US national team captain calls for exclusion of team owners involved in abuse

The captain of the U.S. Women’s World Cup team said Tuesday that any owner or executive named in a report condemning abuse in women’s soccer
“should be excluded” from sport.

Becky Sauerbrunn, the captain, made it clear that “the group of people in question” includes the owner and
several executives at the club she plays for, Portland Thorns.

“You have failed in your duties as managers,” Sauerbrunn said of football officials and executives whose behavior was exposed in a highly critical report released Monday that uncovered years of abuse in women’s football.

“And it is my opinion that all United States football owners, executives and officials who have repeatedly failed players, failed in their duty to protect players, hid behind legal ruses, and did not fully cooperate with these investigations, need to be excluded”.

As Sauerbrunn was making his statement, Merritt Paulson, the Thorns’ owner, released a statement in which he stated that he was “stepping away, with immediate effect”, from any decisions about the team. But Paulson gave no indication that he planned to sell the Portland, Oregon club, a position that, at least for the moment, puts him at direct odds with Sauerbrunn, one of his team’s most awarded and most popular players.

When asked if his remarks included Paulson, Sauerbrunn, citing specific allegations against the owner and Thorns but not directly mentioning his name, it left little doubt that Paulson was among the targets of his comments.

“[Minhas observações] include all those who have continually failed the players, countless times,” she said, speaking of people who, she felt, needed to be shut out of football for good.

Paulson and at least two club executives were accused in a report compiled by Sally Yates, a former US Department of Justice employee, of concealing the fact that they were aware of abuse by a former club coach; to dismiss complaints from a player who has expressed concern about the matter; and to remain silent as the coach in question transferred from team to team in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

Shortly after Paulson’s announcement, Chicago Red Stars owner Arnim Whisler announced that he would cede control of the club and step down from his post on the NWSL board, but did not indicate he would sell the team.
According to the report, Whisler received complaints about Rory Dames, the team’s coach, as early as 2013, and the following year dismissed complaints that Dames had “created a hostile environment”, declaring that some players on the US national football team “want to see this league close its doors”.

The report further revealed that Dames, who also coached a youth club, fostered a “sexualized atmosphere on the team”, spoke to young players about his sex life and had sex.
with several players.

Dames resigned from the Red Stars last year, while the Washington Post was preparing a story about his behavior.

“I am deeply sorry for what our players had to face during his time in Chicago,” Whisler said in a statement. “Our organization is committed to rebuilding trust and respect between players and staff towards our league and our club, and I recognize that my presence at the moment is a distraction.”

Sauerbrunn and teammate Alana Cook, who also spoke out on Tuesday night, were relentless in their view that it was high time for strong actions, including the
forced sale of staff and firing of employees known to have concealed or instigated abuse of women were adopted.

“I think it’s time,” Sauerbrunn said, “that those in positions of authority and leadership started demanding accountability, and asking for the changes that need to happen.”

Cook, like Sauerbrunn, said that after players went public to reveal and document years of abuse, the responsibility to remove troubled coaches, executives and owners fell on the sport’s leadership.

“For a long time, it was up to the players to speak up,” Cook said. “The responsibility should no longer be ours alone.” Sauerbrunn and Cook spoke in London, where the United States will play European champions England in a friendly on Friday night. The two players and their coach, Vlatko Andonovski,
said the team was shaken by the revelations in the Yates report, and that it was struggling to stay focused on Friday’s game.

“The players are not doing well,” said Sauerbrunn. “We are horrified and heartbroken, frustrated and exhausted, and very, very angry.”

Andonovski said that he and his coaching staff were respecting each player’s need to process their feelings about the report differently, and that they had given everyone space to do so. He said the players had been allowed to miss practices and meetings, and even not to play Friday’s match.

Paulson’s statement was his first public comment since the report was released. He said in the statement that two other senior Thorns executives whose personal and
was criticized in the report, football president Gavin Wilkinson and business president Mike Golub would also step aside, while a separate investigation is being conducted by the NWSL and the
players union.

But Paulson did not say whether he planned to sell the team, and Sauerbrunn and Cook, as well as other players, quickly signaled that any solution other than a complete departure from him would be inappropriate.
“I think the trust has been seriously broken,” Sauerbrunn said. She added that “ultimately, if people continue to fail players and don’t do what the reports ask for, what the reports implement, they need to go. For good.”

Translation by Paulo Migliacci