Paul Riley, Former North Carolina Courage coach
On 6 October 2021, a Wednesday-night regular season match of the US National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) between Washington Spirit and NJ/NY Gotham FC somehow trended on the Internet.
The match paused at the 6th minute, players of the two teams, including the reserves, formed a circle with linking arms, in support of two former NWSL players who stepped up and accused then-North Carolina Courage coach Paul Riley of sexual misconduct. Riley, a two-time NWSL coach of the year, was eventually fired by Courage, and the bombshell also resulted in the commissioner of the League Lisa Baird stepping down.
To understand more, let’s dive into the accusations made by the two former players. One important point they disclosed was that the abuse made by Riley could be dated back more than a decade. To us, this statement seems ridiculous at first glance and would probably judge the players’ decision to suffer in silence and reveal them more than 10 years later. However, there are facts that need to be known.
US Women's Soccer National Team
Even though the US women’s national team ranked top around the world and having just won bronze in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, soccer (football) is only the 5th most popular in the US, behind the likes of American football and basketball, not to mention that the audience around the world heavily favours the “men” side of sport. So, it is a formidable task for other female athletes, particularly footballers, in the US to arouse much attention from the public. Just imagine if situations as worse happened to the male athletes, it just wouldn’t take as long.
As the voices of the female footballers in the US are hard to be heard, plus the fact that the authorities tend to turn a blind eye when it comes to situations like this to avoid damaging their reputation, the problems of sexual abuses further cemented in the League. For this reason, It would take a very massive effort like this in order for the public to start to be aware.
Yet, it is not the only sexual inequality that exists in American soccer, or in the sports industry in general. US domestic female footballers are generally paid less too. While on average the men footballers are getting paid around USD$60,000 per season, women footballers are getting around USD$40,000 only. This margin further extends in other sports in the country. In the National Basketball Association (NBA), the average salary for a player is $7.5 million per season. In the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) however, the average season salary is $120,000. That’s the difference.
These issues certainly deserve more attention as the world is promoting gender equality but at the same time women athletes are still subject to unfair treatments in different aspects. At least, the aftermath of the Paul Riley incident is a welcoming sight, that a long-established gender disparity in the States’ sports industry is finally, I mean finally, arousing concerns from the public.
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