The owner of the Chicago Red Stars, Arnim Whistler, decided on Monday to sell the club after being embroiled in a scandal of systematic abuse of players in the US Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).
“For the past fifteen years, my family and I have worked with heart, time, resources, and effort to found the NWSL and convert the Chicago Red Stars to one of the best women’s soccer teams in the world. It is clear that we need to support our players more and we are very sorry that we did not do more,” he wrote. Whistler it is a statement.
Whistler reported that it is working “with the league and the club to find new owners who represent the diversity of Chicago,” added the note collected by US media.
Whisler’s name was featured in an NWSL report that described systematic abuse among all levels of the league’s players.
Following the publication of this report, on October 5, Whisler published a statement in which he assured that he felt “deeply” what the players “experienced during their time in Chicago.”
At that moment, Whisler announced that he would be stepping down from the day-to-day management of his club.
THE REPORT STATEMENTS
In nearly 200 interviews with former and current players, coaches, club owners or squad personnel, manipulative tactics that are more about abuse of power than improving the game are a worrying pattern of comments with sexual content are revealed. .
The teams, the League and the Federation “have not only systematically failed to respond adequately when faced with complaints from players and signs of abuse, but also when it comes to establishing measures to prevent and deal with this,” stressed the 36-page document.
As a result of this lack of vigilance, the coaches responsible for these abuses moved from team to team without anyone terminating their contracts, whitewashed by press releases in which the clubs thanked them for service they provided.
The document focuses on three coaches -Paul Riley, Rory Dames and Christy Holly- to illustrate the seriousness of the phenomenon, but remembers that last season half of the ten teams in the League parted with their coaches after complaints from the players.
Of Dames, for example, his Chicago Eclipse Select youth players recalled that he called them “sluts”, “retarded” or “fat ass” and that “on many occasions he crossed the line of sexual that relationship”.
Once with the Chicago Red Stars, within the League, he established a hostile environment with verbal abuse during games, the report said.
THE OWNER OF THE PORTLAND THORNS HAS ALSO LEFT
Last October, Merritt Paulsonowner of the NWSL’s Portland Thorns and MLS’s Portland Timbers, has announced that he is stepping down as the clubs’ chief executive officer as a result of the investigation.
“Effective immediately, I am stepping down as ‘CEO’ of the Portland Thorns and Portland Timbers and have announced the beginning of the search process for a new ‘CEO,'” Paulson wrote in a statement.
“I apologize to our players, the franchise, and the community of Portland for the mistakes we made. It breaks my heart that my goal is to create a shining example of what women’s sports can be. has become synonymous with despicable and predatory behavior,” Paulson said.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
