The followup report names some names that hadn’t been named before.
Widespread misconduct, including sexual abuse, manipulation and mocking athletes’ bodies, has plagued the National Women’s Soccer League for a decade, according to an investigation commissioned by the league and its players’ union.
“Club staff in positions of power made inappropriate sexual remarks to players, mocked players’ bodies, pressured players to lose unhealthy amounts of weight, crossed professional boundaries with players, and created volatile and manipulative working conditions,” the 128-page report released Wednesday said.
Officials “displayed insensitivity towards players’ mental health and engaged in retaliation against players who attempted to report or did report concerns. Misconduct against players has occurred at the vast majority of NWSL clubs at various times, from the earliest years of the League to the present.”
The league was founded in 2012 and is the longest-running professional women’s soccer league in U.S. history, the report said.
Investigators reached out to 780 current and former players, all 12 NWSL teams and 90 current and former club staff, and those from the league office. More than 200,000 documents were reviewed during the investigation conducted by the law firms of Covington & Burling and Weil, Gotshal & Manges, according to the report.
The league and its players union said in a statement steps have been taken in the past 14 months to address systemic issues highlighted in the report.
Among those efforts: strengthening the league’s anti-harassment policy; enhancing vetting procedures for new hires and establishing an anonymous hotline where players can report misconduct.
League Commissioner Jessica Berman apologized for the league’s glaring failures.
“This report clearly reflects how our league systemically failed to protect our players,” Berman said in a statement.
Our players “deserve, at a minimum, a safe and secure environment to participate at the highest level in a sport they love, and they have my unwavering commitment that delivering that change will remain a priority each and every day,” the statement said.
A report released in October documented similar problems across the league.
That would be the Yates Report, which was commissioned by US Soccer, whose statement on this report is here. I didn’t realize this report was also in the works, but as noted above it addresses some individual coaches that have been linked to these problems but who weren’t named in the Yates report for whatever the reason. In particular, this report details the allegations against now-former Houston Dash coach and GM James Clarkson.
According to the report, the joint investigative team first received a complaint about Clarkson last December. The Dash, acting on initial findings from the joint investigation, indefinitely suspended Clarkson in April before the regular-season opener.
The report also included allegations of misconduct by former Dash coach Vera Pauw, Clarkson’s immediate predecessor.
On Wednesday, the Dash released a statement that said the club would not renew Clarkson’s contract, which expires at the end of 2022.
“We apologize to players, present and former, who were subject to misconduct by James Clarkson and 2018 head coach Vera Pauw,” the statement read in part. “Our vision of building and maintaining a culture of excellence on and off the pitch starts with cultivating a respectful and healthy working environment. Our priority is to ensure that our personnel and policies reflect that directive.”
Seven current and former Houston players interviewed initially by the investigative team described Clarkson as “volatile, verbally abusive, and not showing appropriate regard for players’ well-being.”
After Clarkson’s suspension, investigators interviewed 19 additional current and former Dash players and staff, including Clarkson. They also collected and reviewed relevant emails, texts, and WhatsApp messages from interviewees and the club.
“At the conclusion of its investigation, the Joint Investigative Team determined that Clarkson’s actions constituted emotional misconduct,” the report said.
[…]
While a majority of players interviewed did not believe Clarkson’s treatment of players constituted abuse or misconduct, two players reported that they sought therapy based on Clarkson’s conduct. Several players said Clarkson targeted one or two players each year for excessive and unjustified criticism, and a majority of interviewees believed Clarkson’s mood could be unpredictable in a way that “contributed to a culture of anxiety.”
Several incidents are described in the report.
- In March, the Dash went on a preseason trip to Mexico City to play against Mexican club Pumas. Four Dash players had dinner at a Pumas player’s apartment the night before the first game, and the next morning during warmups, one of those Dash players was sick. Although Dash players said they had not been drinking and team medical staff attributed the player’s illness to altitude sickness, Clarkson believed she was hungover. He attempted to get security footage from the hotel and could not but later reprimanded the entire team for selfishness and told them “cameras don’t lie.” Afterward, when captains told Clarkson he scared the players, he replied that they “should be scared.”
- In another game, Clarkson reportedly criticized and berated an injured player after she requested to be subbed out of the game because of ankle pain.
While the NWSL was investigating an incident in which Chicago Red Stars player Sarah Gorden said she and her boyfriend were racially profiled by security after a game in Houston at PNC Stadium, Clarkson wrote phone numbers for stadium security on a board at a team meeting and asked players to call and apologize for their conduct, supposedly because players had violated COVID-19 protocols by going into the stands. Some thought Clarkson was defending stadium security, although he later apologized for being insensitive.- In his interview with investigators, the report said, Clarkson “exhibited a lack of candor” and “denied ever raising his voice at players or losing control of his emotions, notwithstanding credible evidence to the contrary.”
Dash players told investigators they felt uneasy reporting Clarkson’s misconduct because his dual role as head coach and general manager gave him a “ridiculous amount of power” and because they perceived Clarkson and former club president John Walker to be “best friends.” Walker stepped down at the end of the 2022 season.
The report noted that although Clarkson advocated for the development of a mental health program with the Dash, he also demonstrated insensitivity toward players’ mental health in his interactions with them and repeatedly failed to understand how his conduct impacted players.
The report also said that Pauw, who coached the Dash for one season in 2018, shamed players regarding their weight and attempted to assert excessive control over their eating habits. Because Pauw lived in the same housing complex as Dash players, she inserted herself into their eating and workout habits in ways players felt were inappropriate.
Pauw reportedly did not want players to lift weights because she said it made them too bulky, and she often commented with disgust about players’ appearances. Players said Pauw’s behavior affected one teammate who struggled with an eating disorder.
This is the first that I’ve heard the name Vera Pauw. The charges against these two are not quite as serious as some of those in the Yates report, which included sexual assault and harassment, but they’re clearly bad. I sure wouldn’t want to work for anyone who treated me like that. I suspect that there are a lot of coaches out there in the professional and amateur ranks whose behavior towards their players, of all genders, is at least as bad as these two. That’s not in any way to excuse Clarkson and Pauw but to say that this same work is needed elsewhere, too. At least this is a start. CBS Sports and ESPN have more.
Disappointing to see such jackassery happening in one of our sports team’s
work environments.