KC NWSL, women’s national team, Sporting KC head coaches address player-abuse scandal
For the first time since allegations of sexual abuse and coercion shook the National Women’s Soccer League to its core, Kansas City NWSL coach Huw Williams on Tuesday discussed the scandal and its fallout.
Meeting with reporters alongside Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes and U.S. National Team coach Vlatko Andonovski, Williams said he is shocked, angry and disappointed by details contained in the report that led to the ouster of coach Paul Riley by the NWSL’s North Carolina Courage.
The news conference had originally been scheduled to promote a U.S.-vs.-Korea Republic women’s soccer match set for Oct. 21 at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kan. Instead, in the wake of Thursday’s bombshell reporting, it became an opportunity to confront head-on a crisis that’s befallen the league and its players.
“I can tell you that it’s been tough, for everybody. It’s been heavy,” Williams said. “My thoughts, my feelings ... it’s horrific, and I’m pretty sure I’m not even scratching the surface to how (the players) are feeling.”
The three coaches, Williams, Vermes and Andonovski, spoke and then took questions. Andonovski, former coach of the now-defunct FC Kansas City team that won back to back NWSL titles here in 2014-15, said plainly of league leadership, “They failed at the most important thing.”
The Athletic’s initial report detailed an alleged pattern of sexual harassment and sexual coercion over many years. The fallout — the league’s handling of the matter — cost commissioner Lisa Baird her job. She resigned Friday, the day after the story broke.
Williams said the emphasis here, now, is how KC NWSL and the league can assist its players.
“We obviously need to earn their trust,” Williams said. “We failed as a league. All of us failed, to not be able to provide these players the minimum of having a safe environment.
“We, all of us, have to be responsible to making change that everybody deserves — the players, the staff. Everybody in our league deserves to have that. And we all have to work together to get it right.”
Vermes, who has coached men’s soccer exclusively during his career, showed up in support of that premise.
“I think our jobs in the game are to facilitate safe environments always,” Vermes said. “... From my perspective, and I’m talking about just me now and not even just the club, I feel incredibly sorry for all the players, because they’re all having to deal with it. And especially the ones that have suffered any of the abuse.”
KC NWSL co-owner Angie Long, Orlando Pride executive vice president Amanda Duffy and OL Reign board member Sophie Sauvage have formed an executive committee to oversee the league’s front-office operations. They’ve committed to an independent review of practices and policies at the league and club levels; re-opening a 2015 investigation into Riley’s conduct; and supporting ongoing investigations initiated under the NWSL’s current anti-harassment policy.
“Determination and passion, passion toward our community, first of all,” Williams said when asked what Long will bring to the committee. “Passion toward the soccer community and the league as a whole, and the determination that she has to make this the best league in the world, and make it the best environment in the world, as well.”
The NWSL has recently been beset by a series of crises: Gotham FC fired general manager Alyse LaHue in July following a harassment investigation, and Louisville City fired coach Christy Holly “for cause” following players’ complaints about a toxic work environment.
Williams sees Long’s appointment to the NWSL’s new oversight committee as a positive step.
“(The league) recovers by doing it the right way, by hiring good people, hiring the right people that can do a good job as a coach, but also as a person,” he said. “That will represent these players in the right way, represent their club, represent the communities in the correct way.”
KC-Houston game rescheduled
All of last weekend’s NWSL games were postponed after the allegations came out. On Wednesday, KC NWSL announced that its postponed Saturday, Oct. 2 game against the Houston Dash will be made up next Wednesday, Oct. 13, at 7 p.m. at Legends Field. Tickets purchased for the original Oct. 2 match date will be honored, the team said.
This story was originally published October 5, 2021 at 6:10 PM with the headline "KC NWSL, women’s national team, Sporting KC head coaches address player-abuse scandal."