The Yates report found abuse in women's soccer. There is a time and a place for this.
United States women's national team veteran Megan Rapinoe acknowledged she was "emotionally exhausted" after the findings of Sally Yates' report into systemic abuse in the National Women's Soccer League.
The NWSL was found to have widespread player abuse and league officials and the U.S. Soccer failed to adequately protect players.
The team has been put into the spotlight for issues away from the field before.
"Like I said, as sick as this sounds, I feel like we're used to having to take on more than game plan and tactics," Rapinoe said.
We have the ability to shoulder a lot.
The team was locked in a fight with U.S. Soccer over equal pay before and after their World Cup victory.
She said that they had to shoulder a lot of the responsibility. We have a lot of experience with the older group, whether it was the lawsuit or equal pay, or kneeling.
"I think we have a bit of experience in that and that older players can help shield and shoulder a lot."
Rapinoe called for accountability for those who were involved in covering up the abuse, including Portland Thorns owner and Chicago Red Stars owner.
Two executives have been relieved of their duties and the owner of the Portland Timbers has removed himself from all decision-making related to the Thorns. The board of directors of the Chicago club decided to remove the chairman from his position. The owners of the team haven't given any indication that they will be sold.
Rapinoe said that without accountability and the people who did the wrong thing being gone, no one is really hearing them.
"Obviously the firings in Portland, we'll see what happens with management, but I don't think the owner of that team is fit to be in that position."
We need to replace those people with people who are fit, respectful of the game, and can help the game grow in the best way possible.
The two-time World Cup winner continued to stress that there was little that surprised her in the report.
"From the first second I heard him on the sideline, I knew he was an a--hole."
"Paul'sRiley the same." Everything I heard about him was terrible. I think we've had to overcome that because we're used to being spoken to in a negative way and that's something that we've had to overcome.
The USWNT's preparation for an occasion at a sold-out Wembley that Rapinoe described as "one of those special career moments that don't come around very often" has been overshadowed by the off-field events.
Rapinoe said that he was proud of the players for how they took that on and continued to do their job. I think the Yates report was just devastating in every way, so this week is a bit harder to deal with.
She continued, "We wish we never had to do this, we wish we never had to do any of the things that we've had to do."
"But it's not the reality, so it's something this team has always taken pride in and that we leave the game in a better place, and I think the game's already in a better place following this report than it was the day before it came out," said
Older heads are aware of taking care of everyone in the group, whether it's dealing with the aftermath of Yates' investigation or navigating first caps.
As a younger player, you might be like, 'What the f--- is happening?' I don't know how to deal with this. Rapinoe made a statement.
We could always look to our older players. It's just us understanding the vibe of the group and making sure that we're checking in on everyone, but also understanding that we're really excited to play. That is a nice distraction.
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