As a site that attempts to advocate for respect and attention for the amateur game, we often try to draw parallels between the professional leagues and the lower leagues below them. While all pro leagues need the amateur leagues below to provide opportunities for talent development, few seem to want to acknowledge this primary relationship. Particularly on the women’s side, where the separation is paper-thin. The country is brimming with talented female players, MOST of whom are playing for an amateur club somewhere. Each year, the draft board is filled with names of players who spent time in the WPSL, UWS, and, more recently, USLW. Colleges are given credit during the media presentation of the draft picks, but the lower league amateur clubs are generally ignored.

So we’ve worked to provide more and more coverage for the amateur women’s game. These are the players who will fill rosters of professional clubs around the world and the work they do, and the clubs they play for , deserve recognition. And the more we’ve covered these leagues, the more we’ve realized that the difference in talent is truly minuscule between the NWSL and top tier amateur clubs. It’s easy to argue that if money was a little more readily available in the amateur women’s leagues, we’d see even more excellence. The bones are there, they just need to be fed.

However, in moments like yesterday, lower leagues would probably wish the gap was much larger. The Yates report went public yesterday with its investigating of abuse in the NWSL and its findings were predictable but no less shocking. The Report of the Independent Investigation to the U.S. Soccer Federation Concerning Allegations of Abusive Behavior and Sexual Misconduct in Women’s Professional Soccer contained some of the grossest abuse stories I’ve heard in a long time. As stated in the report, “our investigation has revealed a league in which abuse and misconduct-verbal and emotional abuse and sexual misconduct-had become systemic, spanning multiple teams, coaches, and victims.”

Mana Shim was one of the primary NWSL whistleblowers of sexual abuse. Image courtesy of Stumptown Footy.

Some of the incidents are beyond the pale, particularly for any of us who work in the modern workplace. Tom Lutz, in his summary of the report for The Guardian, calls out some of the disgusting behavior, particularly from the coaches: “A coach showing a player pornography during what was supposed to be a game-film review and masturbating in front of her, and another who coerced players into sexual relationships.” Having been through a host of corporate trainings on recognizing sexual harassment, it turns my stomach to imagine professional organizations tolerating these monsters in positions of power, even protecting them from any repercussions of their actions.

And while it might be easy for us, the lower league American fans, to chalk this is up as a professional problem, the Yates’ report highlighted that “abuse in the NWSL is 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.” Earlier this year, our own site reported on multiple issues at Austin Elite (UWS). Much like the NWSL situation, it took players standing up and pointing out the abuse publicly for anyone to do something. While the claims in the UWS were not sexual in nature, multiple players asserted that promises of support and adequate lodging were not kept by the team. Player privacy was not respected by the staff and several of the athletes complained of implied racism. There were plenty of issues for the league to deal with, yet nothing was done until the victims went public.

Even this week in the women’s college game (from where most amateur clubs are drawing athletes), UT Permian Basin women’s head soccer coach, Carla Tejas, was placed on administrative leave when a host of allegations were levied by the players on her roster. The claims voiced “concerns about mental health and academics, along with alleging how Tejas may have violated NCAA and Title IX guidelines.” It’s clear that the women’s game has a problem and it isn’t limited to the NWSL.

I think it’s time for all teams in the amateur game to reevaluate their approach to player management. That starts, of course, with listening, investigating, and BELIEVING the players that voice concerns about abuse or maltreatment. How many of these horrific situations could have been avoided if players had been believed? Amateur clubs cannot pretend to be advocates for young women’s success if claims of abuse are just ignored.

Secondarily, there needs to be more oversight. For too long, clubs and leagues have operated in the shadows, expected to do their own due diligence. Even in the four years Protagonist has existed, it is clear that that is not enough. Without real oversight from authorities who are capable and willing to advocate for victims, self-policing too often turns into pushing things under the rug. With so few journalistic outlets focused on the women’s game, it has been too easy for predators to linger, even prosper. We need more sites, podcasts, and independent journalists willing to highlight the victim’s experience, amplifying the truth. Even a small site like our own, relying heavily on the excellent reporting of Danielle Gawronski, was able to publicly shame a national women’s league into acting on behalf of victims.

Finally, while I am not the most expert or experienced voice on this topic, I think that the federation must get more involved and use its power for good. The calcified and entrenched power in the federation has long ignored the women’s game, doubly or triply the amateur women’s game. It is not enough to wring hands and be ashamed. Action is required to create a system that penalizes the wrong, protects the victims, and provides a safe space for women to develop their athletic abilities.

While the NWSL has much work to do, the women’s lower leagues should take a long look at themselves and be proactive in focusing on the safety of the players that fill their rosters. Sure the federation should get involved, but the WPSL, UWS, and USLW can start setting up the systems to allow transparent and protected player reporting of claims of abuse or mistreatment. They cannot wait for something horrific to happen to act. Our players deserve better.

- Dan Vaughn