No other team investigated by former U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates “quite matched the institutional failure" of the NWSL Chicago Red Stars, whose former coach Rory Dames and current owner Arnim Whisler are “alleged to have spent the last eight years facilitating the systemic abuse of youth and professional players,” according to Julia Poe of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. The 319-page Yates Report “describes a simple, brutal truth: The NWSL is a safe harbor for bullies and sexual predators.” As owner, Whisler “couldn’t be bothered to defend his players.” He “didn’t even run a background check when he hired Dames as coach” in 2011. Dames and Whisler “pushed all blame back onto the players, telling investigators and members of the U.S. Soccer Federation that all reports of abuse stemmed from U.S. national team players’ desire to destroy the league.” No one in any position of authority has “acted with reason or morality at any step of this process.” Poe: “But none of that self preservation matters anymore. Whisler knew. Dames knew. Countless other members of the Red Stars, the NWSL and the U.S. Soccer Federation knew.” Regardless of how they “sputter and backtrack, the jig is up.” Whisler “must announce his sale of the Red Stars.” This means a “full retreat from the sport: as an owner, an investor.” Stepping back from team operations “isn’t enough” (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 10/9).
ONLY THE BEGINNING: In Chicago, Annie Costabile writes under the header, “Removing owners like Arnim Whisler from NWSL is only the start.” Ridding professional women’s sports of owners such as Whisler, the Portland Thorns’ Merritt Paulson and the Phoenix Mercury’s Robert Sarver “is a start. But it’s not enough.” The voices at the top “need to mirror the league itself.” Without more representation from women and marginalized voices, “abuse will continue” (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 10/8).
