A report released on Monday detailed several accounts of sexual misconduct, verbal and emotional abuse throughout the National Women’s Soccer League.
Posted October 3, 2022 1:37 p.m. EDT
Updated October 3, 2022 2:27 p.m. EDT
By WRAL News
A report released on Monday describes sexual misconduct, verbal and emotional abuse in the National Women’s Soccer League as “systemic,” and names former North Carolina Courage coach Paul Riley as one of the perpetrators.
The months-long independent investigation surfaced almost exactly a year after Riley was fired amid reports from players that Riley used sexual coercion and made inappropriate comments toward players.
“Our investigation has revealed a league in which abuse and misconduct — verbal and emotional abuse and sexual misconduct — had become systemic, spanning multiple teams, coaches and victims,” Sally Q. Yates, the lead investigator, wrote in the report’s executive summary. “Abuse in the N.W.S.L. is rooted in a deeper culture in women’s soccer, beginning in youth leagues, that normalizes verbally abusive coaching and blurs boundaries between coaches and players.”
The Courage was the focus of the NWSL world in fall 2021 when Riley was fired, prompting demonstrations at NWSL games in the following days.
Riley’s name is mentioned hundreds of times in the report from his time with the Portland Thorns and the Courage. Riley left the Thorns in 2015 after a complaint from a player, Melenan Shim. The report notes that Riley pursued Shim for months and benched her after she turned down his advances. Riley used his authority as coach to coerce at least three players into sexual relationships while working in another league, the report says.
The report also details complaints against coaches Rory Dames and Christy Holly. Riley was among five coaches in the league who either was fired or resigned from their positions due to inappropriate behavior.
