There’s plenty of reasons for the coming USL Super League to inspire and excite American soccer fans. As clubs have come online and players are beginning to fill rosters, people are beginning to pay attention to the new division one women’s league.

Sure, there’s the obvious pushback from NWSL-stans who aren’t enthused about another entity taking up oxygen in the same space their league has fought so hard to occupy. But overall, the concept of another league paying women to play high level soccer is a thrilling one. Fandom for women’s soccer generally has a positive tone that sets itself apart from so many other sports’ fandom. And if you’re reading the room, it’s 80% good vibes.

Until last week.

Baggage

Three years ago, Sydny Nasello was on the path to fame and success in the NWSL. After a strong college career with USF, in which she was a Hermann Trophy finalist, she entered the NWSL draft. Lis Schendel describes her as someone people were tracking and expecting to impact the league. “Mock drafts in late December 2021 had her going ahead of the likes of Diana Ordóñez and Savannah DeMelo.”

Transparently, my personal awareness of Nasello, her issues in the draft, and the fallout after was basically nil until last week. I don’t follow NWSL soccer aside from when playoffs roll around and college soccer has been a black box I’ve never sought to unlock because of bandwidth limitations. So I asked Lis, formerly the Director of Women’s Soccer Content for Protagonist Soccer, for insight on the situations, both in the past and present.

“The NWSL has always been a welcoming place for LGBTQIA+ fans and players and staff and the Thorns even more so,” said Lis when asked about how the drafting of Nasello by the Portland Thorns went over with their fans. “So although they more than likely (Nasello alluded to it in radio interviews) thought it would blow over with fans, some of the most passionate and protective of the queer community in the country, it in fact didn’t blow over.”

The core of the issue was Nasello’s social media activity that reflected an anti-transgender viewpoint, along with other conservative political and social perspectives. The most-cited example was her liking a tweet from conservative talking head, Charlie Kirk, which the Telegraph quotes: "Biological males who think they are girls should not be allowed to compete in sports against actual biological girls." Lis also mentioned posts that were “homophobic and racist (a few pertaining to Obama and ‘building a wall’) in nature.”

The Portland Thorns’ supporter group, Rose City Riveters, spoke out against the club’s choice to draft Nasello on social media. “Fascism, racism, homophobia, transphobia- we are against these. We don’t support anyone who represents/espouses these views, full stop.” One of the best responses appeared on the Rose City Review, in which Katelyn Best laid out the extensive history of Nasello’s social media likes and retweets. The Thorns seemed to respond to the pressure from their fans and decided to not sign the Nasello, who they had chosen with the 13th pick of the 2022 NWSL draft. The head coach of the club at the time, Rhian Wilkinson, admitted that the club hadn’t done the “work needed on the social media side,” but emphasized that Portland was “an inclusive, open club that values its fans and knows what we stand for.”

With the public backlash against the draft choice and already reeling from other public issues, the Thorns parted ways with Nasello. The team went on to win the 2022 NWSL championship. For Nasello, once her draft rights expired, she signed with Spanish team UD Granadilla Tenerife for 2022, then played with Cypriot club Apollon Limassol. Earlier this year, she played with Fatih Vatan Spor in Turkey. Her international success has been marginal, but she’s found playing time in limited amounts.

Prepared Arrival

When Tampa announced Nasello’s signing the club immediately followed with a social media statement on Sun letterhead:

For Lis Schendel this preprepared statement didn’t have the desire effect. “By already having a statement prepared, it shows they were aware it would be a controversial signing and didn’t care. That sends a message to their trans fans, to their queer fans, to their fans who were born in other countries and have been targeted by the resurgence of hate and xenophobia in the wake of Trump’s presidency.” That sentiment wasn’t limited to her. Eric Wahl, brother of famed soccer journalist Grant Wahl and prominent women’s soccer fan, responded on Twitter to the Sun’s statement: “That rich tapestry is diminished by threads of bigotry.” Eric commented further when asked about his tweet for this article. “I love Tampa Bay, and I think it's important to allow people the possibility of growth & learning. The organization says Nasello's international work has broadened her perspectives, and I hope that's true, but we need to see and hear that directly from her. Bigotry isn't just another valid opinion, and it diminishes a city's rich tapestry.”

Lizzie Wiederecht, founder of the Sun’s first supporter group, The Heatwave, seemed to feel that the signing was an unnecessary risk for the new club. “It's frustrating because we feel that we had the access and reach that we did not necessarily need this particular player, as evidenced by our wide-ranging signings of other players. But we appreciate that the team is up front and taking full responsibility. We definitely want to see some actual evidence of this change somehow.”

Lis Schendel was in the same vein with her personal response to the signing. “No one knows if she’s dealt with the issues or taken steps to educate herself. Her initial apology she admitted was scripted by the Thorns and her radio interview a year later showed the apology wasn’t sincere. Tampa Bay has said she’s done the work but have offered no evidence other than the fact she’s traveled a lot in the last few years.”

The general feeling on social media is a combination of lack of awareness (no matches played, no eyes on the league) and disappointment. Several people I reached out to about this story expressed shock that Tampa Bay had made the decision to sign Nasello. One person described their reaction to the signing as “annoyed.”

What’s Next?

I think there’s obviously extreme perspectives on the Nasello signing and the truth is somewhere in the middle. Obviously, the Tampa Bay Sun are making a calculated risk. They knew signing Nasello would turn off a large swath of fans, but she’s a talented player. And if you’re going to sign someone with this sort of baggage, now’s the time to take the risk with so few news outlets covering the team. But does that make it right? Or worth it?

“Is she worth the bad PR? It depends on what the club values. Is she going to help them succeed on the field? Maybe. But will she be conducive to building a positive and welcoming club identity, one that exists in the locker room and in the stands?” Lis Schendel continued her thought. “The queer community is so deeply ingrained in soccer and fans come from all walks of life. Tampa Bay is really alienating a large demographic.”

The fact that Tampa Bay made the decision to sign this player that the queer community has clearly not accepted yet, who has not yet done the public-facing part of the reconciliation process, who has basically dropped out of the American soccer community since exiting angry and defiant, feels like a miscalculation and a mistake.

It would be easy for me, a cis white man with my sort of background, to find space to believe that Nasello could have changed her perspective. I grew up in a conservative, fundamentalist household that hated people of color, queer people, and almost anyone else that didn’t believe the specific things we believed. I was indoctrinated into that way of life. It wasn’t until I entered a public university, met people different from myself, that I began to open my eyes to the reality of the world. Now 20 years removed from that bigoted young man that I was, I stand ashamed of the viewpoints I once held. Every day, I work to be a better person, better than how I was raised, better than how I once believed. I know people can change, but I also know how long it takes to root out the hatred. It’s not an overnight change.

And I think there’s the rub in all of this for me personally. Has enough time really passed for Nasello to have changed her viewpoints? Three years and playing overseas doesn’t feel like a long enough road to have travelled to find acceptance and connection with the diverse communities she hurt. When everything came out after the NWSL draft, she was quick to blame “left-wing politics.” That doesn’t sound like a person wanting to change. It sounds like the people she was retweeting.

Can people change? Of course. I’m proof of that. But I live in a way that repeatedly indicates that I’ve changed. From what I say, to the way I treat people, to the way I raise my own child, there’s proof that I’ve changed. And continue to change.

I’ve been assured by several people near Sydny that she has changed. In fact, it is very clear to me that people within the Tampa Bay Sun front office believe this 100%. But telling fans this is the case without offering proof of these changes is just not good enough. The organization’s announcement of the signing and then bunkering against criticism isn’t going to fix the situation. Plenty of fans are still very skeptical. The leadership at Tampa Bay have made a tactical decision and only time will tell if it was the right one.

- Dan Vaughn

Several sources, including Tampa Bay Sun officials, were asked for comments regarding this story and did not respond or declined to comment. A request to interview Nasello was also made, but the club declined with an agreement to revisit the request later in the season.