They denounced the TD of women’s football in the United States for emotional harassment | Mee Too goes into sport

The coach Richie burke Tuesday, he left his post as head of Washington spirits, one of the women’s soccer league teams. A few days after the announcement of his departure, a newspaper article was published which raised Burke’s emotional abuse of his players. At least four footballers have left the team due to the pressure they have been under over the past two years.

A note posted on The Washington Post is collecting testimonies from defenders Kaiya McCullough, who left the club last season. “I was one hundred percent in a situation where Richie was emotionally abusing me,” McCullough said. “It created this environment where I knew I wasn’t playing very well, because I was very, very scared of doing the wrong thing and being yelled at. It crippled my performance and made me very anxious. McCullough also said that Burke made racial jokes that made her “very uncomfortable” to the point that “it made me hate football.”

“I cried a few times after training,” McCullough told The Post. “Once it became clear how Burke trained, what his behavior was, I went into survival mode. You can only do this for a while and still find joy in what you do. “Washington Spirits is seventh in the championship, with five wins in thirteen games. The case comes as NWSL actors fight for better labor rights. There is no employment contract and they earn $ 22,000 per year.

“The head coach is the agent of power in a rules system based on female player helplessness,” said Meghann Burke, executive director of the NWSL Women’s Players Union. “So it should come as no surprise that players are reluctant to speak up when a coach abuses his authority.”

The club had announced that Burke would be reassigned to the main office, due to health concerns. However, authorities reacted to the report released in recent hours. Steve Baldwin, Managing Partner of Washington Spirits, said: “We take these allegations very seriously and are investigating immediately. “In this sense,” Burke has been suspended pending the investigation and has refrained from contacting the players and staff and our facilities, “they reaffirmed. McCullough in turn thanked for expressions of solidarity via Twitter.

In turn, the women’s league, the NWSL, has confirmed an investigation into the harassment. In fact, the Post cites sources who spoke anonymously about Burke’s relationships. Two players did so for fear of retaliation. They claimed the coach was “incredibly volatile” and had targeted several players with “personal attacks” under threat of losing their jobs.

A player had a panic attack

In turn, the report notes that the club defended Burke soon after he was hired in 2018, when two youngsters complained about his treatment. According to the newspaper, the TD berated a youngster during a match in such a way that she had a panic attack and difficulty breathing. “When you smell the blood, it gets stronger,” said one of the footballers who spoke with reservations. Phrases like “you’ll never be on the national team again” or “you’ll last 20 minutes in the next game” were common in him towards players he was cruel to.

McCullough, who is African American, described an incident at a preseason dinner, alleging that Burke used the quintessential racist phrase for a black man: “nigger.” He spoke the word in front of her when describing a situation where he defended his sister against an abuser. “It wasn’t meant for me, but it was still deeply shocking and very uncomfortable to hear a white person say this,” said the 23-year-old defender. “People literally can’t say anything,” the player said of what is going on. “They fear for their contracts. It’s their way of life. “

On another occasion, the coach joked that “black eyes matter”, referring to a black player being shot in the face. The sentence was an allusion to the Black Lives Matter movement. There was more. McCullough recalled that, while taking a photo of kneeling on the playground, the technician said they had to kneel down on a white inflatable training doll, alluding to the death of George Floyd, which shocked the United States.

“Being in this position made me feel small. It’s not something I’ve felt in my whole life, and it’s not something I never wanted anyone else to feel, ”McCullough said. the player, who does not know if he will play again. “It’s hard for me to leave behind and not to associate football with this painful and traumatic experience.”