By Schona Dhawan '25
Women are taken advantage of and mistreated in several situations, almost every day. Recently, two retired soccer players of the National Women's Soccer League have shared their experience dealing with former North Carolina Courage coach, Paul Riley. In The Athletic, midfielders Meleana “Mana” Shim and Sinead Farrelly revealed they both experienced forms of mental and emotional abuse, as well as sexual coercion from the coach throughout their time in NWSL. Paul Riley found ways to mentally and emotionally abuse players, especially Sinead and Mana. He would make comments about players' weight, or their sexual orientation, which affected their health on and off the field.
Riley singled out Farrelly and Shim, trying to make them feel like they were more special than other players. Both Farrelly and Shim began to feel guilty as if they did something wrong, and that they owed him for all that he had done. When Farrelly was called up to the U.S. Women's national team, she decided to go, but as soon as she came back, she felt guilty for “betraying” Riley. The coach wanted Farrelly to be reserved for him only, and make her feel like she had no power without him. While speaking to The Athletic, Sinead Farrelly stated, “I felt claimed. I just remember thinking: Is anyone else seeing this? . . . I felt under his control.” Riley harassed the players on and off the pitch, and sexually coerced Farrelly several times.
After several years of an abusive relationship with their coach, both players decided to retire while Riley went to the Courage, winning back-to-back NWSL coach of the year awards, and won the championship trophy, twice. Sinead and Mana eventually came to realize the extent of what Riley did to both of them, which led them to believe he targeted many other players in the NWSL and abused them in similar ways.
Due to Riley’s pattern, both players decided to go to report this to the NWSL, however, they couldn’t find evidence of Riley’s “inappropriate” behavior. Both Farrelly and Shim decided to tell their experience to The Athletic, as a way to bring more light to the issue. Once Alex Morgan, a U.S. national team and Orlando Pride forward, found out about the situation, she discovered the league’s handbook didn’t contain anything protecting players of any kind of abuse. Morgan, Farrelly, and Shim were appalled by this and made an effort to have the NWSL make a guideline stating players can be protected. Soon enough, the league came out with an anti-harassment policy, which didn’t have much of an effect. All three women, and many more, are making efforts to prevent issues like this from occurring in the future.
Issues like these aren’t only happening in the NWSL, but also in many other sports, like with the U.S. Gymnastics team doctor, Larry Nassar. There is sexism, homophobia, racism, and so much more exclusion within women’s sports, or in any job field. Whether that is through wage gaps or verbal abuse, women experience these hardships every day and can be afraid to or unable to speak out.
Sources:
Editors: Ave Doster '22, Natalia Cseh '23, Ms. Brilliant
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