Republic of Ireland manager Vera Pauw has rejected every allegation made against her by a report into allegations of abuse and misconduct towards soccer players in the USA. On Thursday, a joint report carried out by the United States’ National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) and its Players Association following a joint 14-month investigation was critical of Pauw and other leading figures in US soccer.
The report claimed that Pauw “shamed players for their weight and attempted to exert excessive control over their eating habits”, citing players who described her as a “power freak”.
In response, the Ireland boss has said that such allegations are “false” and “an insult to my personal values.”
“I want to refute every allegation made against me from my time at Houston Dash,” said Pauw in a statement released on Friday afternoon. “Player welfare has always been of the utmost importance to me throughout my career. Nutrition is a hugely important aspect of professional football and my advice to players has always been to look after their nutritional needs and their health - and to always seek the advice of medical experts.
“To suggest I would body shame any human being, footballer or not, is an insult to my personal values and to my behaviour as coach and I cannot allow this claim to go unchallenged.”
The report also states that Pauw appeared for an interview with investigators but refused to cooperate, instead providing “a written denial of what she suspected were the allegations against her”.
“The report suggests that I did not cooperate with the investigation team, which is untrue,” counters Pauw. “I accepted an invitation to join a video call, on September 29th, on which there were four people and me. I asked to record the call but they said that this could not happen and they refused to answer any of my questions before they ended the call. I then wrote a 13-page letter to outline my experience of my time at Houston and offered to re-engage with them but they never responded.
“I would like to express my disappointment at the manner in which this investigation was conducted, the way I was treated when I tried to engage with the investigation and the lack of engagement around the publication of the report and statements to the media.”
According to the report, Pauw “appeared to want to control and micromanage players’ diets and exercise regimens even when her weight loss directives were inconsistent with sports medicine best practices . . . players reported that Pauw’s comments affected a teammate struggling with an eating disorder”.
She was also accused by players of having “outbursts” of “emotional yelling” in which she would “get up in a frenzy,” as well as wanting to exert control over “every aspect of [their] lives”.
“I will continue to defend myself against all these claims,” said Pauw. “I have spent my entire career fighting for my players and now I must fight for myself. I am extremely frustrated that I have been targeted in such a disappointing manner. I cannot allow my name to be attached to such false accusations.”
