Probe finds emotional abuse, sexual misconduct in NWSL were systemic
The revelation that hundreds of former women’s national team players had had sex with men while playing for the USA women’s national team brought to light a troubling aspect of the way women’s professional soccer in the United States was treated, one that has been brought up in recent months by media outlets who have reported on the issue over the past year.
For decades, the women’s national soccer team in the United States has been treated as an afterthought in the women’s soccer world, with fans often just tuning into games with the expectation that there would be no action on the national squad. However — and as this story reveals — that isn’t quite the case anymore.
In a story published by the New York Times, more than 250 women’s national team players have been accused of sexual misconduct dating back to their time on the national team. Many of them have been accused of having sex with men while at the same time being national team players.
The women’s national team has always been an unadulterated team, with the organization’s players’ salaries always subsidizing the entire cost of the team’s salaries for players in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).
One example of the team’s lack of prominence before 2015 was one of the league’s first games, when the 2015 NWSL season kicked off, only to have the team’s first home match played at the very beginning of a month-long road trip that was supposed to last only three or four days.
It wasn’t until the team returned home and played its first NWSL final on Jan 17, 2015 that they had their first home game in their entire NWSL history, against the Washington Spirit.
The first home match of the NWSL season, in fact, was a road match, one that had fans turning out for a club that was in fact very new to the sport of women’s professional soccer in the United States.
If the player’s allegations against the USA team were true, it is possible that these people were mistreated on the team due to the fact that they were