![]() ![]() In Portland, the Thorns fired president of soccer Gavin Wilkinson and president of business Mike Golub on Wednesday. The Red Stars are one of four clubs whose owners or executives were implicated in the Yates report as potential enablers of abuse. In calling for him to sell the club on Wednesday, the Red Stars fans entitled their statement: "ARNIM WHISLER KNEW." Pressure grows on other NWSL team owners, executives Whisler acknowledged to investigators that these 2021 complaints, which he admitted were evidence of a "pervasive issue," were consistent with the ones from three and seven years earlier. Players described him as “condescending" and “manipulative.” ![]() The review concluded that Dames created “a culture of fear” and was emotionally and verbally abusive to players and staff, Yates found. ![]() Shortly before Dames' eventual ouster, the Red Stars retained a psychologist to anonymously interview players about the team environment. One player told investigators that she raised concerns about Dames to Whisler over multiple years, but each year, the team owner would ask: “Was a little bit better this year?” Over time, the player said she realized that “it was a lost cause.” Whisler continued to employ Dames despite repeated reports of abuse. When Whisler was notified of the investigation, he accused one of the players of “trying to take Rory out.” Soccer hired outside counsel to investigate Dames, and the "resulting report substantiated many of the players’ core complaints," Yates wrote. In 2018, after another round of similar player complaints, U.S. Whisler responded by accusing national team players of wanting “this league to shut down,” and having an “axe to grind” with Dames, according to Yates' investigation.ĭames even offered to resign in light of the complaints, Yates wrote, but Whisler "refused to accept" his resignation. national team, were distributed to Whisler. The complaints from Press, who played for the Red Stars and the U.S. Soccer leadership that Dames had “created a hostile environment,” verbally and emotionally abused players, made sexist and racist remarks to players, and retaliated against Press and other players after they spoke out, according to the Yates report. But a few years into Dames' Red Stars tenure, forward Christen Press reported to U.S. Whisler denied being aware of those allegations. "Separately, former Eclipse players informed us that Dames’s sexualized team environment - in which he spoke to players about foreplay, oral sex, and their sex lives - crossed the line to sexual relationships in multiple cases, though those relationships may have begun after the age of consent," investigators wrote. Former players told the investigative team that he'd called them vulgar and degrading epithets. The Yates report found that Whisler initially hired Dames without a background check and despite a history of "tirades against the young girls who played for him" at his Chicago-area youth club, Eclipse Select. It largely focused on three coaches, one of which was Dames, who helmed the Red Stars from 2011 until November of 2021, when he resigned as The Washington Post prepared to expose his alleged abuse. Soccer officials and NWSL team owners - including Whisler - "failed" countless players. ![]() The report, which stemmed from a yearlong investigation led by former federal prosecutor Sally Yates, unearthed new allegations of verbal, emotional and sexual misconduct at the highest levels of women's soccer, and revealed that coaches, executives, U.S. They also said that the "details in the report regarding Whisler directly contradict what he has told us as a group regarding knowledge of Dames’ abuse." "We find the reported details of Whisler’s conduct, especially his dismissal of player complaints about the conduct of former general manager/head coach Rory Dames, completely unacceptable and irredeemably harmful to not only players but the club as a whole," the supporters wrote. The board announced its Wednesday morning vote shortly after Chicago Local 134, an independent Red Stars supporters group, released a statement calling Whisler "unfit to continue in his current role as majority owner of the Chicago Red Stars organization," and saying they would boycott "games, merchandise purchases, and other Red Stars events" until Whisler divests. But a Red Stars spokesperson said Wednesday night that the board "wants to help facilitate a sale of Arnim’s shares in a timely process which is both prudent and, when complete, can lead Red Stars players, coaches and front office staff to a better future." Neither he nor Wednesday's board statement said that he will sell or be stripped of his majority share of the club. ![]()
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