A Timeline of the Abuse and Misconduct That Have Rocked the NWSL

In a story published by The Athletic on Sept. 30, 2021 former NWSL players Sinead Farrelly and Mana Shim — along with a number of other athletes, who preferred to remain anonymous — alleged that Riley had verbally, emotionally, and sexually abused athletes for more than a decade. Prior to Shim filing a complaint with the Portland Thorns in 2015, Riley had reportedly established a pattern of inappropriate behavior across the teams he had coached.

The Athletic's story details the party culture Riley allegedly created, with himself at the center. There were mandatory team retreats at his home on Long Island and a lot of drinking, the players recalled. Riley is also accused of sexual misconduct. Farrelly alleges that she was first coerced into having sex with her coach in 2011. The following year, she and another player were reportedly forced to have a threesome with Riley. Then, in 2014, when Farrelly began dating one of her teammates, Riley allegedly harassed her, saying she was "too hot to be a lesbian," among other homophobic remarks.

In 2015, Riley began targeting Shim, allegedly inviting her to his hotel room or out to dinner under the guise of coaching her, sending her inappropriate photos, and making comments about her sexual orientation. One night at his apartment, Riley reportedly told Shim and Farrelly that if they kissed, the team wouldn't have to do the dreaded "suicide mile" in practice that week. By July of 2015, Shim had confided in her sister about her coach's behavior. After talking to her then-partner, Shim emailed Riley and told him to leave her alone.

In addition to her sister and partner, Shim (bottom row, center) also confided in Portland Thorns teammate Alex Morgan about Riley's behavior. According to The Athletic, the two tried to find a way for Shim to file an anonymous complaint with management, but there were no options to do so at the time. Finally, on Sept. 16, 2015, Shim sent an email detailing the accusations to four Thorns staffers: Thorns owner Merritt Paulson, general manager Gavin Wilkinson, human resources director Nancy Garcia Ford, and Riley. She also forwarded the email to then-NWSL commissioner Jeff Plush.

A week later, the Thorns announced that Riley's contract would not be renewed for a third season. However, the organization failed to mention that there had been an investigation into Shim's claims, which ultimately led to the coach's dismissal. Instead, Riley's firing seemed to be a result of the team's poor record that season, as well as a desire to return home to family.

Five months after being released from the Thorns, Riley was hired as the head coach of the Western New York Flash. In 2017, the team relocated to North Carolina and became known as the Courage. According to The Athletic, Riley "laid low" for the next few years, though he hosted a team retreat in Long Island in 2016, and allegedly continued to comment on players' weight and bodies.

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, and with the NWSL's culture of silence beginning to shift, former teammates Farrelly and Shim reconnected with each other and then with Morgan, who began to dig deeper into the league's policies.

Concerned with the lack of protections for athletes in the eight-page player handbook, Morgan organized a group of 240 players, who signed a letter to NWSL commissioner Lisa Baird asking for nine specific policies that would help make the league safer and more inclusive for athletes, including better routes for reporting misconduct.

The following month, on April 13, the NWSL publicly announced its new workplace policy, which explicitly prohibits all forms of harassment, discrimination, and misconduct.

Christy Holly, then-coach of Racing Louisville FC, was fired on Aug. 31, 2021. The club specified that he was fired "for cause," but did not provide further detail. The Yates investigation, however, later found that while Holly was coaching Racing Louisville, he sexually coerced a player by inviting her to his home for a game film session, then showed her porn and masturbated in front of her. Another time, while watching game film with the player, Christy groped her for every mistake she made on the film.

According to the report, players complained about verbal abuse and mistreatment from Holly during a previous coaching stint at the club now called NJ/NY Gotham FC. Players also said he had a relationship with a player that created a toxic team environment.

On Sept. 30, after the publication of The Athletic's investigation, the NWSL Players Association tweeted its support for the players who had shared their stories, including Farrelly, Shim, and Kaiya McCullough, whose own public allegations of abuse had recently resulted in head coach Richie Burke being fired by the Washington Spirit. (This came several weeks after he was allowed to step down citing "health concerns.") The NWSL Player's Association listed three demands, including an independent investigation into the allegations outlined in The Athletic's story, the immediate suspension of anyone accused of misconduct, and an explanation as to how Riley was rehired after being let go by the Thorns.

By 3:20 p.m. on the day The Athletic's report was published, the North Carolina Courage released its own statement, announcing that Riley had been fired. Riley's coaching license, which is the highest possible in the United States, was also suspended by US Soccer.

At the same time, Baird released a statement saying she was "shocked and disgusted" to read the allegations against Riley that morning. However, according to The Athletic's report, both Shim and Farrelly had emailed Baird directly earlier in the spring, asking that the complaint from 2015 be reviewed under the NWSL's new anti-harassment policy.

Morgan, who had been advocating for her teammates since 2015, retweeted Baird's statement, writing that the league was notified of the allegations against Riley multiple times. In two follow-up tweets, Morgan shared Farrelly's April 28 email to Baird, asking that the league take steps to rectify this "apparent failure," as well as Baird's May 5 response, which claimed that the initial complaint from 2015 was "investigated to conclusion."

The Washington Post reported that, like Riley and Burke, former OL Reign head coach Farid Benstiti had been accused of verbal abuse before he resigned in July 2021. A formal complaint alleged that Benstiti made "inappropriate comments to players regarding their fitness and nutrition," following a pattern that had been reported even before he was hired by the Reign. Still, the team's statement in July thanked Benstiti for his contributions to the program, noting that his resignation was the result of "a collective agreement that new leadership was required to achieve the performances and results needed to satisfy our ambitions."

In a statement on Oct. 1, Baird announced that the NWSL games scheduled to take place that weekend would be paused. "This week, and much of this season, has been incredibly traumatic for our players and staff, and I take full responsibility for the role I have played. I am so sorry for the pain so many are feeling," Baird said. "Recognizing that trauma, we have decided not to take the field this weekend to give everyone some space to reflect."

Later that day, the league announced that Baird had resigned as commissioner. General counsel Lisa Levine was also removed by the board of directors.

On Oct. 3, the US Soccer Federation (USSF) announced that it had hired Yates to lead its investigation into the abuse and misconduct reported by The Athletic. Her investigation would later bring to light the misconduct by Christy Holly and Rory Dames, which at this point was not public.

Meanwhile, the NWSL released a statement explaining that the league had hired law firm Covington & Burling to oversee multiple investigations and a review of the league's policies. The investigators would report directly to the NWSL's newly formed executive committee, which included Orlando Pride executive vice president Amanda Duffy, Kansas city co-owner Angie Long, and OL Reign's NSWL board representative Sophie Sauvage.

Two days prior, FIFA announced that it too would be investigating the alleged abuse and misconduct within the league.

"Ultimately, we could have done more, which is particularly hard to say as the team that we have held as the highest standard in women's professional soccer in the world," Paulson wrote, acknowledging that what had transpired after Shim filed a formal complaint with the Thorns was a "systemic failure" across the league. "I apologize to Mana, Sinead and everyone else who is hurting as a result." He outlined eight steps the team was taking to improve safety and wellbeing, including creating an anonymous reporting system.

He also noted that the lack of transparency surrounding Riley's release from the Thorns in 2015 was out of "respect for player privacy," a point that former Thorns player Kat Williamson took issue with on Twitter, sharing a screenshot of a tweet from Paulson, in which he congratulated Riley on his success with the Courage in 2017.

Just a few days after resigning, Baird released another statement in which she distanced herself from Riley's actions in 2015 and listed her accomplishments while in the league. She concluded by saying, "I am proud of what I did to make the League better."

On Oct. 5, Shim, Farrelly, and Morgan appeared on "The Today Show," bringing the players' stories to a larger audience and demanding institutional change. "I want more justice. I want better policies. I want players to be protected," Shim said. "And, at the same time, I feel like we're on the right path, and I'm grateful for everyone who has reached out and supported us."

The same morning, in response to a letter sent by players the day before, Washington Spirit CEO and controlling owner Steve Baldwin stepped down amid allegations of a toxic workplace culture. This culture included "rage trades," harassment from team administrators, and racist and abusive behavior from former head coach Burke. The players responded to Baldwin's announcement, urging him once again to sell his stake in the team. (Baldwin has since said that he will sell, but he retains ownership of the team.)

Meanwhile, across the world, two dozen members of the Venezuelan national team accused former coach Kenneth Zseremeta of sexual harassment and abuse, and two players from Australia also spoke out about the harassment and predatory behavior they'd seen from older players throughout their careers.

On Oct. 6, the NWSL season resumed, setting the stage for protests. As the first three games kicked off that evening, the NWSL Players Association announced eight demands, including the opportunity to conduct its own investigation into abusive conduct in the league, a more rigorous investigation from the NWSL itself, and a seat at the table during the hiring process for the next commissioner, among other things.

The Thorns players also shared demands, which included that general manager Wilkinson be placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. Wilkinson had been with the Thorns in 2015 when Riley was accused of misconduct, and The Athletic reported that he also attempted to silence Shim in 2013 after she came out as gay. Shortly after the Thorns released their demands, the club announced that Wilkinson would be put on leave. However, he was allowed to continue his work with the men's team, the Portland Timbers.

At each of the NWSL games that night — and in the days to come — players from both teams met at centerfield, locking arms in a display of solidarity. The NWSL Players Association explained the protest on Twitter, writing that the players would stop play in the sixth minute in recognition of the six years it took for Shim, Farrelly, and others to be heard. They used the hashtag #NoMoreSilence. Fans around the league also staged protests — often refusing to buy concessions or anything else while in the stadiums — and support began pouring in from college teams and professional clubs around the world.

The NWSL and NWSL Players Association released a joint statement on Oct. 13, explaining that the championship game scheduled to take place on Nov. 20 would be moved from Portland to Louisville at the request of the players.

While fans speculated that this may be related to the Thorns' handling of the Paul Riley allegations, the players had taken issue with the location for some time. The game was scheduled to take place at 9 a.m. local time in Portland, in order to accommodate a noon Eastern Time start on CBS. It simply wasn't practical, and players saw the move as an act of good faith. "It's a very, very small win for us in many ways — but it's nice for our voices to be heard," said Spirit player Tegan McGrady, as reported by The Athletic's Meg Linehan.

On Oct. 29, the NWSL Players Association announced that the league had agreed to meet the eight demands the organization released earlier in the month. The agreement came after weeks of ongoing negotiations between the union and the NWSL, including the league's new interim CEO Marla Messing.

Among the most significant developments, the parties agreed that the NWSL's investigation announced on Oct. 3 would be overseen by a five-person committee, including two representatives from the NWSL Players Association, one from the NWSL, one club representative, and one jointly selected neutral party, as reported by ESPN. Representatives from the Players Association would also meet with any potential commissioner candidates.

"This is only the beginning to transforming the NWSL," the Players Association wrote on Twitter. Negotiations for the league's first collective bargaining agreement are still underway, but "each of these demands is seen by the players as one step closer to the goal of taking our league back," said union president Tori Huster, a midfielder for the Washington Spirit.

Rory Dames, former head coach of the Chicago Red Stars, was called "abusive" in anonymous player surveys and a 2018 USSF investigation found evidence to back many of the complaints. However, the investigation was not shared throughout the organization or the league, and Dames faced no consequences. He went on to resign from the Red Stars in November 2021, as the Washington Post prepared to publish a report about his verbal and emotional abuse toward Chicago players. The Yates investigation would later find that Dames also created a "sexualized environment" at the youth club he coached and verbally abused players there. Among other allegations, the report said that he spent time with girls from youth clubs in their bedrooms without another adult there and forced youth players to speak to him about about sex.

The results of the Sally Yates-led investigation into NWSL abuse was released on October 3, 2022. In the 172-page report, investigators wrote that "verbal and emotional abuse and sexual misconduct" had become "systemic" in the NWSL, "spanning multiple teams, coaches and victims." While the report was limited in scope to the NWSL, Yates's team noted that the abusive system was "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 report focused on the misconduct of Riley, Dames, and Holly and the failure of the league and US Soccer to investigate their behavior and prevent them from taking on future coaching positions, despite receiving complaints of abuse. Additionally, the report stated that three teams at the heart of the investigation — the Portland Thorns, Chicago Red Stars, and Racing Louisville FC — impeded the investigation in different ways. The Thorns "interfered with our access to relevant witnesses and raised specious legal arguments." Racing Louisville refused to provide documents involving Holly and wouldn't allow witnesses "to answer relevant questions regarding Holly's tenure, citing non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements it signed with Holly." And the Red Stars delayed producing documents "over the course of nearly nine months."

The report made multiple recommendations, including instituting a requirement to report coaches' misconduct to their league so they can't move from team to team. The report also recommended that the NWSL fully vet coaches, look into allegations of misconduct, and conduct training for players and coaches around misconduct and harassment. Notably, the report found that abuse in women's soccer is so deeply-rooted that it "will not be eliminated through reform in the NWSL alone."

Soon after the release of the Yates report, USSF announced plans for implementing Yates's recommendations. Among its next steps, USSF stated its intention to mandate "a uniform minimum standard for background checks for all US Soccer members" and to publish soccer records from SafeSport's Centralized Disciplinary Database to identify individuals in soccer who have been disciplined, suspended, or banned. "The findings of this report are devastating and infuriating," US Soccer president and former USWNT player Cindy Parlow Cone wrote on Twitter. "They lay bare the systemic failures within soccer that must be corrected if we are to be a safe, welcoming place for athletes at all levels. I'm deeply committed to change."

The day after the Yates report was released, Portland Thorns owner Merritt Paulson announced he would be removing himself "from all Thorns-related decision making" until the results of the NWSL/NWSLPA investigation are released. "I cannot apologize enough for our role in a gross systemic failure to protect player safety and the missteps we made in 2015," Paulson wrote in the statement. "I am truly sorry." The Yates report found that Paulson was among team executives who hid their knowledge of Riley's abuse, dismissed player complaints, and failed to share what they knew as Riley moved on to other teams.

The following day, Oct. 5, the Thorns also announced the dismissal of the team's president of soccer, Gavin Wilkinson, and president of business, Mike Golub.

Also on Oct. 4, Chicago Red Stars owner Arnim Whisler released a statement saying he was "hand[ing] over operational control of the club to our executive team in Chicago" as well as removing himself from his role within the NWSL board of governors. On Oct. 5, the team announced that Whisler was being removed from his role as chairman of the team's board of directors. "The Board was deeply disappointed after reading the Yates report and believes the club cannot move forward in rebuilding trust with players, staff and the Red Stars community with his continued involvement," the statement read. According to Yates's report, Whisler was notified of Dames's behavior as early as 2013 but dismissed the complaints.

Despite stepping down from operational roles, both Paulson and Whisler remain team owners.

Ahead of a USWNT game on Oct. 7, USWNT captain and Portland Thorns defender Becky Sauerbrunn told media that her teammates, many of whom play in the NWSL, "are not doing well" following the revelations of the report. "We are horrified and heartbroken and frustrated and exhausted and really, really angry." Sauerbrunn spoke out strongly against the leaders who allowed abuse and misconduct to continue. "[I]t's my opinion that every owner and executive and U.S. Soccer official who has repeatedly failed the players, and failed to protect the players, who have hidden behind legalities, and who have not participated fully in these investigations, should be gone," she said.

Alana Cook, defender for the USWNT and the OL Reign in the NWSL, echoed Sauerbrunn's messaging and stated that the burden of protecting players shouldn't fall on their own shoulders. "For so long it's been on the players to speak out," she said. "It shouldn't be on us anymore."

On Oct. 6, USWNT and OL Reign forward Megan Rapinoe also spoke out in a press conference. "I don't think Merritt Paulson is fit to be an owner of [the Thorns], I don't think [Whistler] is fit to be the owner of Chicago," she told reporters. "Without accountability and the people specifically who did the wrong thing being gone, it just says to us that no one is really hearing us."

The results of the NWSL/NWSLPA investigation were released on Dec. 14, 2022. The 128-page report corroborated many of the findings released in the Yates report while also addressing various behavior and conduct of coaches and technical staff at nearly every other NWSL club. (The expansion teams of Angel City FC and San Diego Wave, both formed in 2021, were not discussed.)

"Misconduct against players has occurred at the vast majority of NWSL clubs at various times, from the earliest years of the League to the present," the report stated, noting that "players from marginalized backgrounds, or with the least job security" were often targeted and then faced "the greatest barriers to speaking out about or obtaining redress for what they experienced."