"This Guy Has A Pattern"

Paul Riley and the culture of sexual abuse in women's soccer

U.S. Soccer announced Thursday that it has suspended the coaching license of North Carolina Courage head coach Paul Riley after the publication of an article that included accusations of misconduct by some former players. Riley, who was also fired by the Courage on Thursday, has denied having any sexual contact with players. 

In an article from The Athletic, two women who played for Riley alleged he coerced them into kissing each other, and one alleged he coerced her into sex.  Riley told The Athletic that "I have never had sex with, or made sexual advances towards these players."

The idea of sexual misconduct perpetrated by men in positions over women isn’t exactly breaking news. Yet, despite the #MeToo movement and the heightened awareness of sexual misconduct, little has changed.

For our purposes, the miscreant in question is former soccer coach Paul Riley. Yes, Riley is a sexual predator. The sheer number of women who’ve accused Riley of sexual harassment and sexual coercion speaks to the reality that there’s fire behind the smoke.

U.S. Soccer said it was "deeply disturbed by the recent reports of misconduct," writing that "the abusive behavior described by the courageous athletes who have come forward is repulsive, unacceptable and has zero place in soccer or society." The Courage issued a similar statement, writing that they dismissed Riley "following very serious allegations of misconduct."….

Former player Sinead Farrelly, who played for Riley on multiple teams, claimed in The Athletic article that he coerced her into having sex with him. Farrelly and colleague Mana Shim also alleged that when they played for him on the Portland Thorns for the 2014-2015 season, he coerced them into kissing each other. The women also claimed he made inappropriate comments about their bodies, sexual orientation and relationships. 

When the National Women’s Soccer League came into existence in 2013, Portland Thorns FC became the NWSL’s first champion under Cindy Parlow Cone. Paul Riley became the Thorns’ coach before the 2014 season. By all indications, he was a talented coach who underachieved with a collection of world-class talent, including members of the US and Canadian national teams.

At the time of his departure, there was no indication that there were significant issues, only that it was time for a change. When Riley left the team at the end of the 2015 season, team owner Merritt Paulson and technical director Gavin Wilkinson portrayed it as a necessary change in direction. Thorns FC had just finished their worst season in the NWSL, and Riley said he wanted to coach an East Coast team to be closer to his family in England.

There were no press reports to indicate that anything was amiss within the organization or that Riley had been anything but a coach whose time had run out. Moreover, no one outside of the organization had reason to believe that anything was amiss.

That was because, as so often happens in such cases, player complaints filed against Riley- and the subsequent investigation- were buried. So no one knew because no one was meant to know.

Riley then became coach of the Western New York Flash, which eventually relocated to North Carolina and rebranded as North Carolina Courage FC. Riley’s teams were talent-laden and successful, winning two NWSL championships, the last in 2019.

But there was much more happening behind the scenes.

On September 30th, North Carolina Courage FC fired Riley, and US Soccer suspended his coaching license. The Athletic (subscription required) had published an article alleging that Riley had a history of sexual harassment and coercion going back more than a decade. After interviewing women Riley had coached going back to 2010, the report established that he had a pattern of abusing the power of his position to coerce players into having sex with him.

Paul Riley, it turns out, is a classic sexual predator in a position of power over young women. He used that power wherever he coached to take advantage of female soccer players whose careers were anything but a sure thing.

But Riley, while the most visible villain, is by no means the only problem child in women’s soccer.

“There definitely has been this shared idea that because two leagues have folded in the past, the NWSL is kind of the last hope for a women’s soccer league,” U.S. national team forward Alex Morgan said. “Because of that, I feel like there’s this idea that we should be grateful for what we have and we shouldn’t raise important questions — or ask questions at all.”

But over the past 14 months, more and more players and team employees have breached the code of silence, asking questions and speaking out against alleged wrongdoers. Last year, Dell Loy Hansen was pressured into selling Utah Royals FC after reports of racist comments and a sexist culture in the club’s front office. Utah also placed head coach Craig Harrington on administrative leave; sources told The Athletic that Harrington made comments of a sexual nature to staff, which he has disputed. In August, an assistant coach for the Washington Spirit left the club following inappropriate comments made to players at a party. Spirit head coach Richie Burke was put on leave pending an investigation into allegations of verbal and emotional abuse of players; on Tuesday, the NWSL announced that he was terminated for cause. In July, Gotham FC dismissed general manager Alyse LaHue following the results of an investigation related to the league’s new anti-harassment policy. She has denied any wrongdoing.

The problem is systemic within women’s soccer, something which the powers that be, whether national governing bodies or league hierarchies, have for years swept under the rug. People in authority whose role should have been to protect players have shielded sexual predators for too long. Yet monsters like Paul Riley have been able to go from team to team because no one in a position of power listened to what players were telling them. NO ONE took the concerns and stories of players seriously.

Much like the Catholic Church did for years with pedophile priests, sexually predatory men were shunted along from place to place to become someone else’s problem. In many cases, their reputations didn’t precede them, which meant that they could start over again with a clean slate and re-offend without fear of their past catching up with them. It’s how Paul Riley went from Philadelphia to Portland to Buffalo to North Carolina. Even after investigating accusations made against him and deciding not to renew his contract, Thorns FC management sent him on his way with their best wishes.

There was not one trigger. It was incident after incident, building upon themselves, revealing the scope of the sport’s problems and leading the players to understand that the only way to bring about great change was to refuse to be silent. 

“What we are seeing this season is the beginning of a reckoning,” NWSL players’ association director Meghann Burke (no relation to Richie) told The Athletic last month.

It’s the “beginning of a reckoning,” one that by any measure is long overdue.

This past Sunday afternoon, before a Portland Timbers FC- Inter Miami CF match, I sat in the stands at Providence Park in Portland. The Timbers Army supporters group held up a sign that said “YOU KNEW” and chanted “FUCK YOU, GAVIN!” (Gavin Wilkinson is also the technical director for Portland Timbers FC). Wilkinson was involved in the investigation of Paul Riley, as was Thorns FC and Timbers FC owner Merritt Paulson. Both of them knew of Riley’s behavior. Both of them could have done something.

Neither Wilkinson nor Paulson took the concerns of their players seriously in 2015, which meant that Riley was free to prey on vulnerable women for another six years.

Both the Riveters, the Thorns FC supporters group, and the Timbers Army are demanding Wilkinson’s immediate termination. To punctuate their demand, both supporters groups have pledged to boycott team concessions during games. They’ve also committed not to purchase any team merchandise until their demands are met.

Neither Wilkinson nor Paulson may have known of Riley’s transgressions before their investigation. But, on the other hand, they may not have been concerned at the time because female soccer players occupy a decidedly tenuous position on professional soccer’s food chain.

[T]he power wielded by abusive coaches stems from players knowing that if they push back against inappropriate behavior they can be dropped on a moment’s notice. With no safe place for female players to report harm, abusive coaches are further emboldened.

When a player does bravely come forward, another pattern emerges. An internal “investigation” leads to quiet departure and the coach emerges elsewhere to continue the abuse. Portland Thorns moved Riley on (for his part, he denies most of the allegations)….

Before the stories about Riley were published this week, I was speaking with a journalist who said to me “the most silent spaces are where the worst secrets are held”. He is right. Without a safe space in soccer to report abuse, countless players have left the game amidst abusive situations. The institutions who fail to take allegations seriously should be held as culpable as the perpetrators. NWSL leadership has rightfully resigned yet management at several league clubs at this time face no consequences.

Yes, NWSL commissioner Lisa Baird resigned in the wake of the Paul Riley scandal. While Baird does bear a certain amount of responsibility, team management within the NWSL has thus far escaped accountability…and that’s precisely the problem. Most of those in leadership are male, and until now, the only recently unionized players have had no voice in NWSL operations. Except for a few stars, most NWSL players have been disposable commodities since the league's inception. Their careers are the athletic equivalent of sitting under the sword of Damocles; they know anyone in management could cut them loose at any time.

As we advance, if the NWSL wants to be known as the best soccer league in the world, it’s going to need to take some significant off-the-field steps to have any hope of reaching that status. I’m not a labor negotiator, so I won’t lay out an entire laundry list, but I can elucidate some of the most critical points:

First, players must know they can report concerns regarding sexual misconduct of any sort without fear of repercussion. They must be able to do so without fear of their identity becoming known to those preying on them. Like anyone else, female professional soccer players deserve to have a safe and respectful workplace.

Second, NWSL teams must establish firm guidelines regarding relationships- sexual and otherwise- between players and management. Each side needs to know where the line is and what the consequences are for crossing it.

Third, the default for team management and ownership must be to believe players who come to them with stories of being sexually harassed or coerced. Players need to know that that they’ll be taken seriously.

Fourth, any investigation should be conducted by an independent organization with no connection to anyone within team or league management. Both the team and the league must take the findings of any inquiry at face value.

Fifth, any coach or member of an organization found to have engaged in any form of sexual misconduct must be terminated immediately.

Sixth, if the person found to have engaged in sexual misconduct is the holder of a coaching license from the US Soccer Federation (USSF), that person’s license must be suspended by USSF immediately.

Seventh, the player or players involved will be given the option of being allowed to tell their stories publicly. If they choose to remain anonymous, the team and the league must respect their wishes, and the player(s) will remain anonymous in any further proceedings and/or reports.

Having been a former goalkeeper myself, I understand how important it is to have a clear mind when a player steps between the lines. A professional soccer player functions at such a high level that any distractions can diminish their performance and thus their value to their team. It can have a deleterious impact on their career and their earning potential.

Female professional soccer players, in particular, exist in a milieu in which the vast majority of them could see their careers end at any time. Few players become wealthy playing in the NWSL or any other women’s professional league. No woman makes anywhere near what a Ronaldo or a Leonel Messi make. Moreover, lack of earning potential and the risk of injury mean few women play into their mid-to-late-30s.

While helping raise the women’s game is a long-term undertaking, no woman deserves to be sexually harassed or coerced by their coach. Players deserve a safe and respectful workplace, the same as anyone else. It’s time for the NWSL and its member clubs to commit to creating that safe and respectful workplace.

Sexual predators like Paul Reilly- and they are legion- deserve to be behind bars. At the very least, they shouldn’t be allowed to pace sidelines and control the lives and careers of players.

If there’s a Hell, I sincerely hope there’s a reserved parking space with Reilly’s name on it. It’s the least he deserves.

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