Calacus Weekly Hit & Miss – NWSL Players & Liverpool County FA
Every week we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the previous week.
HIT - USA WOMEN’S FOOTBALL
It is an image shared and emulated around the world.
Linking arms midfield with their opposition, National Women’s Soccer League players linked arms six minutes into their games as part of the #NoMoreSilence campaign.
The players, from NJ/NY Gotham FC, Washington Spirit, North Carolina Courage and Racing Louisville FC were the first return to play since allegations were made against Paul Riley, former coach of North Carolina Courage.
The NWSL Players’ Association released a statement before the games took place: "Tonight, we reclaim our place on the field, because we will not let our joy be taken from us. But this is not business as usual."
The choice to stop at the sixth minute, the NWSLPA explained, was "for one minute in honour of the six years it took for Mana [Shim], Sinead [Farrelly], and all those who fought for too long to be heard."
"We call on fans to stand in silence with us. During that time, we ask you to stand in that pain and discomfort with us, as we consider what we have been asked to sit with for too long. We call on you to consider, in that minute, what is demanded of each of us to reclaim our league and our sport."
Riley was fired the same evening and NWSL Commissioner Lisa Baird resigned the following day.
Mana Shim and Sinead Farrelly, both of whom are retired, made the brave decision to come forward, both about the abuse and about the barriers that they faced in trying to do so.
Another former player, Heather O’Reilly, blames the lack of HR in Women’s Soccer as a factor for why this scandal stayed brushed under the carpet for as long as it did.
"[Riley] was certainly the man in charge of the club. He was in control of every facet of the club. He was the manager [coach] but if you had a complaint about ownership or the physio, you went to Paul.
"That lack of checks and balances I think is what helped spur this problem, because no one individual should have that power. Nobody should be dealing with playing time and also contracts, and health and wellness. It's just dangerous.”
With all players stood in solidarity in the middle of the pitch, it’s not hard to imagine that most players in the NWSL have likely had experience with some sort of sexual harassment.
On a recent episode of the BBC Sports Desk podcast, multiple players from the US and Canada shared their experiences of sexual abuse within the women’s game, some stories even featured the recently disgraced Paul Riley.
Former Canadian player-turned whistleblower Ciara McCormack shares a particularly harrowing story about an ex-coach, Bob Birada, who was let go from the Vancouver Whitecaps for sexual abuse of players.
"In 2008 three of us senior players spoke to a mediator, who decided he shouldn't coach anymore. A week later they announced it as a mutual parting of the ways but we knew he got fired for sexual misconduct. Three months later he was back on the field with teenage girls."
"Essentially we were gaslit [making someone question their reality] for 10 years, when we were trying to report what was happening and no-one was listening."
Courtney Levinsohn, former coach of New York Athletic, and also a sports psychologist, says women feel isolated in American soccer due to the failure of previous leagues. Players tend to get the message that “they shouldn’t rock the boat or they will sink the NWSL.”
“No one wants to be the one who ruins it all. There’s a team dynamic that happens that is very unique to women’s soccer because the psychological game is to make us think it’s fragile, when it’s not, but we all felt it,” says Levinsohn. “It’s a part of the Kool-Aid and for so long it’s been ‘I’ll take what I can get as long as I can keep playing.’”
Women’s teams in Britain have shown their support for their counterparts across the pond, with Chelsea, Leicester City, Aston Villa, Reading, Arsenal and Everton linking arms before kick-off in solidarity over the weekend’s matches.
These allegations against Paul Riley have surfaced - as public knowledge this time - in the wake of former Washington Spirit player Kaiya McCullough’s decision to come forward about the abuse she suffered at the hand of her former coach, Richie Burke.
Seeing more and more women in sports come forward about abuse and harassment is deeply saddening, and worryingly common. Some may even wonder just how deeply rooted sexism is in sport. However, if one silver lining can come out of this horrible situation, it’s that we are one step closer to stamping it out of sports in the future.
MISS – LIVERPOOL COUNTY FA
It’s fair to say that sexual diversity is one of the last taboos of modern football.
Where sexuality has generally stopped being an issue is society as a whole, and even in the women’s game, we have yet to see significant numbers of professional male footballers coming out.
Every year, the Premier League shows its support for the LGBTQ+ community by supporting the rainbow laces campaign, which sees players wearing multi-coloured laces to celebrate sexual diversity and ensure all fans and players “feel safe and welcome, irrespective of sexual orientation or gender identity.”
That may be down to the fears they have about abuse from the terraces, online or even with their team-mates, with Justin Fashanu eventually taking his own life after struggling to come to terms with his admission and the attention is brought.
Indeed, the Justin Fashanu Foundation is counselling five gay players and yet even as recently as September, a gay Premier League player was advised not to come out, according to former Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand, speaks volumes about the progress yet to be made.
On National Coming Out day (October 11), football referee James Adcock explained why he has opened up about his sexuality and how it has impacted him: “There's been interest from colleagues saying, 'I'm proud of you James, that you're able to be openly gay in sport,' because they know the barriers that are still in place.
"They're fully supportive and don't change the way they are around me or the way they speak to me because they thought I was a heterosexual guy, and now they find out I'm a gay guy.
"I don't need to wear a T-shirt saying: 'I'm James Adcock and I'm a gay guy.' People know and just accept it. I've not had any homophobic abuse thrown at me, and I can't tell you a story where I've had to combat or overcome that."
Sadly that is not the case for everyone.
Most professional clubs have an LGBTQ+ supporters’ group or representatives now, with the likes of Jurgen Klopp recently filmed speaking to a Liverpool fan after their own homophobic chants during the game against Norwich, when on-loan Chelsea midfielder Billy Gilmour was subject to abuse.
So it’s ironic that the regional football association in Liverpool has been caught in a storm of its own making after apparently failing to get the memo that homophobic abuse is not acceptable.
Darren Wildman, Academy manager for Skelmersdale United, took his team off the pitch during a match in June when one of his players was abused and was subsequently charged by the Liverpool County Football Association with bringing about the abandonment of a match.
Wildman explained why he felt the need to abandon the game: "I've been involved in games for 30 years, I'm used to abuse but nothing like that. It got way past what was acceptable.
“We were away and there was a bit of an altercation on the pitch in front of us. A player was then subjected to a nasty homophobic slur. I then informed the referee who hadn't heard the initial comments. We then took the players off the sidelines.
"Me, the referee and opposing manager then had a discussion. The opposing manager went berserk and said 'it's just words - what your problem?' At this point, people on the sidelines were getting involved slinging nasty stuff at us. That's when the decision was taken not to continue.
"The kids are 16 and 17. We're incredibly proud of them from a coaching and development point of view, because they showed a lot of maturity in standing up as a group.
"We were winning the game comfortably. From my point of view, morally it was the right thing to do, but the FA create such a culture where I'm second guessing if it was the right thing."
A report was sent to the FA, which was backed up by the referee and yet Wildman was then issued with an E3 misconduct charge for causing a game to be abandoned and then sat through a hearing for more than three hours.
Last week, he was found guilty of the charge and issued with a fine and a ban, alongside the player responsible for the abuse and his coach were also charged and found guilty.
He added: “I was made to feel I was in the wrong for taking the players off and that the game could have continued," Wildman said.
"The disciplinary process seemed to centre more around who actually took the decision to cancel the game and not the reasoning behind it.
"I've been in and around the game for 30 years as a player and a coach but now I am considering whether I want to continue after this season or not.
"I don't think it's in my best interests to continue because both the County FA and FA in general have offered absolutely zero support over the past five months to myself, the player concerned or to the club as a whole.
"I'm just gobsmacked and unbelievably disappointed that both continually push out a mantra that they are tackling homophobia but when someone does actually stand up against it they are punished for doing so.
“The [FA] preach a mantra of zero tolerance and inclusion but what they’re actually saying is that the most important issue is that you must play the game. Well, no actually. They put all these rainbow laces out, rainbow colours behind the badges, but the minute someone stands up to it they actively punish you for doing it.”
A spokesman for the Liverpool County FA said: “Liverpool County FA are committed to tackling abuse and discriminatory behaviour and strongly condemn any actions of this nature.
“Put simply, abuse and discrimination has no place in our game at any level and any report of abuse is treated with the utmost importance and integrity.
"Liverpool County FA, as part of its grassroots football programme, which encompasses all the County FA’s work on equality, diversity and inclusion, strives to be the forefront of the fight against all forms of discrimination to help create a better football experience for all.”
The appeal will no doubt be watched with interest but it’s important for the Liverpool County FA to learn some valuable lessons here.
Clearly they have got this decision very, very wrong.
But changing their verdict or punishment to save face will be too little too late.
Only a genuine change of culture, education and revised policies and procedures will allay the concerns of those who still don’t have the confidence to be open about their sexuality - and for whom this week’s developments appear to have set back progress by years.