Picture this: you’re young, ambitious and industrious. Circumstances have offered potential for professional advancement, and you’re resolved to make the most of it. There’s a figure of authority who can aid you, someone seasoned and influential in the industry. Heed his advice, and he’ll pave your path. He holds the keys to your aspirations.
However, a predicament occurs where you find yourself in his company outside your normal areas of operation. Irrespective of whether this individual is a film producer, a CEO, or a football trainer, the dynamics remain unchanged: an authoritative man obstructing a female or young woman’s progress, placing barriers unless she submits to his undesired sexual overtures.
The inaugural women’s FÁS/LFAI programme commenced over a span of nine months in 1996, and out of the 20 participants, five along with several previous international players assert that some of their trainers behaved sexually improperly. These revelations are an outcome of a two-year extensive exploration by Marie Crowe of RTÉ and Mark Tighe of Sunday Independent.
Jack Crowley shows early promise in his pursuit of being Ireland’s main man. Yvonne McGuinness divulges her preference for educating nine-year-olds in the open fields to walking down red carpets. A rebuttal from the Razorbills following Star Wars’ acquisition of Skellig Michael has been noted. Shocking truths regarding their nation have been brought to light with Euro 2024, which doesn’t sit well with Germans.
Despite the increasing normalisation of misconduct narratives, the alleged incidents accounts are startling and include both trivial discrepancies like trainers sharing saunas with players, and grave transgressions as seen with the unidentified sportswoman who was purportedly approached inappropriately in the locker rooms by a trainer, who left her the responsibility of tidying up the aftermath of his sexual climax.
Throughout the programme, the players felt an empowering independence. They were at the pinnacle of Ireland’s women soccer scene. A few acknowledged their new identity as lesbians. Nevertheless, these women narrate how their trainers, those with authority, violated their identities by engaging them physically, neglecting the weight of consent as if their own desires did not matter or even they as individuals did not matter. The ‘you’ became a mere body to satiate their lust, a faceless object used to feed their ego.
Looking back, the sportswomen acknowledge the warning signals: unwarranted familiarity, vulgar jests, and excessive social drinking among them.
Regrettably, the issue came to light only retrospectively. Participants who attended a training program meant to improve their skills or potentially pave their way to coaching, were not educated on the lines drawn between players and coaches. The lack of policy and reporting structure from the Ladies FAI made the women, freshly incorporated, believe the situation to be the norm thus perpetuating the systemic silence. Bernard O’Byrne, who served as the FAI’s CEO from 1996 to 2001, admitted that safeguarding measures at the time were virtually non-existent.
All accusations of sexual impropriety have been emphatically disputed. A heartfelt apology was extended by the FAI, with the interim Chief Executive David Courell expressing remorse for any discomfort they had to endure. Courell regretted that the necessary modern procedures and reporting systems were not available when needed.
The apology from the FAI comes 30 years later, partially assuaged by the then marginalised role of girls and women in football. Referred to as “ladies”, they were under the jurisdiction of a separate body, the Ladies FAI. This voluntary entity did not receive professional backing from the FAI until the 2000s. There appears to be an impulse to reduce this misconduct to something of anecdotal history.
The issue, however, is not limited to Ireland or even historical events. In 2021, Sinéad Farrelly, an Ireland international on eight occasions, shared her story of sexual assault and manipulation by her former coach Paul Riley while at Portland Thorns in the NWSL. (Riley and three other coaches are now banned from coaching football in the US.)
These players have lived with these dark truths for the past 30 years. Now, they can hopefully find some relief, free from a disgrace they should never have had to bear.
The recent happenings of 2023 recall Luis Rubiales, the incumbent president of the Spanish football federation at the time, making headlines globally instead of the World Cup victorious Spanish football team. His bold action of kissing Jenni Hermoso on stage in the midst of presenting her medal propelled him into controversy he hadn’t anticipated – accusations of sexual harassment and coercion flooded in from around the globe. Despite initial support from his compatriots in Spanish football, he tendered his resignation in September 2023.
Notwithstanding their subsequent expression of regret, there remains considerable improvement needed in the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). The association previously denied the women’s team any engagement for two preceding years to 2017. During this period, the women’s team members, including Katie McCabe the present captain, were driven to strike and expose further unsavoury aspects of the FAI to the media to provoke them into action.
In recent times, as the men’s European Championships were wrapping up – a tournament which saw Ireland failing to qualify – the qualifiers for the women’s European Championships were simultaneously in progress. Notably, matches were against formidable opponents England and France. However, rather than concentrate on promoting these women’s games, the FAI chose to announce the appointment of the new men’s team manager. This announcement inevitably overshadowed the already scarce discussions about the women’s qualifiers, focusing instead on the engagement of a dentist from Iceland tasked with rejuvenating the underperforming men’s team.
Although Damien Duff’s assertions about tearing down the FAI, relieving 90 per cent of its staff and starting afresh might seem rather severe, it’s evident that the FAI has a monumental task to transform their organisation into a unique entity within the football world: a supportive environment for both players and coaching staff.
This narrative doesn’t have a happy ending. Careers were inhibited, emotional distress was endured, players were transformed from victims to survivors. The beautiful sport was sullied for the players involved, a situation further magnified by the recent promising news for FAI concerning equal pay, improved conditions, and exclusive sponsorships assisting the women’s team to qualify for their first-ever World Cup.
It is the courageous women who opened up and shared their experiences with RTÉ and the Sunday Independent who have shed light on the situation, exposing to the nation the consequences of inadequate supervision and management. They have ensured the FAI is held accountable for treating women negligently.
For the past three decades, the players have individually borne this truth. Now, at last, they can hopefully feel somewhat relieved, released from a burden of guilt that was undeservedly placed upon them.
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