By Amy Tennery
(Reuters) – The U.S. Center for SafeSport is failing to handle abuse claims appropriately, United States national soccer team players said, asking Congress to change how the body operates days before the women’s team launch their bid for a fifth World Cup title.
The players’ concerns were outlined in a letter to House members on Wednesday that included the signatures of all 23 athletes on the U.S. women’s World Cup squad and comes after revelations of widespread abuse across the women’s game in the United States.
SafeSport, an independent non-profit organisation, was formed in 2017 and directed by Congress to respond to and prevent abuse within the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movement.
“SafeSport is the only formal mechanism to keep bad actors out of our sport, and we are reliant on it as we work towards reform,” the letter, sent by the U.S. Soccer’s Athletes’ Council, reads.
“SafeSport was created with noble and important intentions, but we believe that as it stands today, SafeSport is failing in what it was meant to achieve.”
The letter, which pointed to “deep flaws” in SafeSport’s processes, was signed by current and former members of both the men’s and women’s national teams.
The call for action comes months after an independent investigation found abuse and sexual misconduct spanned multiple teams in the top-flight National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) and that U.S. Soccer, the sport’s national governing body, failed to put in “basic measures” to safeguard players.
“Some of us were teammates who played alongside the brave women who spoke up, and some of us read painful echoes of our own personal stories in the report,” the players said.
“U.S. Soccer and the NWSL have been hard at work to reform our sport, but we need your help to create real change.”
Among the concerns outlined in the document were an appeals and arbitration process that players say can be “damaging and retraumatizing for victims of abuse.”
Also at issue is SafeSport’s so-called “exclusive jurisdiction,” which the athletes said leaves U.S. Soccer “without an avenue to pursue its own investigations against suspected abusers” when SafeSport administratively closes a case.
“U.S. Soccer wants to do the right thing and take proactive steps against suspected abusers,” the players wrote.
“Our federation has tools and resources to investigate reports of abuse, but SafeSport is preventing them from participating in any way.”
The letter called for members of Congress to pass legislation to change SafeSport’s processes.
The U.S. women are kicking off their bid for an unprecedented third consecutive title in Auckland this week, days after receiving the ESPYs Arthur Ashe Award for Courage in recognition of their equal pay fight.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Auckland; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
