Edition Seven

Headlines

On Monday 5 October, Sally Q. Yates’ year-long report into abuse in US women’s soccer was published. Over 200 people - including over 100 current and former players - were interviewed as part of the investigation, which found emotional and verbal abuse and sexual misconduct to be ‘systemic’ across teams, coaches and victims in the highest level of women’s professional soccer.

“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,” the report read.

The report found that clubs, NWSL and US Soccer failed to have basic safeguarding measures in place to protect players from coaches, enabling abusive coaches to move from team to team.

Three clubs failed to cooperate with the investigation: the Portland Thorns, Racing Louisville FC and the Chicago Red Stars. Each team had at one point employed one of the coaches being investigated - Paul Riley, Rory Dames and Christy Holly.

The report was published four days before the USWNT played European champions England in a blockbuster friendly at Wembley. Megan Rapinoe admitted her team were emotionally exhausted, having become accustomed to being at the forefront of battles fought away from the pitch when frequently using their platform to fight for social justice.

"As sick as this sounds, I feel like we're used to having to take on so much more than game plan and tactics,” Rapinoe said. “I feel like we have an incredible ability to shoulder so much."

In a show of support for sexual abuse victims, England and the USWNT came together before kick off at Wembley to hold up a banner reading ‘protect the players’.

Rapinoe, Sarina Wiegman, Beth Mead and Lucy Bronze all stated that the issues raised in the Yates report were not exclusive to women’s soccer in the United States; they are a worldwide issue spanning across sports.

"Women’s sport in general tends to have these issues and I think they probably have been going on for a long time but people have never been brave enough to speak out," said Bronze. "So it’s not necessarily a new thing, the new thing is that we’re finally fighting back against it.”

Deep Dives

In September 2022, Bangladesh became the first team to end India’s run of dominance in the South Asian Football Federation Women’s Cup. India had won the previous five tournaments, but Bangladesh comfortably dispatched of them in the group stages, before going on to beat Nepal 3-1 in the final. The team celebrated with an open top bus parade in front of thousands of supporters in Daka. The Guardian explored the wider implications of Bangladesh’s victory for women’s football in South Asia.

Business Corner

Sky Sports have announced a landmark broadcast deal to show the Scottish Women’s Premier League for the first time. Sky will also become an official partner of the SWPL and the title sponsor of the SWPL League Cup for the next seven seasons.?

A minimum of five games will be shown live from the current season onwards, and clubs will also be able to sell pay-per-view streams for up to five home league games.

"This deal brings significant financial investment to the new leagues and enhances the visibility of the SWPL at this crucial time for the game,” said SWPL managing director Fiona McIntyre.?

Lighter Bites

Ahead of the clash between England and the USA, part of the build up had centred around the rivalry between the two nations. This rivalry had been particularly stoked during the tightly contested 2019 World Cup semi final between the pair, when Alex Morgan celebrated her winning goal by playfully mocking the English with her infamous ‘tea sipping’ celebration.

"I think we said we're more coffee drinkers than tea so it's alright,” Beth Mead quipped.

90min Highlights

Liverpool and Republic of Ireland forward Leanne Kiernan joined the most recent edition of 90min Talks, alongside Shebahn Aherne , GirlsontheBall , FanSided ’s Chris Deeley and 90min’s US Editor Lizzy Becherano . The team discussed the US Soccer abuse report, England vs the USA and the mouthwatering Champions League group stage draw.