One of the biggest stars in the National Women’s Soccer League is calling out the organization’s failures to address serious allegations of sexual harassment … with Alex Morgan demanding major changes.
As we previously reported, the North Carolina Courage fired coach Paul Riley amid allegations of sexual coercion spanning multiple teams and leagues dating back to 2010.
Two of Riley’s former players — Meleana “Mana” Shim and Sinead Farrelly — were among some of the players who came forward to detail their alleged experiences with Riley over the years … and on Tuesday, Morgan joined them on “Today” to discuss the toxic culture within the league.
“I’m here to support Mana and Sinead and to continue to amplify their voices, and just show the systemic failure from the league and how wrong they did in handling Mana’s case and complaint and investigation and where they failed Mana and Sinead, and probably many other women,” Morgan said.
Morgan claims there were times when the league didn’t even have an anti-harassment policy, human resources department, anonymous hotline or any other way to report alleged incidents … which made it challenging for players to speak up.
Shim also detailed her experiences with Riley, saying … “He’s a predator. He sexually harassed me, he sexually coerced Sinead, and he took away our careers.”
“From early on, there was a possession not just from Paul, but from the team that I was playing for. They silenced me for multiple issues, my sexuality being the most important one, and I was just very, very uncomfortable the whole time.”
She added … “And, every day I showed up to work, every day I practiced, every game I played, I didn’t have confidence and I was scared. The only thing that got me through was my teammates.”
Riley is now out of the job … and so is NWSL commissioner Lisa Baird, who resigned amid the backlash.
Morgan is calling on the NWSL to be more proactive instead of reactive in these situations … adding, “We’re asking for transparency.”
