A year long independent investigation into the U. S National Women's
Soccer League found systemic patterns of emotional abuse and sexual
misconduct and that the league as well as the U. S soccer Federation,
failed to address players. Complaints for years
of ours has our report.
Judy. The report documents allegations of verbal and sexual abuse
across multiple teams shows how players complaints were dismissed
by league officials and lays out in disturbing detail the misconduct
of three past coaches. According to the report, former racing Louisville
coach Christie Holly used his power to sexually abused and retaliate
against his players. Paul Reilly, former coach of the North Carolina
courage, coerced players to have sex with him, and his abuse was
a so called open secret and Chicago
Red Star's former coach, Rory Dames, was known for his tirades and
quote crossed the line into sexual relationships with his former
youth league players.
The investigation was led by former deputy attorney General Sally
Yates, who joins me now, Ms Yates. Welcome back to the news hour.
Thank you for joining us. I want to ask you about how you chose to
begin your report because you begin with a story And it's the story
of current player Aaron Simon and her April 2021 account of when
she was abused by her then coach Christie Holly. Tell me why you
chose to begin with that particular story.
Well as we were investigating this, and we saw just how prevalent
On the instances of abuse were we thought it was going to be really
important to actually tell this as a story for it not to be at a
10,000 ft level where you're giving an overview and and people can
look away. It seemed really important for everyone to have to look
up close and personal at the individuals at the women who suffered
in this instance the abuse you find in your report was systemic.
You also say it was never
Edible. What did you mean by that?
Well. The league the Nwsl was founded after two prior leagues had
failed, and there were issues with abuse and misconduct and the prior
leagues. In fact, many say that they're one such incident was was
a big cause of the of the failure of the predecessor league. So against
that backdrop, the very idea that it was set up without any basic
protections in place. It's just crazy, and not just for the first
year, but it went on.
Year after year.
We have to point out institute. I apologize. Go ahead.
No, I said In some instances, I would say what did they expect to
happen without having set up those protections that we should point
out in each of these cases with each of these coaches, players complained
they went to league officials. They went to the league commissioner
in one case. What did you find in your investigation about how the
league and how U. S Soccer Federation responded.
And that was one of the most disturbing things you know, After this
first came out, heard people saying, Well, um, the players should
have complained Well, they did complain in various ways through player
surveys through going to team ownership going to the league going
to the federation, and those complaints were generally either ignored
completely.
Or sometimes there were some individuals, particularly owners, who
would describe bad motives to the players for making those complaints
instead.
You conducted over 200 interviews for this, And that includes over
100, former and current players. How many of those players had experienced
some kind of abuse? You know, I'll confess I haven't gone back and
you know talented up, But most of the players we spoke with either
had witnessed or experienced it personally themselves and
And in varying levels. I'm certainly not suggesting here that every
player was abused or that every coach is abusive. But this climate
this environment was familiar to most of the players. Three of the
players that you name in the report who did come forward with abuse
complaints journeyed fairly. And Monash Um and Erin Simon issued
this statement yesterday after your report. And in part of it, they
say quote no one involved has taken any response.
Hans ability for the clear role they played in harming players. They
are calling for accountability and change. And they also say initiates,
they say they want owners who have been complacent.
To be removed. What do you make of that? Well, look, I certainly
understand this. Everyone I think is is interested in anxious to
move forward. But I don't think that it's very realistic to think
that anyone in or the players can move forward without there being
some measure of accountability for what's happened in the past, and
accountability begins first with taking responsibility for one's
actions.
And so I think that's basic human nature, and that's what the players
are asking for. I also have to ask that you mentioned youth, soccer
and youth leagues several times. These coaches who are named in here
all had ties to youth soccer leagues. You also say your investigation
was just focused on the professional league. You didn't pursue information
that came up related to youth leagues, but millions of parents are
going to read that.
And they're going to be worried. So what should they know about what
you found about what's going on in youth soccer leagues. We are investigation
was the nwsl of women's professional soccer. But player after player
told us about their experiences in you soccer and again, you know,
there's there's a range of conduct here and in the abuse, But one
of the really common threats we heard was that these young players,
um, got used to being
Verbally abused by their coaches. And, frankly, some of the parents,
I think got used to that as well and
They were also very gray lines. But in the relationships between
players and coaches, you know, I think that we all need to wake up
and step up and look at what is going on in our youth leagues and
and take control of that. That is former Deputy Attorney General
Sally Yates joining us today with this report.
On the National Women's Soccer League. Thank you so much, Ms Yates.