarkson during a water break shortly after entering that she had to come off the field due to her injury. Even Clarkson told the Joint Investigative Team that he felt that the head coach and general manager roles should be held by two different people, and that he raised this issue with the Dash's president. As discussed above, after U.S. Soccer directed the League to hand over its investigation into Dames, the League was not briefed on the findings. 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."
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