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Report reveals systematic sexual harassment of female soccer players in the United States

2022-10-03T19:49:35.500Z


"Those who were in a position to correct" the problems "remained silent," the document explains. The American women's soccer league is plagued by "systemic" abuse. From the highest divisions to youth competitions. It is the conclusion of a devastating report made public this Monday, at the request of US Soccer, in which bad practices are denounced and how, despite repeated complaints, "those who were in a position to correct (the problems) remained silent." The report comes a year after play


The American women's soccer league is plagued by "systemic" abuse.

From the highest divisions to youth competitions.

It is the conclusion of a devastating report made public this Monday, at the request of US Soccer, in which bad practices are denounced and how, despite repeated complaints, "those who were in a position to correct (the problems) remained silent."

The report comes a year after players, angered by widespread experiences that highlighted a culture of abuse in the women's game, refused to take the field to play to demand a full investigation into the incidents.

Several games were postponed.

The protests of the athletes, including some of the biggest celebrities in their discipline, multiplied.

Several women's league executives were fired or resigned.

The complaints splashed half of the coaches in the league.

Finally, the sports authorities commissioned the lawyer Sally Yates, former

number two

of the Department of Justice, and the law firm King and Spalding to investigate the complaints that media such as

The Athletic had already published.

and

The Washington Post

.

The document describes, among other cases, the touching of the head coach of Racing Louisville, Christy Holly, towards one of the team's players, Erin Simon.

In a certain episode, the coach invited the athlete to watch the recording of one of the matches, alone.

Sitting next to her, he declared that he would touch her every time she was seen on video making a mistake on a pass.

And she did.

“The video ended, and she left.

When her teammate picked her up to take her home, Simon burst into tears, ”explains the report, prepared by attorney Sally Yates.

But "Holly is not the only manager to have perpetrated abuse in the League, and Simon is not the only player to have received it."

Our investigation reveals a league in which abuse and inappropriate behavior -- verbal and emotional abuse, as well as sexual misconduct -- have become systemic, encompassing multiple teams, coaches, and victims.

"The abuse in the women's league is rooted in a deeper culture in women's football, which begins in youth competitions, and which normalizes verbal abuse in training and blurs the lines between coaches and players,"

That verbal abuse, the text specifies, is not merely "hard training."

Not even the players who denounce him are “delicate little flowers;

They are among the best athletes in the world.

Among them are veterans of the World Cup and the Olympic Games, says the report, which interviewed more than two hundred soccer players to investigate the complaints.

“We hear complaint after complaint of degrading and relentless fights;

a manipulation that did not try to improve sports performance, but was about power and revenge against those who wanted to expose it.

And even more troubling were the stories of sexual misconduct,” which he ranged from off-color comments to forced sexual intercourse.

The teams, the directors of the League, and the American soccer federation itself, more concerned about the possibility that the accused coaches could sue them, or about the economic situation of this women's sport, avoided reacting to the complaints.

“They also avoided implementing measures to prevent” those incidents or to stop them, despite the fact that some managers privately recognized the need to take steps to correct the problem.

Without punishment or accountability, abusive coaches were passed from team to team, with no public mention of the incidents they left behind.

The report recommends, among other things, making public a list of individuals punished by football authorities, and investigating the suitability of coaches before granting them a license to practise.

It also suggests hiring officials to take care of player safety, and stresses the need to set clear standards of professional behaviour.

In a statement, the president of the women's soccer federation, Cindy Parlow Cone, herself a former national team player, called the allegations in the report "deeply worrying and painful."

Her entity, she stresses, will immediately implement some of the report's recommendations.

The federation, she declares, is "fully committed to doing everything in its power to ensure that all players, at all levels, have a safe and respectful place to learn, grow and compete."

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Source: elparis

All sports articles on 2022-10-03

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