Dylan Bettencourt
Two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup winner Alex Morgan raised concerns over how many women may have been failed by the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in the recent sexual abuse scandal.
The women’s football world suffered a shock report when footballers Sinead Farrelly and Meleana Shim said they suffered sexual abuse from their Portland Thorns head coach, Paul Riley, in 2015.
The two women, assisted by Morgan, stated in The Athletic that Riley used his position to get players to engage in sexual activity with him and forced them to kiss each other in front of him.
The investigation into Riley’s conduct left many infuriated after the only consequence he suffered was to be fired from his current job. He scored another coaching role only a couple of months later.
Following an outcry into the matter and FIFA launching an investigation into Riley, the North Carolina Courage team decided to sack their manager at the end of September this year.
“First and foremost, I’m here today to support Meleana and Sinead,” Morgan told TODAY.
“I will continue to amplify their voices and show the systemic failure from the league and how wrong they did in handling Meleana’s case.”
The 32-year-old raised concerns that many other women were likely to have suffered similar issues with the league.
Morgan, who won a gold medal at London 2012, spearheaded an anti-harassment policy for the NWSL earlier this year which includes a Human Resource department as well as an anonymous hotline to report abuse.
The league, however, declined Farrelly and Shim’s request to reopen the investigation into Riley.
In the past 12 months, five club owners, coaches and managers have been fired for issues around abuse as the anti-harassment policy paved the way to rid the league of abusive participants.
“We have started to put these things in place by demand of players. Something we ask is for the league to start being proactive, not reactive. We ask for transparency,” Morgan said.
Following the ongoing scandal, NWSL commissioner Lisa Baird as well as general counsel Lisa Liven have resigned from their roles.
Image source: @Forbes
